From 400 to 500: A Ten Year Journey
There are milestones in birding that feel like numbers, and then there are milestones that feel like chapters of your life. Reaching 500 state birds for Arizona is definitely the latter. A survey out to the grasslands, leads us to the wintering Chestnut-collared Longspurs The journey began in July 2016, when I found my 400th lifer state bird, a Berylline Hummingbird. At the time, I had no idea that the next 10 years would take me on a journey that would become about so much more than adding birds to a list. Fast forward 10 years and I've reached 500. Earlier on in my birding career, I thought I'd conquer the world and find every bird. And now? It's not that important. I do what I can when I can. I bird wherever I am. Even life birds don't hit the same like they used to. Much of my new birding perspective comes from that journey to 500 state birds during these past ten years. Life and birding has c...
