I use eBird to keep track of my bird sightings. Last year I thought I had misplaced my login information so I started a new account and a new birding life list. Since last April I’ve identified 124 different species of birds—67 of them in my own backyard. I’ve actually seen more, but shorebirds and water birds give me a headache. I’m not comfortable correctly identifying sandpipers and terns, especially during migration season when you don’t know what bird might wander in from a faraway place. For now I don’t count them unless I get confirmation from a more experienced birder.
eBird lets me know what species have been spotted in my area. I also use a local birding Facebook group. That’s how my friend and I knew where to see a Snowy Owl in 2015. We followed directions to where he had been spotted and “ta da!” There he was. We didn’t even have to get out of the car (which is good because the temperature was negative-six-degrees Fahrenheit at the time).
Recently everyone was buzzing about a White-faced Ibis sighting near Horicon Marsh. The bird’s normal range is the Louisiana and Texas coasts, so Wisconsin is a bit out of its way. Interestingly the bird was hanging out in the same vicinity where we spotted the Snowy Owl last year. My friend and I went back to see if we could catch a glimpse of the ibis. The lighting was horrible and I didn’t have the right camera for the job, so these are merely “documentation” photos—nothing pretty:
We weren’t alone. There were cars lined up all along the highway to see this wayfaring stranger. We did some birding in other areas of Horicon Marsh that day, but every time we drove past this same area, the bird was there. He stuck around for one more day and then there were no more sightings of the White-faced Ibis.