Final county bird for 2021, and a recap of the year.

2021 is in the bag, and it turned out to be the best County year ever.  212 birds for myself, and I only dipped on 10 as we got to 222 for the year.  I took a trip up North from 12/26 to 12/31, and will do a separate post on that once I get through my pics.  It may have cost me another bird as this afternoon a Great Black-backed Gull was reported at Duck Lake by Amy Lysski.  

A White-throated Sparrow on the B.C. CBC flagged as rare on 12/18.  The CBC started out great, but then my species count stalled out.  Heavy snow at times didn't help things.  On 12/23 I finally snagged a Red-necked Grebe at Duck Lake.  Bird was way across the lake, but unmistakeable.  Long bill, long neck and big head with some red on it.  This ended up being my last County bird for the year.   A new high of 212.  6 more species than my previous high.  The adult and 2nd Winter Lesser Black-backed Gull were also out there on the 23rd.  The Grebe continued for me until my last trip to Duck Lake on 12/25.

On the 24th I dipped up to Eaton County, maybe 5 miles from the county line to get a FOY Greater White-fronted Geese on Narrow Lake.  I was close to my high for the year in Michigan, a paltry 220.  The Geese were #217 for the year in Michigan.  That and wanting to check out some properties up north prompted me to haul the puppies up north to check for some year birds, and lifers.  I'll discuss the Up North separately.  Today on 1/1 I had my first January recored of American Wigeon, with 2 mixed in with Mallards in the backwater.  

2021 really did turn out to be an incredible year for the bird, despite the interruptions from Chaos.  We finally got over 220 birds for the County, after hitting 218 twice.  New month birds were

1. Jan- 10 (highlights - Hoary Redpoll, White-winged Scoter)
2. Feb - 9 (highlights - Black-legged Kittiwake, Barrow's Goldeneye)
3. Mar - 9 (highlights - Solitary Sandpiper that was earliest bird ever for Michigan)
4. Apr - 4 (highlights - Black-necked Stilt)
5. May - 5 (highlights - White-eyed Vireo first visual sighting, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Yellow-breasted Chat, Golden-winged Warbler)
6. Jul - 3 (highlights - American Avocet)
7. Aug - 1
8. Sep - 9 (highlights - Ruddy Turnstone, Philadelphia Vireo, Canada Warbler)
9. Oct - 5 (highlights - Stilt Sandpiper, American Golden-plover, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Black Scoter)
10. Nov - 3 (highlights - Lesser Black-backed Gull, Northern Shrike)
11. Dec - 5 (highlights - Red-necked Grebe, Short-eared Owl)

I added 5 new county lifers for the year, and potentially lost one or gained one depending on the outcome of a submission for Ruff, in place of Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  

1. Black-legged Kittiwake
2. Barrow's Goldeneye
3. Black-necked Stilt
4. American Avocet
5. Ruddy Turnstone

In addition to the above we added to eBird a record of Long-eared Owl.  This puts my records up to 292 for the County historically.  The 8 county area also had Black-bellied Whistling-Duck and Black-legged Kittiwake to bring the total eBird birds for the area to 321.  

Not sure how we can top 2021.  I'll have to work on my spreadsheet and see what of the 321 birds seen around the area, still haven't been reported here.  Really was a great year, and who knows what will happen in 2022.  I may dip outside of the county more as I'd like to see if I can get into the top 200 for the State.