I was shuffling through some of my old blog posts just now and stumbled across this one from early 2011. I figured it was time for an update.
As many birders know, the American Birding Association (ABA) puts out a checklist every once-in-a-while that has a 1-6 scale ranking the difficulty of finding any particular species (you can see the most-recent ABA checklist at: http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf). The lower the number, the easier the bird should be to find. With that in mind, here are some species I'm still searching for....
Code 1 (n = 1):
Leach's Storm-Petrel
Code 2 (n = 19):
Emperor Goose
Himalayan Snowcock
Mottled Petrel
Buller's Shearwater
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Red-faced Cormorant
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Red-legged Kittiwake
Brown Noddy
Bridled Tern
Aleutian Tern
Parakeet Auklet
Least Auklet
Whiskered Auklet
Crested Auklet
Arctic Warbler
Bluethroat
Bicknell's Thrush
McKay's Bunting
As you can see, I'm hurting most with my lack of seabirds/alcids and things from Alaska. Considering how violently ill I become on any boat, I doubt I'll see them anytime soon.
This list reminds me of my "nemesis" list... birds I've tried for and missed (sometimes many times!). If I had to pick the top couple from the above list, they would be:
Bluethroat
Arctic Warbler
