I enjoyed both the 2020 Big Year and Photo Big Year challenges, despite the perplexing year we had. I saw some great birds, logged two lifers, recorded a personal best for species seen in a year, but was not able to reach my set targets. I came close in the Big Year, finishing the year with 109 species, just one short of the 110 I was aiming for but was only able to put up 92 images in the Photographic Big Year.
After recording my 108th species on November 29th, it took me another 30 days to see the 109th, an American Wigeon (Mareca American) at Chancery Lane, Christ Church on December 28th. I was disappointed in not reaching the 110 species goal but I was happy with the effort. That effort provided me with a few personal best:
- A new year high of 109 species – This is two more than my previous high which was 107 species in 2018.
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| Snail Kite |
- Two Barbados lifers, Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) and Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) moved my local lifer tally to 142 species.
You would figure that if
you saw 109 species it should have been a breeze to photograph at least 100 of
them but sadly it was not that easy. I have
never successful completed a Photographic Big Year in two or three
attempts, but 2020 was supposed to the year... The year started promisingly but
was quickly marred with a series of equipment failures leaving with a temperamental Point and Shoot for most of
the year. In December I was able to add nine images, some of which
quality wise I am not proud of, bring my year-end tally to 92 species.
Goals for 2021
This year is supposed to be a slow birding year
for me. The plan is to spend more time sharpening my photography skills. I have a new camera, my dream camera a Canon
7D Mark II, it's a beast. At present I
am using a Canon EF-S 55-250 mm with it - this is the longest lens I have at
the moment. I am amazed at the quality of the images, even when cropping
to sometimes ¼ of the original. The video on it is not too shabby either and may
encourage me to do a few of them. The
new Canon 100-400L II is my dream lens
for the 7D, and will try to get one sometime next year, but at the moment
I am close to acquiring a used Sigma 50-500 mm. So the plan for 2021 is to take it easy on the birding front but work
hard on improving my photography. So
please join me on the journey. Stay safe
I know what you mean! As my species count is going up, my picture count isn't climbing as quickly. Everywhere I go I pretty much get pics of the same kinds of birds.
ReplyDeleteyes Timothy!! thank for visiting and commenting
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