Looking Back at 2022

It’s been a few weeks since my last post about big year stats… I was planning on following that up with several other updates, but there’s certainly less incentive now! During 2022 blogging was always a rush, most of the time I felt behind and there was a strong urge to pump out new content for people following along with my year. 

December 31st was filled with a mix of emotions. Relief that the frantic chasing was over, and that I could now disable eBird/discord alerts and not have a constant sense of anxiety about where my car would be headed next. Nostalgia and a tad of sadness that the wild ride was actually over, because for the past 12 months I had such a driven purpose that I never really had to question what to do just, next bird, next trip, and so on. I spent the last day of the year birding through southwestern Ontario looking mainly for geese and waterfowl along the shoreline. It wasn’t exactly a picturesque winter day, with dense fog, a light drizzle, and temperatures refusing to drop below the freezing mark (8 degrees actually); it felt more like late March than December. There was still that winter greyness to the landscape though and the lack of singing robins, budding trees, and an overall sense of hope made it clear that winter was far from over. The Middlesex dump had a few hundred gulls roosting in the field beside it, though seeing them through the fog was a bit of a challenge. A single first year Glaucous Gull was the main highlight. 

- Glaucous Gull

I wasn’t really planning on being in Ontario at that point. The idea was to visit Alessandra’s family in Ohio for a week after Christmas, but, like many plans laid during a big year, things can change quickly. First southern Ontario was blasted with an intense winter storm during the days around Christmas, with extensive road closures and 4 feet of snow shutting down travel. Second, during the last week of the year William and Ezra got a Gyrfalcon for their yearlist bringing them both to 357, only two birds behind me. Since February I had been up by a few, but around July I had established a 4 bird lead, which held through most of the fall. Ezra needed Ring-necked Pheasant, which are present year round on Manitoulin Island, so it was only a matter of a trip for him to gain one back on me. Once he got that in mid December it was down to 3, which was still decently comfortable though definitely not impossible to get back! I was very impressed with William who, despite being over 12 birds behind in September, managed to close the gap and be tied with Ezra by December. Then they got gyr so I only had a lead of two. Unfortunately, William had missed some birds earlier in the year so he would need two real rarities to catch up. Ezra on the other hand needed goshawk, which meant if he got that he’d only need one rarity to catch me. Mainly because of this (and weather), we decided not to leave Ontario until the 31st. That way if something did show up I could *probably* still get it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that that I was that competitive with the other guys… both Ezra and William had successfully broken the old record too and we’d taken numerous trips together during the year, and at the end of it a big year is really a personal challenge. There was some aspect of competition though, but I feel like that’s just unavoidable at a certain point. If I lacked motivation for chases, or just getting out birding, having the others so close behind would light a fire in me to keep going and give it 110%. I wasn’t just going to back down at the end of the year and hand it over ; )

Of course I couldn’t leave the province, and my big year, without a bit of last minute stress when a possible Ivory Gull was reported in Ottawa on December 30th. As much as I wanted 360, I really did not want to drive 7 hours all the way across the province on the final day of the year. Luckily, it wasn’t refound in the morning and after 10am it would have been too late for me to get there from the south regardless, so I continued towards the border. A few final stops in Erieau and Wheatley turned up a soggy Great Horned Owl, a variety of gulls, and a cursed domestic duck that I swear gave Steller’s Eider vibes until I got it in my scope. 

- Great Horned Owl, Erieau 

- Wheatley, December 31st

Coming up to the border in Windsor, I looked out the window and spotted a Blue Jay flying over the highway, my last Ontario bird of 2022. My first of 2022 was a Great Horned Owl in Niagara, not a bad starting and ending bird! 

As we drove south over the Ambassador Bridge, and down through Detroit to join up with I-75, the sun set on the final day of the year. Ironically, as soon as we had crossed over into the US the skies had cleared and it was a gorgeous day for the remainder of the drive, of course. Listening to my music playlist, which was carefully edited during my many long road trips around the province, I was hit by a flood of memories from the year. Camping on the Wetum Road in -45 in the deadly silence of the north, snarfing down cliff bars and other dried food and watching the northern lights shimmering above. Spending long days in Ottawa in March and April, watching tens of thousands of geese fly through the air, searching for that one that was a little bit different. Living at Point Pelee for a whole month in May, birding dawn ‘til dusk every day, exhausted, but full of excitement to see what migrants the next day would bring. That was actually my first time visiting Pelee during the spring, something I’d been meaning to do for years. Watching reverse migration off of the tip was without a doubt the most fun birding I did all year, and I can’t wait to go back! The spring also brought me Alessandra, who on top of being an amazing girlfriend, also turned out to be my perfect travelling companion for the rest of the year. She did such a fantastic job of keeping me motivated and going on chases with me, which really shows how supportive she is because, although she’s obsessed with birds, she doesn’t really like twitching.

There were definitely low points in the year too, like chasing Townsend’s Warbler 4 times and spending a whole 28 hours sitting in that cold back yard (finally got it though), getting covid in February and a bad flu in the fall. 

Exploring the province so thoroughly is something that I think often isn’t highlighted as much as it should be during big years. Going into 2022, I had a decent familiarity with southern Ontario, but anywhere north of Sudbury and east of Toronto were unknown to me. Seeing Ontario, from the steep winding hills of northern Ontario, to the frozen Arctic Ocean in Kenora District, and the valleys of Ottawa were experiences I’ll remember for the rest of my life. There are many spots that I only visited briefly and want to return to in the future. Being constantly on the go is the nature of a big year, usually only spending as much time as is necessary at any one spot; see the target bird and move on.

- Walking by Attawapiskat 

- Thunder Bay area

- Lake Superior 

- Dinner, big year style

On a whole, I’m very pleased with how it went, the most exciting year of my life thus far! I’m almost tempted to write a book about it honestly, I just have so much that I want to say about my adventure with the birds... A big year is a numbers game, but ultimately it was the experience, birding for a whole year and seeing amazing places and species that stuck with me the most.

 Will I do it again? Probably not, though I did enjoy it and couldn’t rule anything out for sure. Maybe I’ll come back in Sandy Komito fashion (The real life, less jerkish version of Bostick from “The Big Year” movie) if my record were to be broken : )

 There are so many people that deserve to be thanked for helping me last year, be that emotional support or generous gifts of gas cards and other things. A huge shoutout to my parents of course, who were so encouraging throughout all big year. The Bruce Birding Club folks too, Fred, Marilyn, Bob, Anne-Marie, Susan, Bruce, Liz and many others! Thanks for being some of my most loyal blog followers during the year and constantly pumping me up. A huge shoutout too for all the folks who allowed me to stay in their homes during my journeys around the province, that saved me so many nights in my car. The Huron Fringe Birding Festival was a big supporter of my big year as well, and this year I’ll be leading numerous hikes for them (see that Here)

I’ll do another post soon with my photography highlights from 2022! 

Also I’m doing a webinar for OFO on February 7th for those who want to tune in!

- Dovekie, Toronto