Hi, Tweeters,

I thought I'd start something, if you wish to participate, it's your choice.
Don't send them to me, personally, because I'm not keeping track.
If you'd like to boast about your Bird of the Year, do it! Rules (if you can
call them that)..one species only. You had to have seen it. It needn't be a
lifelist bird, but a memorable sighting. It can be as plebian as a sparrow or
as exotic as mine is.
Tell a little bit about it, if you like. This must be the Bird that made your
birding year for 2000.
Last year my Bird of the Year was the lowly, the humble Bushtit. I'd gone
years hearing them and never seeing them. However, this year's Bird is way
different.

Ten years ago, I was in the Saudi Arabian desert, marking time ,fueling tanks
and helicopters, waiting for the war to begin in earnest. One day a bird flew
into my tent, and confused by the sudden lack of light, she allowed me to
catch her in my hand. It was, I thought, a Horned Lark. She (I don't know why
I think of her as she)
was very calm in my hand, calm enough to allow me to sketch her and take a
good look at her before I released her. Then I took her outside, and feeling
her heart begin to pound, I let her go. She flew about ten feet, stopped,
looked at me, and then flew off.
SInce I had no bird guides, no binos, no nothing for birding (which stressed
me mightily) I didn't know she was anything else but a horned lark.

But no. Ten years later, Gary Bletsch, an English teacher currently in Saudi
Arabia, kindly took the time to field my many questions about Arabian birds.
He informed me considering the markngs on the bird, and where I was in the
desert, my every day horned lark was not an everyday horned lark, but a
rarity, Temminck's Horned Lark!

So, ten years after the fact, I must say my Bird of the Year is the lovely
bird who gave me a few minutes of her time and a great big
thrill.....Temmincks Horned Lark, of the northern Saudi desert.

Michelle
MBlanchrd at aol.com
Oly, WA