My wife and I had a personal challenge to this year see 100 different species of birds during January. Usually you would do that within a certain area like in the state of Ohio. Since we had a trip planned to St. Croix we decided to include those birds also. It did make it easier to reach that number.
Our first bird of the year was a Blue Jay and the 100th was a young male Red Wing Blackbird. The Red Wing is usually the first bird species to migrate back north. This usually happens in February. We were fortunate this guy came a few days early. Next year we may do a more pure January 100, but then a week in the warmth of a southern area during winter might once again trump the pure challenge.
