Accomplishing Dreams....

It's weird to think back on things.

When I left high school, and later college, the world (to me) was just opening up. Airline travel was becoming easier and cheaper. I was learning travel as a whole wasn't all that expensive if you knew how to do it.

I think of all the things that as I have gotten older, I have wanted to do.

Scuba Dive on a coral reef. Check.

See mainland Australia. Check.

Bunjee Jump. Check.

Visit the following places: Mountain West of the United States, Hawaii, California, Redwoods, Sequoias, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Desert Southwest. Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, and check!

As my birdwatching has grown, and my aspirations have grown, numerous places have been added. And of course I have wanted to expand my ever-lengthening life list of birds.

Cloud Forest. Check (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama)
Rainforest. check (Costa Rica, Ecuador)

I recall coming back from Ecuador, and wondering where my world checklist stood. And when I was tallying them up in my free time in Southern California...I discovered how high it was!

Between Mexico, various areas of the United States, Australia, a brief trip to NZ (by that time), Hawaii, and Ecuador, and a short trip (15 days) to Costa Rica, I was sitting at around 800 birds at that point. I think at that point (April 2008) you could say I started to get serious about the listing.

900: June of 2008
1.000: December of 2008 (a mere 6 months later)
1.100: April of 2009 (a mere 4 months later).
1.200: December of 2009.

I don't get many new birds, world list or US list, while I am in the US, though Wyoming, where I am now, may get me a few.

But of course, one of the must-do things on my "need to go before I die", is to visit the Amazonian rainforest. And as calm and well prepared as i feel for it, I still can't believe I will be visiting - and working! - in it in a little over 3 months times. And I hope to get around 400 new species of birds. Which just seems unreal.

I couldn't do it without the support of my family and friends. So once again, thank you!