Top 10 Nature Moments of 2007

Tai Haku, who writes the Earth, Wind & Water blog, challenged fellow nature bloggers to name their own top 10 nature moments of 2007. The theme has since been taken up on many other blogs, so it is time for me to do it.

Here are my top ten, listed chronologically.

1. Watching eastern phoebes and black-capped chickadees in the snow on the C&O Canal.
2. A day for "little brown jobs" around the Mall and Hains Point.
3. Welcoming the early spring migrants at Hughes Hollow.
4. My first visit to the wetlands at Poplar Point, when I saw my 200th species in D.C.
5. Listening to barred owls in Rock Creek Park.
6. Discovering the Franklin Township grasslands sites (and their avian inhabitants).
   
7. Listening to the grunting of harbor seals at Bolinas Lagoon in California.
8. The visit my sister and I made to Jamaica Bay to look for shorebirds.
   
9. Seeing clapper rails and an American bittern at dusk at Sandy Hook.
10. Finding lots of white-crowned sparrows (and a Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow) at Sandy Hook.

Do you have favorite nature moments from 2007? If so, please share them in the comments (or on your own blog).

Meanwhile, I have already seen my first birds of 2008. The very first was a dark-eyed junco. (These photos were taken a couple days ago with the Birdcam.)


Happy New Year!