PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Laughing Gulls and Ring-billed Gull

This photo won second place in one of my school's photography contest categories. I titled it "Social Outcast."

I'm back from college finally. It has been a very busy few months: I ran 19 credits and somehow still managed to get out to the bush every weekend but two (for Finals and Midterms). That being said, it has been a very significant year. It was one of the coldest springs ever documented in Florida as we braved an ice storm and, later in the semester, flooding was severe enough to kill at least two people in a Pensacola hurricane. As for birding, here is the updated (and correct list) for this whole year. After reading a post on Greg Miller's blog (http://www.gregmillerbirding.com/), I set up an account with eBird, an online database where I could submit my observations from each weekend. For only going out for about two hours each week, I think I did pretty good.

January 1st
1. Chestnut-backed chickadee
2. Varied thrush
3. Dark-eyed junco
4. Northwestern crow
5. Glaucous-winged gull
6. Trumpeter swan
7. Bald eagle
8. Northern flicker
9. Spotted towhee
10. Song sparrow

January 2nd
11. Red-breasted nuthatch
12. Fox sparrow

January 3rd
13. Downy woodpecker
14. Pileated woodpecker
15. Common raven
16. Pacific wren
17. Golden-crowned kinglet
18. Hermit thrush
19. American robin

January 4th
20. Canada goose
21. American wigeon
22. Mallard
23. Harlequin duck
24. Surf scoter
25. Bufflehead
26. Common goldeneye
27. Common merganser
28. Common loon
29. Great blue heron
30. Hairy woodpecker
31. Eurasian collared-dove

January 5th
32. European starling
33. House sparrow
34. Northern pintail
35. Green-winged teal
36. Black-bellied plover
37. Killdeer
38. Sanderling

January 7th
39. Steller's jay

January 12th
40. Black turnstone
41. Eared grebe
42. Double-crested cormorant
43. Pelagic cormorant
44. Dunlin
45. Black oystercatcher

January 16th
46. Bewick's wren
47. White-winged scoter

January 17th
48. Red-tailed hawk
49. Rock pigeon

January 18th
50. Ring-billed gull

January 19th
51. Northern mockingbird

January 20th
52. Mourning dove
53. Red-bellied woodpecker
54. Blue jay
55. Pine warbler
56. Yellow-rumped warbler
57. Yellow-throated warbler

January 25th
58. Brown-headed nuthatch
59. Eastern bluebird
60. Palm warbler
61. Eastern towhee
62. Northern cardinal
63. Red-winged blackbird

January 27th
64. Pine siskin
65. American goldfinch

February 1st
66. Turkey vulture
67. Belted kingfisher

February 5th
68. House finch

February 8th
69. Redhead
70. Red-breasted merganser
71. American white pelican
72. Brown pelican
73. Great egret
74. Osprey
75. Willet
76. Ruddy turnstone
77. Laughing gull
78. Herring gull
79. Forster's tern
80. Loggerhead shrike
81. Savannah sparrow

February 15th
82. Red-shouldered hawk

February 26th
83. Cedar waxwing

March 11th
84. American crow

March 12th
85. Bonaparte's gull

March 15th
86. Fish crow
87. Ruby-crowned kinglet

April 5th
88. Least bittern
89. American coot
90. White-winged dove
91. Yellow-billed cuckoo
92. Ruby-throated hummingbird
93. Eastern kingbird
94. Gray catbird
95. Prairie warbler
96. Bachman's sparrow

April 10th
97. Clapper rail

April 12th
98. Common grackle
99. Brown-headed cowbird
100. Green heron

April 25th
101. Common nighthawk

May 3rd
102. Brown thrasher
103. Bay-breasted warbler
104. Scarlet tanager

May 8th
105. Black vulture
106. Spotted sandpiper
107. Cliff swallow
108. Carolina Chickadee

I will be leaving for home again on Sunday. The question is, can I nail two more birds in Florida for a total of 110 in just one day? Not likely, but I will try. Thanks for reading!