As a bit of a challenge, I tried to see how big of a year list I could get for my son during his first year of life - a true year list. While he was a newborn, it was very easy to wear him in a carrier and go birding while he napped - many visits to the High Park Hawk Watch happened like this. Around the time he turned six months old, the stroller became our mobile birding station (not a sponsorship, but BOB jogging strollers are incredible for non-paved trails). While he might not have been supportive of our adventures at all times, my son did enjoy getting outside and experiencing nature on a regular basis.

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Our first birding trip together when he was two weeks old.

One of the most memorable entries on this list was a Northern Saw-whet Owl, which was seen hunting near a streetlight on a post-dinner, pre-bedtime, mid-winter owling trip. Some other bird highlights of the year were a Barred Owl, an Acadian Flycatcher, and a Connecticut Warbler.

Here is the complete list of 157 species, of which 152 were within High Park. Highlights/rare birds are bolded, species that were not seen in High Park are in italics and have an asterisk. No, he did not actually see or hear most of these birds, but that’s why this list is not for him - it’s for me.

  1. Canada Goose
  2. Mute Swan
  3. Wood Duck
  4. Mallard
  5. Mourning Dove
  6. Chimney Swift
  7. Spotted Sandpiper
  8. Solitary Sandpiper
  9. Ring-billed Gull
  10. Caspian Tern
  11. Double-crested Cormorant
  12. Black-crowned Night Heron
  13. Great Egret
  14. Great Blue Heron
  15. Cooper’s Hawk
  16. Red-tailed Hawk
  17. Red-bellied Woodpecker
  18. Downy Woodpecker
  19. Northern Flicker
  20. Eastern Wood-Pewee
  21. Least Flycatcher
  22. Great Crested Flycatcher
  23. Eastern Kingbird
  24. Warbling Vireo
  25. Red-eyed Vireo
  26. Blue Jay
  27. Black-capped Chickadee
  28. Purple Martin
  29. White-breasted Nuthatch
  30. Red-breasted Nuthatch
  31. European Starling
  32. American Robin
  33. Cedar Waxwing
  34. House Sparrow
  35. House Finch
  36. American Goldfinch
  37. Chipping Sparrow
  38. Song Sparrow
  39. Baltimore Oriole
  40. Red-winged Blackbird
  41. Common Grackle
  42. American Redstart
  43. Northern Cardinal
  44. Indigo Bunting
  45. Rock Pigeon
  46. Turkey Vulture
  47. Broad-winged Hawk
  48. Belted Kingfisher
  49. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
  50. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  51. Merlin
  52. Yellow-rumped Warbler
  53. Sharp-shinned Hawk
  54. Northern Harrier
  55. Bald Eagle
  56. American Kestrel
  57. Peregrine Falcon
  58. Magnolia Warbler
  59. Bay-breasted Warbler
  60. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  61. Brown Creeper
  62. Gray Catbird
  63. Common Nighthawk
  64. American Crow
  65. Dark-eyed Junco
  66. White-throated Sparrow
  67. Palm Warbler
  68. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
  69. Purple Finch
  70. Rusty Blackbird
  71. Black-throated Blue Warbler
  72. Hooded Merganser
  73. Golden-crowned Kinglet
  74. Hermit Thrush
  75. White-crowned Sparrow
  76. Lincoln’s Sparrow
  77. Swamp Sparrow
  78. American Black Duck
  79. Orange-crowned Warbler
  80. Golden Eagle
  81. Red-shouldered Hawk
  82. Common Raven
  83. Long-tailed Duck
  84. American Coot
  85. Common Goldeneye
  86. Pied-billed Grebe
  87. Hairy Woodpecker
  88. Ring-necked Duck
  89. Bufflehead
  90. Sandhill Crane
  91. American Herring Gull
  92. Common Loon
  93. American Goshawk
  94. Snow Bunting
  95. Ruddy Duck
  96. Winter Wren
  97. Fox Sparrow
  98. Northern Shoveler
  99. Common Merganser
  100. American Tree Sparrow
  101. Barred Owl
  102. Red-breasted Merganser *
  103. Horned Grebe *
  104. American Pipit *
  105. Great Horned Owl
  106. Northern Saw-whet Owl
  107. Northern Pintail
  108. Green-winged Teal
  109. Trumpeter Swan
  110. Redhead
  111. Eastern Phoebe
  112. American Woodcock
  113. Tree Swallow
  114. Eastern Towhee
  115. Brown Thrasher
  116. Brown-headed Cowbird
  117. Pine Warbler
  118. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
  119. Northern Waterthrush
  120. Black-and-white Warbler
  121. Lesser Scaup
  122. Blue-headed Vireo
  123. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  124. Wood Thrush
  125. Yellow Warbler
  126. Black-throated Green Warbler
  127. Osprey
  128. Nashville Warbler
  129. Killdeer
  130. Barn Swallow
  131. Yellow-throated Vireo
  132. Ovenbird
  133. Blackburnian Warbler
  134. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
  135. Tennessee Warbler
  136. Cape May Warbler
  137. Northern Parula
  138. Chestnut-sided Warbler
  139. Scarlet Tanager
  140. Veery
  141. Swainson’s Thrush
  142. Northern House Wren
  143. Blue-winged Warbler
  144. Blackpoll Warbler
  145. Eastern Screech-Owl
  146. Olive-sided Flycatcher
  147. Common Yellowthroat
  148. Orchard Oriole
  149. Wilson’s Warbler
  150. Common Tern *
  151. Cliff Swallow *
  152. Connecticut Warbler
  153. Canada Warbler
  154. Mourning Warbler
  155. Acadian Flycatcher
  156. Green Heron
  157. Northern Mockingbird *