I will be kicking off my time in Lousiana birding in Cameron County on the 18th, with a stop at Peveto Woods and Sam Houston Jones State Park before joining Jonathon Lueck, a Marshbird Biologist for the National Audubon Society, with whom I will be tagging along to assist in Rail Survey with the hopes of seeing Yellow Rails (I’ve previously only ever heard them) and maybe a Black Rail (which would be a Lifer!).
I’ll be sticking around that general area on morning the 19th, and on the 20th heading farther east towards the St Tammany area, where I will also spend the 21st before continuing on into Mississippi.
All three of my days in my first visit to Mississippi will be spend in the southern parts of the state, with the first two days just spent generally birding and the third spent joining the Mississippi Coast Audunon Society for their visit to the Jackson County Sewage Lagoons.
Like with Mississippi, all three days of my first visit to Alabama will be spent in the south parts of the state.
I will generally be following the coast for my tour of The Sunshine State, with January 28th being spent in the Panhandle, the 29th being spend working my down the Gulf Coast, the 30th through the 1st being spent in south Florida, the 2nd being spend working my way up the Atlantic Coast, and the 3rd wrapping up in northeast Florida before heading to Georgia
I will be entering The Peach State on the 4th, spending my first two days in the state following the coast north before heading inland towards central Georgia and up to the Athens during the 6th and 7th. On the 8th I will head up towards the National Forest land in the north of the state before finally heading towards northern Alabama.
Both of my days of my second visit to Alabama will be spent in the northern portion of the state.
As with Alabama, both days of my second visit to Mississippi will be spent in the northern portions of the state.
I will briefly dip into Louisiana for one day of birding in the northern parts of the state.
My first visit to Arkansas will be an eastward-bound set of days birding in the southern parts of the state after entering from Louisiana.
eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/310370.
I kicked off my year with a Pima county Big Day with Timothy Burkhardt, during which we managed 112 species (106 in Pima). On the second I met up with Ken Blankenship of East West Birding Tours for a day of target-birding around Cochise County, and after parting ways with Ken headed into the Chiricahua Mountains. After camping in the mountains I headed down on the evening of the third, visiting the famous George Walker House and the “open yard” feeder setups in the Portal area. I then headed back northwest through Tucson towards Phoenix, where I met with Gordon Karre the morning of the fourth to bird around the Phoenix area.
eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/310372
New Mexico will likely prove to have been one of my most unique states to visit due to the fact that, unlike with every other state, I was fairly centralized in one area and my primary focus wasn’t birding for much of my time in the state. During my time in The Land of Enchantment I did manage to get a good deal of birding in, but due to a family gathering in the Albuquerque area a significant portion of my attention was dedicated to non-birding matters. Regardless, the time I did spend birding was exceptional, and I remain absolute in my stance that New Mexico is one of the best states for birding in the United States, and I look forward to spending more time here in the future as Albuquerque will likely be my home one this adventure reaches it’s end.
I spent most of my time in the state birding with my dad, Daryl Bernard, but on my last day in the state met up with the Mesilla Valley Audubon Society and birded with Elaine Stachera Simon, Jonathon Brooks, Dana Parsons, and Marsha Corl in the Las Cruces area.
eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/310374
My time in the Lone Star state left me with one clear impression: I need to spend more time in here. I started of my time in Texas with a morning of birding with Star Estrella of Siempre Birds and John Groves at Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso, Texas on the 12th.
From there I headed down to Big Bend National Park, spending the nights of the 12th and 13th in the Cottonwood Campground, and spending the day of 13th birding several trails. One day in Big Bend was not sufficient to cover even a fraction of a percentage of the titan that is the 7th largest National Park in the Lower-48, but regardless on the 14th I departed Big Bend to make my way towards the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
En route to The Valley I met up with Troy Hibbits in Brackettville, and then in the LRGV I spent the morning of the 15th meeting up with Bill Sain and eight others at Estero Llano State Park for their morning bird walk. In the evening, after spending some time birding around the area solo, I met up with Tom Forwood Jr, the superintendent of Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, and he invited me to spend the night at his house.
On the 16th I spent pretty much the entire day birding with Simon Kiacz and 22 others at Santa Margarita Ranch, where in the morning I joined a group led by Simon for the Brown Jay tour, and in the evening I returned for another tour led by Simon and his fellow SMR guide Zach Johnson for the Mottled Owl tour.
Finally on the 17th I joined Captain Tommy aboard The Skimmer for the Rockport Whooping Crane Tours, and after an exciting four-hour tour of Aransas NWR I followed the gulf coast northeast towards Louisiana, ending my time in Texas
(Subject to change — See above for most up-to-date timeline of plans for the coming states!)
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday at 5pm EST and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
