I’m going to give the Bird-a-Day Challenge a go in 2026. I’ll try to find and list a new bird for each day of the year for as long as I can. I can’t reuse birds and I can’t go back and make changes. I previously did this in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
I haven’t been birding lately, so this is more to motivate myself to get back out there. I hope to make it to mid-February, when I’ll visit the Netherlands. I thought I’d have a good first few days with a Caribbean cruise to start the new year, but that lone Brown Booby on day 2 was hard to come by, and I didn’t manage to find anything out of the ordinary when we made a birding pit-stop at Gumbo Limbo in south Florida before heading home. Anyway. My all-time Bird-a-Day record is June 4th, which I reached in 2015 (at 154 days, beating my previous record by 10 days).
| 1/6/2026 | Black-and-white Warbler | Gemini Springs |
| 1/5/2026 | Blue-headed Vireo | Gemini Springs |
| 1/4/2026 | Wood Stork | Gemini Springs |
| 1/3/2026 | Royal Tern | Gumbo Limbo Nature Center |
| 1/2/2026 | Brown Booby | Caribbean cruise ship off Cuba |
| 1/1/2026 | Cozumel Vireo | Planetario Cha’an Ka’an de Cozumel |
