Date: 1/16/26 5:36 am From: Edge Wade <1edgewade...> Subject: Re: 2025 Birding Year Review (No Sighting)
Becky,
What a great year! Welcome to the "Missouri 300 Club" and the top 100.
Thank you for sharing and for daring to dare.
May 2026 be full of good adventures.
Susan, *et al.,*
The note in my records for the July 18, 2000 Roseate Spoonbill (my first
Missouri sighting) mentions the tar of the return trip with friends on July
21 and includes some of the best birders of the era:
"sub-adult, gray head and neck, very pink wings; no red; greenlight-yellow
spoonbill. Seen by Heather Lambert-Doherty, refuge biologist, reported to
Steve Kinder. Steve to hotline [pre-Mobirds listserv] & personal phone.
Seen on 18th by Steve Kinder (photos), Dave Easterla, Jack Hilsabeck, WD
and Vera Leap, Anne and Donald Downing, Kay and Bill Palmer, Mary Anne Auer
and Mike Brady, Doris Fitchett, Terry and Mark McNeely. Again on 21st with
Janice [Gaston], Sandy [Elbert], Jean L. [Leonatti], Jean G. [Grabner],
Betty [Overall] and Bonnie [Heidy]. TAR Also there were Bill Reeves &
spouse, Larry and Brenda Lade, Mike Beck & Doris Fitdhett, John Guthrie is
mgr., SLNWR"
With tar on the two cars full of Columbia birders, we stopped at a gas
station, got diesel fuel and paper towels and scrubbed them down. We
figured the tar coating on the underside would keep it from rusting...
Birding isn't a pastime for sissies.
Edge Wade
Columbia, MO
<1edgewade...>
On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 11:30 PM Susan Eaton <susiede...> wrote:
> Becky, I had to laugh when I read about your dusty car. I can’t remember
> the year, but one year, I made 3 or 4 trips to Swan Lake wildlife refuge
> to see my first Roseate Sooonbill. The last trip up, I met Doris Fitchett
> and she helped me find the bird.
>
> As I left the refuge, I made a wrong turn and ended up on a rural road
> newly tarred and graveled. Even though I drove slowly, I could hear the
> rocks hitting under the car. I stopped to check, and the axles were caked
> with tar and gravel! I took a screwdriver and scraped out as much as I
> could. Then I had to make a hardware store visit to buy something to get
> the tar off my hands! I think I made a tearful call to my husband too.
>
> When I got home, I felt so bad because there was tar on all the side
> panels. I cleaned them with acetone then washed and waxed the car. What a
> mess!
>
> Roseate Spoonbills…check…
>
> Susan Eaton
> <Susiede...>
> STL CO MO
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 6:36 PM Becky Lutz <
> <0000035ce3242aa3-dmarc-request...> wrote:
>
>> Already starting the third week of the new year…. 2026 is moving along
>> quickly.
>>
>> I finally had a chance to reflect on my 2025 goals. I knew I had met
>> them, but I wanted to look a little deeper. To review, my goals were to
>> make sure all the Franklin County Hotspots (currently 36) had at least one
>> picture, to bird at least one cache/spark site every month, to record at
>> least one species in each of the MO counties (114), and to finally get into
>> the MO Top 100 birder list.
>>
>> After a quick review of hotspots missing pics, I was able to finish up
>> this goal fairly easily. Now looking through some of the pics though, I
>> need to remember to continue taking pics as some are snow-covered only and
>> a few of the locations have seen some major changes, so I need to keep that
>> in the back of my mind for future visits.
>>
>> A couple of months into the monthly cache/sparks birding, I realized I
>> was basing my “weeks” off how they laid out on the calendar and that didn’t
>> really fit very well on some as some months had 5 weeks. So after deciding
>> there’s no such thing as a dumb question, I reached out to Edge to have her
>> explain to me what a week was. LOL! Then panic set in as I realized that
>> wasn’t how I had been doing it and I may have already failed. A quick
>> review of my trips gave me a sigh of relief. It was close, but I was still
>> on track. Whew!! I was lucky that most months had a location within an hour
>> of my house, but I did visit some on trips to the in-laws, weekend
>> get-a-ways, and even a few spots running around on my county trips.
>>
>> Speaking of county trips, I needed a bird in 22 counties. As you can
>> imagine, most of them were border counties, so nothing quick and easy. I
>> was fortunate to join Josh and Jim for a couple of trips which made the
>> long trips not so long and I always learn something. Those northern
>> counties are kinda brutal. They’re 5 hrs from me, pretty spread out, and
>> lots of dusty gravel roads. Hubby says my car looked like the Peanuts
>> character Pig-Pen was driving it when I got back. I just laugh and tell him
>> that’s where the birds were. Haha. A secondary goal to birding all the
>> counties, was to also have double digits in all the counties as opposed to
>> the obligatory interstate turkey vulture or underpass rock dove. I had the
>> 22 zero counties and 25 single digit counties. All of my zeroes turned into
>> double digits, and I bumped up some of the singles. I’m down to just 16
>> single digit counties left, so I’m pretty happy with that progress.
>> The success of previous goals led to accomplishing the final goal of
>> getting into the top 100. I’m usually lucky if I get to Loess Bluffs once
>> every couple of years, but I was able to go twice last year. I usually only
>> get to Riverlands 2 or 3 times a year, but I went 6 times. I was able to
>> pick up 17 MO lifers and I think 7 came from these 2 locations. The others
>> were scattered about the state, including 3 that found a home in a
>> “neighbor’s back yard”. I was able to see many of them with some of you. Much
>> appreciation to the homeowners that allowed strangers into their homes to
>> see a bird from their kitchen window, back deck, or living room. Fingers
>> crossed I get an awesome bird in my yard. You’re all invited! Just don’t
>> laugh as I may still have all the Christmas trees up.
>>
>> 2025 was a fun birding year. In 2024, I had the goal of being my best
>> year. Without even trying, I was able to surpass my 2024 best year numbers
>> pretty handily. I spent about a week in May in South Texas with my mom. We
>> both got several lifers and boosted my lifer list over 400. We both also
>> got several more lifers in MO. I started the year with 296 and ended with
>> 313 (maybe 314). I had lots of little happy dances this past year. One of
>> my happiest experiences though, was stumbling across a Chimney Swift roost
>> on my way home from work one day and then meeting up with my mom and dad
>> later that week and watching the show! Sometimes the best things are in
>> your own “backyard”!
>>
>> Thank you to everyone that shared their sightings, yards, and scopes. I
>> ran into a lot more folks throughout the year and was able to put some more
>> names to faces. I truly appreciate all the help along the way, including
>> looking at some exceptionally subpar pics of ibis, gulls, and shorebirds.
>> Your patience is a gift.
>>
>> This year my husband (not a birder, but I’m still trying) and I have a
>> trip to Aruba and hiking at the Grand Canyon/Phantom Ranch. Looking forward
>> to lots of new birds and fun stuff. If you have any tips or must do’s and
>> see’s, please share with me.
>>
>> Hope you have a great 2026 and I can catch up with you somewhere along
>> the way!
>> Becky Lutz
>> Franklin County
>> 636-432-9442
>>
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