With the new year upon us, I thought it might be fun to see if anyone is interested in doing a Celery Farm Big Year.

I found an old unused checklist and scanned it,  The only trouble is that the checklist is a very weird size and impossible to scan on my printer.

What you see here is the best I could do -- the two sheets have all the birds, just not all the seasons or abbreviations.

The rules are simple -- keep track of every bird species you see or hear in the Celery Farm in 2023, and then add 'em up on Dec. 31.

I can probably do a two-sided printout for anyone who wants one. Just let me know. Or use eBird.

Want to do it as a team? Knock yourself out.

I hope to post some of the incredible Big Years done by Fred Weber, Ron Fanning, John Workman and Stiles Thomas.

Legends all.

Holler if you have any questions.

When it comes to adult beverages named after rare endemic birds, it's tough to top one of my Christmas presents: a can of Turducken Ale.

Note: The Turducken is, appropriately, a triple IPA, which will have you flying in no time.

In an ideal world, it would be a can of Wild Turducken Ale. (Attn: Trillium Brewing Company, purveyors of the domestic version.)

As some may know, I have spent years in pursuit of the Wild Turducken in The Nature Conservancy's High Mountain Park Preserve. The Wild Turducken is widely considered to be a legendary trifecta of avian perfection.

I think I may have heard the bird on several occasions, but am awaiting an updated version of the Merlin bird-call app to confirm.

I heard about beer on my recent trip to Cuba (go figure!), and then got a can as a present. Who says there's no Santa Claus?

Here's an earlier post, about my discovery of a likely Wild Turducken egg:

https://www.celeryfarm.net/2020/08/exciting-wild-turducken-news.html

A friend writes:

Did a slight variation on our Christmas Tree birding theme this year, putting all of our favorite owl ornaments toward the top of the tree.

We have Screech Owls (of course), Barns, Barreds, Saw Whets, Great Horneds and several UFOs (unidentified festive owls).

Happy holidays to owl, and to owl a good night!