And so it begins

Dear Cato, Greg, Cora, and the rest of the gang,

Hope you're doing well. Today, as you have reminded me on multiple occasions, was the first day of the rest of my life. This is undoubtedly sage advice, were I to pause for reflection.

It was also the first day of our "Biggish" year, This is the year we try to see as many bird species as we can...not as many as are possible, but as many as we have time and resources to find.

To kick off this year, we participated in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count for Angwin, CA. Angwin started as a resort, and is a now a small village nestled in the hills northeast of St Helena. It's surrounded by vineyards, ranches, and pockets of native landscape. Nearly 150 intrepid birders braved the cold morning and early start on New Years Day to survey the avian landscape.

Our hardy bunch located 75 species of birds over 9 hours of exploring a number of private land areas in the Pope Valley. Besides meeting some very cool ranchers who let us wander around their property, we also found Burrowing Owl, Bald Eagle, Hooded Merganser, and many more. We also partook of the celebration dinner, where Ava provided some amazing hand-made tamales and guacamole.

Tomorrow, we go in search of an exotic duck. Wish us luck!

Love and kisses,
Me

p.s. Yes, I'll take more/some pics next time!