Most wanted birds:

[XemaSab]

Rusty Blackbird
Tamaulipas Crow
Ancient Murrelet
Mongolian Plover
Any prairie chicken or ptarmigan
Yellow Rail
Razorbill
Short-tailed Shearwater
Aztec Thrush
Virginia's Warbler
American Woodcock

[semillama]

1. What, no Ivory-billed Woodpecker?

Seriously, I've only seen three of those birds on your list myself. For Rusty Blackbird, I usually get a few by scanning flocks of blackbirds during migrations, usually seeing them in the spring. One place in Ohio you could get both Rusty Blackbird and American Woodcock would be Magee Marsh. I just got Razorbill this year, and apparently they're pretty common on northern East Coast pelagics.

So I guess you need to come out east!

Myself, I need to get out west!

[XemaSab]

2. You know, I am okay with leaving the Ivory Bills alone

It's okay to have some mystery in the world.

That being said, I have seen all the other woodpeckers. :D

The list above is not a comprehensive list of birds I have not seen, but a short list of the species I am jonesing for.

What are your most wanted?

[semillama]

3. Having never birded some spectacular areas of the country

Namely the SW, the Pacific Coast, Florida, the Pacific NW, etc, I think I'll keep my list to my Ohio Most Wanted - birds that I have just missed seeing or occur often enough that I should be able to see them in Ohio. It's kind of a longish list, but I'm getting close to 300 on my Ohio list (currently at 278), so I thought this would be good to list.


Harlequin Duck
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Ruffed Grouse
Least Bittern
Cattle Egret
Golden Eagle
Marbled Godwit
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Franklin's Gull
Little Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Chuck-Will's-Widow
Least Flycatcher
Marsh Wren
Golden-Winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Western Meadowlark

Now, if I was more of a die-hard birder, I could have had four of these birds this year, but I actually put other things ahead of birding from time to time. Some of the birds on the list are ones I just have had bad luck with (Least Flycatcher, Marsh Wren, Orange-Crowned Warbler) while others I have just missed seeing by a day or by being the only one in the group not to see the bird (Cattle Egret, Little Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Golden-winged Warbler, Connecticut Warbler).

[XemaSab]

4. You need to come out West, my friend...

Harlequin Duck
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Ruffed Grouse
Least Bittern
Cattle Egret
Golden Eagle
Marbled Godwit
Whimbrel
Black-legged Kittiwake
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Marsh Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
Western Meadowlark

I couldn't promise you ALL these birds on a California trip, but I could promise you MOST on a California trip. April would be a winning month... :D

[semillama]

6. Let me add that I have seen many of the birds on my list, just not in Ohio

but yes, I do need to come out west. I am going to Albuquerque in January for a conference and I fully intend on a day birding at Sandia Crest, which among other attractions has a cafe with feeders where you can see all three species of rosy-finch at one time. The wife and I are also looking at a trip out to the Seattle area to visit friends, too.

[vireo]

5. Bewick's Wren, Swainson's Warbler, Black Rail

I believe these are all on my state's (WI) list, but any of these would be a remarkable find.

[XemaSab]

7. I know a gimme spot for Swainson's...

It's in South Carolina though. :P

[vireo]

9. Congaree NP?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gFhT2dgRCpo&mode=related&search

[semillama]

8. Swainson's Warbler is just across the border from OH in WV

and we looked for possible colonists when we did some breeding bird surveys down in SE Ohio in June, but no luck. I should have included that on my list along with Kirtland's Warbler, but those birds only appear briefly during migration, and aren't birds you could normally chase down.