I recently purchased a new page-a-day calendar for the year 2026. What an ego-buster.
I have never heard of many of the birds featured. Just a few examples: Eurasian Oystercatcher. Moussier’s Redstart. Splendid Fairywren. Village Weaver.
Who knew those were real, live birds? Not me.
And therein lies some of the joy awaiting every birdwatcher. You just never know what you might see if you travel a bit and keep your eyes open.
Of course, it’s perfectly okay to enjoy the beauty of less exotic species. A blue jay. A hooded merganser. A rufous hummingbird.
Some of my all-time favorites show up on the calendar in January. The common loon with its iconic red eye is the bird for January 20. The northern flicker with its bright red throat patch is featured on January 16. A common raven is featured January 23.
February is also off to a good start. Among the birds for this month are pine grosbeak, cedar waxwing, spruce grouse and king penguin.
So this little calendar looks to be an interesting companion for throughout the new year. I’ll see lots of birds I never heard of and that’s to be expected with some 10,000 different types worldwide. And I hope to see some familiar companions that show up regularly in my own backyard.
Here’s looking at you, black-crested titmouse, northern cardinal and Carolina chickadee.
Finally, I hope you have a magical, marvelous year, seeing all sorts of extremely exotic and also many ho-hum common birds.
