240 bird species

[vaneramos]

Upon returning from the trip out East I commented that one of the highlights for me was adding four bird species to my life list: black guillemot, common eider, willet and greater shearwater. writer00 asked what was my total, but as I hadn't added any species or updated my records recently, I didn't know. So I took a wild guess and said about 240. Reviewing my records this evening, I find the old total was 236, so my guess was exactly right (and I hadn't seen any new species since 1999). That isn't very high; I haven't travelled enough, but it's still fun to count. More than 800 bird species visit or breed in North America, at least 459 in Ontario.