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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 601752" data-attributes="member: 9240">A &quot;life&quot; bird for me is one that is considered &quot;rare&quot; in my area, or in the areas where I saw it. Time has nothing to do with it. I love on the east cost so any hummingbird I saw while vacationing in California are lifers for me. Likewise anything that wanders into my area unexpectedly is the same.&nbsp; My first time on a &quot;birding&quot; trip I got two of what local folks called &quot;lifers&quot; for the area, including a White-winged Dove. Last year I got a Crested Caracarra that got blown into the NJ winter. These are never here and there were multiple birders chasing it around the county for a week. Now, were I to see it in FL visiting my family it would still make the list but not quite a &quot;lifer&quot;.&nbsp; I've met folks who were chasing Snowy Owls so as to log them in as many states as possible. The simplest definition? The first time you see any bird it's a &quot;lifer&quot;, because it adds to your life list. The difference is how excited you get or how long you've waited to see it. We actually keep two lists, a complete list of all birds we've seen anywhere, and those we've seen at home, from within the boundaries of our own hell's half-acre. After 24 years we're at somewhere north of 70 birds, which is pretty darn good. The photography thing doesn't play with the list as we started long before I grabbed a camera, but I'm trying to catch up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 601752, member: 9240"] A "life" bird for me is one that is considered "rare" in my area, or in the areas where I saw it. Time has nothing to do with it. I love on the east cost so any hummingbird I saw while vacationing in California are lifers for me. Likewise anything that wanders into my area unexpectedly is the same. My first time on a "birding" trip I got two of what local folks called "lifers" for the area, including a White-winged Dove. Last year I got a Crested Caracarra that got blown into the NJ winter. These are never here and there were multiple birders chasing it around the county for a week. Now, were I to see it in FL visiting my family it would still make the list but not quite a "lifer". I've met folks who were chasing Snowy Owls so as to log them in as many states as possible. The simplest definition? The first time you see any bird it's a "lifer", because it adds to your life list. The difference is how excited you get or how long you've waited to see it. We actually keep two lists, a complete list of all birds we've seen anywhere, and those we've seen at home, from within the boundaries of our own hell's half-acre. After 24 years we're at somewhere north of 70 birds, which is pretty darn good. The photography thing doesn't play with the list as we started long before I grabbed a camera, but I'm trying to catch up. [/QUOTE]

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