My latest For the Birds column releases my personal top 10 birding moments for 2018. Recapping the previous year is my favorite column to write each late December or early January. This year, instead of blasting out the top 10 all at once I’m going to spread it out and reveal two each day, starting today (Jan. 1, 2019.) This post will include Nos. 6 and 5.

Feel free to comment or send me an email with some of your 2018 birding or nature highlights.

6. Winter birds at feeder. They were really late fall sightings, but happened after the leaves had dropped so it felt more like winter. It started with a female purple finch, continued with several fox sparrows, and ended with a ton of pine siskins. There is still plenty of time left in winter to add to that list. Anybody want to send me their evening grosbeaks?

5. Christmas Bird Count. It’s going on 20 years now that I’ve participated in the annual bird census. As usual, I did a count in southwestern New England that features varied habitat — from wooded areas to freshwater ponds to Long Island Sound. A few highlight species include: great egret; common loon; merlin; and red-breasted nuthatch.