The big rarity of 2017 that was added to birders' state life lists was the Bar-tailed Godwit, which was seen at Pinchey Bottoms. This bird was initially found by Steve Dinsmore, and subsequently seen by almost everyone in the Iowa State Life List top 10. The next big addition to Iowan's state life lists was a cooperative Fish Crow at Saylorville found by John Bissell. Also of note, Doug Harr added an impressive 5 species to his Iowa Life List. Paul Skrade and Danny Akers added 3, while John Bissell, Reid Allen, Pam Allen, and Lee Schoenewe added 2.
New people to listing this year include Melissa Cory who started her list in September 2016 when an Inca Dove at her feeder became the first state record. While her list may be small in quantity, her rarities make it high on quality! Take a look; she must be having fun.
In the category for personally found species, Danny Akers and Paul Skrade added the most to their existing personally found lists with 2. John Bissell and Brandon Caswell each added their lists for the first time. This is a fun list to follow as it measures effort in the field.
The documentations for the birds above were reviewed and accepted by the IOU Records Committee, as were many others. More detailed information for each one can be found in Iowa Bird Life. We ask that all casual and accidental species added to lists reported here undergo the same sort of review so that all lists conform to the same standards.