Nemesis birds

Sometimes I try to think of what my nemesis bird could be. I do not feel like I have a single species that stands out as my nemesis bird, that is the bird that whenever it is found by someone else, I can never seem to see or hear it. For awhile, Eastern Screech-Owl was like a nemesis bird for me but then in 2020 I saw it from a distance at a known roosting spot in Illinois and then in 2021 heard it on a big day in Lincoln County, Missouri. It still remains elusive to me in my home county, however. My nemesis bird for 2021 is most likely the Scarlet Tanager. I know, right? There have been years that I haven’t got Scarlet Tanager before but in those years I put in a lot less effort than in 2021. I was literally standing next to someone on two different occasions that heard the “chip-purr” call and I didn’t hear it. I never worried about it too much because I figured I would add the species to my year list when I visited the woods on SIUE campus which I never did until October when things started getting a little desperate. There are still plenty of species that are honestly not that rare that I still haven’t found in the St. Louis circle. 2021 has been my best year yet even with how busy I’ve been. Looking back at my list, I missed a lot of common species.