Whatever taxonomic group you went out to look for on New Year’s Day, what was the first species of that group that you observed?
I went on a bird walk.
First auditory species: Carolina Wren (they sing year-round)
First visual species: White-throated Sparrow
First species photographed for iNat: Great Blue Heron
Citrus × latifolia for my gin and tonic.
It was captive (in a fruit bowl).
I went to the beach, but was unable to visit the tide pools as intended, as they were closed off. So, I got pictures of bumble bees and mushrooms along the cliff. Saw lots of gulls and a seal or two far out on the rocks.
First auditory species: Jackdaw
First visual species & First species photographed for iNat: Domestic pigeon
It’s hard to get something rather than pigeons when they live 365 days a year on the yard.
First auditory: Collared Dove (they’ve taken residence in my apple tree)
First visual: Blue Tit
First photographed for iNat: Long-Tailed Tit
Edit: misread original post, modified to stick to birds since I went birding yesterday.
I went skiing. Saw a Northern Flicker first in the morning at bird feeder, heard a pine squirrel on the mountain (southwestern red), saw Red-breasted nuthatch and mountain chickadee while riding a lift, and common raven in the parking lot.
Heard Black-capped Chickadee first
Saw American Robin first
Photographed Northern Cardinal (male) but haven’t uploaded yet
Last species seen in 2022 was Great Gray Owl
my partner and went out to former mineria site that was converted to a park a few years ago.
before the rain, over the course of about 20 minutes we encountered the following species:
Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata
Green-tailed Trainbearer Lesbia nuna
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker Colaptes rivolii
White-browed Spinetail Hellmayrea gularis
Azara’s Spinetail Synallaxis azarae
White-banded Tyrannulet Mecocerculus stictopterus
Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca turcosa
Great Thrush Turdus fuscater
Chiguanco Thrush Turdus chiguanco
Spectacled Redstart Myioborus melanocephalus
decent start for the year, especially considering we were counting at off hours, before a storm, with a dog in a very busy park.
We went for our annual New Years canoe paddle to meet our friends and went on a 3 hr motor about on their ocean going boat.
First auditory species: Anna’s Hummingbird Calypte anna
First visual species: Olympic Gull Larus glaucescens × occidentalis
First species photographed for iNat: Pigeon Guillemot Cepphus columba
First Lifer of the year (and photographed, phew!): Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus
)Wow, bumbles at this time of year. Are they year round?
I pulled yard weeds; what better way to celebrate the new year? I was fortunate enough to see what is arguably one of the prettier weeds: Lamium amplexicaule, taxon info, the observation.
Pretty much year round… I live south of San Jose, and the San Francisco Bay Area has a very wide range of micro-climates. Although, it’s temperate and the flora and fauna definitely changes with the seasons, many species are found throughout the year, as well as many winter residents.
We are going to look for newts and mushrooms tomorrow. I hope to visit the monarch butterfly groves in Santa Cruz and Monterey in the next week or so. Numbers were rebounding a little bit last winter after the disastrous decline of recent years. 
hoping to see that turn into a continuing trend 
.
I went for my first observation trip this year on a quest to search for wild guinea pigs. I tried last year already, but then there was a huge construction site blocking my way. Today the access to that part of a park was closed… I planned to come back on weekend when it is opened, but on the way back I was robbed with a knife (lost my phone) and now don´t really feel like going back there soon.
…way to start the year of.
(but on a good note: I did not loose my camera and still have the observations I made until then - which was really nice actually and I enjoyed a lot)
Argghhh! I’m sorry to hear that happened; you survived a scary encounter!
Thank you! Unfortunately it was bound to happen at some point… after all it´s Bogotá… a lot of collegues had it happen to them at gunpoint… so I feel I am rather lucky it was only a silly kitchen knife
First Reptile/ Amphibian seen: Banded Stream Frog (Strongylopus bonaespei)
First Mammal seen: indistinguishable Bush Rat (Otomyniinae)
First plant seen: Lobelia species x 2
Nothing for iNat to kick off 2023 just yet.
Bellis perennis and Stellaria media. One in blossom, the other one having flower buds. On January 1st. In Poland. The temperature was +18 degrees. It’s so abnormal.
My first reptile of 2023 was a lifer, and the only reptile i have left for my region, Ctenotus catenifer!
First bird was a crested pigeon and plant was a Western Australian Christmas tree
I went out for a Christmas Bird Count on the first so birding was my first nature activity, so to speak.
First bird heard; Barred Owl (in my neighborhood, not the CBC area)
First bird seen; Herring Gull on the ferry over to where I was doing the CBC.
I always debate whether or not audio counts for your “year bird”, mostly spawned because of the cackle of a Canada Goose predawn one year. Barred Owl would make a cool year bird, although I really enjoy Herring Gulls too, especially all of their interesting feeding behaviors.
wow that’s a traumatic experience, I’m glad you are safe.