In the birdwatching community, a "lifer" is a bird that you haven't personally seen before.

Well... just now, while I was folding laundry in the basement, my cats were jumping around at the sliding doors terribly excited about something.

Turns out that there was a male ruby crowned kinglet just outside the doors, eating the fallen black sunflowers seeds from the feeder above. This bird is soooooooo cute - very very small and round like a ball. His red crown was sooooo bright - no wonder the kitties were going loco!

Oh WOW , how exciting for you!! I've never heard that term "lifer" before. I'll look it up in my bird book, but how 'bout a quick link for us lazy people?

I mean the bird , not the term "lifer"

Mel - I tried and tried to find a good picture of one, that shows the bright red crown, but none came up on google. I'll search some more in a bit, and if I can't find one, I'll scan the one in my Petersons Field Guide!

We do indeed call the first time we see a new bird species a, "lifer". The first time we see a new bird species in our yard we call it a, "yard" bird.
To see pictures of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, or any other bird, go to Google Image Search and type in the name of the bird, (Or anything else you want to see a picture of), in the Search box and click, "Go", or hit Enter on your key board.

Thornius - I did the google image search, but not one of the pictures clearly shows the beautiful red crown on these birds - that was my point above, but thanks for the suggestion.