BIG YEAR – January 23, 2013 to January 22, 2014 499 SPECIES

Posted on January 24, 2014 by birdquest2004

I really never started out to do a big year but for some reason I knew this was the right time to try, I may never have another year like this.
I thought it would be easy and that I had a chance at 600 but soon realized it would be impossible, while trying to hold down a full time job.

It’s been a crazy year from the first bird I counted a Golden-crowned Sparrow to the last a Wilson’s Plover and I won’t soon forget.

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With trips to Alaska, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Québec, California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and Florida. Well over 20,000km flown, 12 airports, 26 flights and 16,000 km driven. I can’t imagine trying to do this full time. Not sure how many times in airports I forgot something in my pockets or my hat on, while going through security. I also remember some of the strange looks from customs agents when they asked me what the reason for my trip was.

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Its also about good friends wherever they may be in the world. We all share one common passion.

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Well My year started late, because of my angio-plasty, I could not get travel insurance or doctors ok before January 21. That’s the day I thought to myself, I may not ever get the chance to do this again. So off I went to Vancouver (arriving on the 23rd, and never stopped (except for when I had to work). As hard as I tried in Florida this past week I just could not get to and over the 500 mark. I tried hard, driving over 1900 miles in 7 days but the birds just wouldn’t co-operate. All I needed was any of the following to hit 500, Backman’s Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, or White-crowned Pigeon. I covered a lot of territory on foot during the past week. Got up close and personal to many birds.

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So here it is, I officially saw 499 birds in my big year, not a world record for sure. But I did work a full time job at the same time.
I could have easily added a few species to help me get over 500 and who would’ve known, I would’ve that’s who, you must stay honest or it means nothing.
I also could have counted birds I’d heard and not seen but when I started this I said I would only count the birds I’d seen.

So many great life birds sightings, this year, including:
Red-flanked Bluetail, Ivory Gull, Ross’s Gull, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Paraque’s, Olive-backed Pipit, Hawfinch, Lesser and Greater Prairie Chicken, Mountain Plover, Garganey, Northern Lapwing, Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, Crested, Least and Parakeet Auklets, to name a few. All their images can be seen in various threads in my blog.

One of my favourite birds this year was, the Lesser Prairie Chicken, listening to their gobbling, bubbling sounds and the stamping of their feet, as they danced on lek’s, is something I will always remember.

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The climb up to see the Bristle-thighed Curlew was also special. Without modern médicine, I doubt I would have been able to make that climb. When you hear and see the bird of your quest, all other thoughts are forgotten.

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Unless you have this passion, you can never really know, what drives us and how it feels to see a new bird or an old one for that matter.

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Thanks to all the people who helped me this year, first of all my lovely wife, Sue. She has never shared my passion for birds but has never stood in my way of chasing them. Love ya.

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I may never get the chance to do another big year but I’ll always keep looking at nature…

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This year Neil Hayward broke Sandy Kumito’s record of 745+3 ABA sightings in 1 year. Neil Hayward saw an amazing 747 ABA AREA SPECIES + 3 provisionals.

How much travel would be involved in trying to break Sandy Komito’s record of 745+3, set in 1998? How hectic would that be? With 2013 winding down, Neil Hayward is at 744+3, followed by Jay Lehman at 719+2.

You can view their results:
Neil Hayward: http://accidentalbigyear2013.blogspot.ca/
Jay Lehman: http://jaysbigyear2013.blogspot.ca/

When looking through their blogs, you can see the amount of travel and money required to get anywhere near the record but it really doesn’t matter. Its the passion that drives people to see as many birds in one year as they can.

Below are the birds I saw, click on them to see them larger.

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I think back to the birds I missed, some easy and some tough…maybe if I’d had a bit of luck who knows where I would have ended up……lolol

Ciao for now…………..

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ABA Florida and Others

Posted on January 24, 2014 by birdquest2004

I decided to go to Florida last minute, to see if I could up my number for my big year.

Seven days, 1900 miles from Gainesville to Key West, Everglades, Tampa/St. Pete’s and Orlando trying to see as many new species as I could. Out of a possible 40, I needed 22 species to break 500 for the year. I got a sweet deal on a flight with WestJet for $331 return and off I went.

First off in Gainesville, I picked up two surprises a Calliope and a Rufous Hummingbird but totally bombed on the King Rail (heard them calling but never saw them, so I can’t count them, others might but not me).

Then over to the coast and got some great photos of a Florida Scrub-Jay, Clay-colored Sparrow, Male and Female Painted Buntings. Thanks so much to Danny Bales for allowing me access to your yard.

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In the late afternoon I found a Limpkin my first in Northa America.

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For the next few days I was focused on the Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Kendal and Homestead area. I picked up a few life birds in the area, a La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Monk Parakeet, Purple Swamphen and Common Myna but again missed out on some not so common birds the Spot-breasted Oriole and the Red-whiskered Bulbul. The drove through the neighborhood’s looking for both of those species for hours, but no luck. The La Sagra’s Flycatcher more than made up for missing the other two….it’s a bird of the Caribbean but frequently finds its way to Florida.

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I didn’t see any life birds in the Keys but not because I didn’t try. I went to a few parks in Key Largo looking for Mangrove Cuckoo, White-crowned Pigeon and Gray Kingbird but again didn’t have any luck, I was now beginning to think the cold weather was really going to work against me. I did finally see and photograph a few birds I needed for my bird quest. In the Golden
Guide 1963 edition, Great White Heron and Wurdemann’s Heron were considered separate species apart from the Great Blue Heron.

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I also managed some decent images of a pair Magnificent Frigatebirds as they were circling above the fishing boat harbor on Marathon Key. The boats were coming in with their catches and I think they knew a meal was coming.

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I spent the next day in the Everglades and walked down the Snake Bight trail, there had been a Mangrove Cuckoo and a Worm-eating Warbler seen the day before but the best I could come up with was a Louisiana Waterthrush. I was too busy swatting mosquitos to try for a photo….

The next day I was in Sarasota to visit the Celery Fields. This is an awesome spot to bird watch and photograph, its free and well worth a visit. I spent a day there chasing Limpkins around the area hoping to get one close for a photo, when I heard this squawking coming from a telephone pole. I thought they might be Monk Parakeets but they turned out to be another recent addition to the ABA Checklist, the Nanday Parakeet.

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The next morning at sunrise, I was back in Gainesville trying for the Bullocks Oriole and King Rail, thanks to Cheryl Slechta for showing me all the spots. Just a note it was 32F/0C that morning.

I drove to 3 lakes WMA for the afternoon and searched the areas where I’d previously found Red-cockaded Woodpecker’s and Bachman’s Sparrow’s for 4 hours until I had to leave for the airport.

My next thread will tell you how I did for my big year…

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Florida is somewhere everyone, either birder or photographer, should go….there are so many opportunities. 125 plus species on this trip.

Ciao for now

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