My Junior Big Year Birding at age 11

Looking back on 2011

2012-02-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today marks the day of one and a half months since the last day of my 2011 Junior Big Year. I'd like to look back a little bit on that amazing year.

How did the Big Year go? in one word, AMAZING! 437 is more than I could ever have imagined in my wildest dreams. With just 13 more birds I would have had 100 more than my original goal of 350.

Were there any "big misses"? Yes, I think there are in all Big Years. Some were simply "misses" and a few I chose not to chase due to cost, time, etc. The one that I didn't get that I "should have had" was the White-throated Thrush (AKA White-throated Robin) in Estero Llano Grande State Park in texas. Both my dad and I put in hours of searching for that Mexican Mega but it just didn't show itself to us. It was supposed to be so reliable that it was almost bizzare. A few that I didn't chase due to restrictions. One that I felt like "I should have chased" was the Hammond's Flycatcher at a graveyard in Corpus Christi Texas. We were planning on chasing it but we would have to be in downtown at rush hour and it would rip out some precious time in the RGV. So we chose not to chase it. But I surely later regretted it...until I was in Madera Canyon Arizona when our guide spotted and identified my life Hammond's! Sometimes hard choices turn out to be good in all regards in the end.

Birds that I'm "shocked" I got? There was surely a few of those. A few of the biggest surprises were very rare birds that showed up WHILE I was in the state they showed up in. One of those examples would be the Rufous-capped Warblers in Florida Canyon Arizona. During my first night in Arizona I read about these rare mexican birds showing up and I later got them. Several other examples included included 3 in Maryland. On my first trip to Maryland, I went trying to just get the Calliope Hummingbird. But while I was there a Le Conte's Sparrow showed up and I got that too. On that same trip I read about a Snowy Owl in New Jersey that had recently shown up and we chased it and got it. On my second trip to Maryland, which we thought was just for Black-headed Gull got me the gull but a Black-headed Grosbeak showed up while we were there..and well, we got that one too.

Anyway, these are just a few reflections on my amazing year. Today I go chase a Greater White-fronted Goose that has shown up near where I live and although it won't be a lifer (it was number 368 for my J. Big Year) it's a wonderful 2012 year bird.

Good birding!

"Wild With Gabriel" blog

2012-01-30T14:33:00.001-08:00

Now that my Junior Big Year is done, I'll continue blogging on my new blog "Wild With Gabriel": www.wildwithgabriel.blogspot.com

Enjoy my new blog!

Painted Bunting! Total is 437, not 436!

2012-01-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

When I was in the Florida Everglades in January of 2011, just days into my Junior Big Year I took a photo of a bird I could not identify. Especially since I did not know I was doing a Junior Big Year at the time, every bird's ID didn't matter and I didn't ever really think much more about that bird.

It wasn't until now, over a year later while gathering photos for my Junior Big Year presentation that I came across that photo. Female Painted Bunting jumped at me! I grabbed the bird book. I opened to the Painted Bunting page and low and behold, that bird that was "just another bird" was my only Painted Bunting of the year! This means my total is not 436, it's 437.

Wow! A very nice surprise.

Good birding everyone!

Junior Big Year talks

2012-01-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody,

wanted to let everyone know that I'm scheduled as of now to give a presentation about my Junior Big Year at at least 2 local bird clubs. Augusta Bird Club on April 9, 2012 and Monticello Bird Club on October 11, 2012. It would be great if anyone would like to come out and hear me talk about my J. Big Year.

Also, if anyone has a group or anything that you'd like me to speak at, if it's in my area (basically all of Virginia other than some southern parts) I'd be happy to come.

On another note, my 2012 birding has got off to a great start. Right now my year total is 71 species. This past Monday I did an Augusta County Big Day getting a total of 62 species. Quite an excitement in this first half of the new month has been a Lark Sparrow, a rare visitor to Virginia that's been hanging out just 30 minutes from where I live for the last 11 days and is still being seen.

Good birding!

Gabriel KestrelSwan

Oh what a year

2011-12-31T16:25:00.000-08:00

As the sun set the evening of this last day of 2011 my Junior Big Year was ending. What a year it was. 436! 436! First bird: European Starling, out my bedroom window, January 1st. Last bird: Bell's Vireo, "The Beanery" Cape May New Jersey, December 30th. And 434 in between.

A few of the most memorable birds:

Brown Shrike
Gyrfalcon
Horned Puffin
Black-vented Oriole
Green Jay
King Eider
Prairie Falcon
just a few of the most amazing.

Now that the Big Year is done, I'll of course continue birding. I will continue to grow my life list and keep a year list in 2012, but it won't be that intense traveling and relentless birding. I will still have plenty of travel in 2012: Glacier National Park in Montana, Canaan Valley West Virginia, and Chincoteague Virginia.

I would like to give my thank yous to everyone that has helped me on this amazing Junior Big Year. There is a very long list of so much help from so many people that I couldn't begin to list everyone. But the biggest, most important thank you to my amazing parents for their incredible support. I literally could not have done this Junior Big Year without you.

On another note, I am happy to say that Skyler Bol of Colorado is setting out tomorrow on his own Junior Big Year, inspired by me! I wish you best of luck and tons of fun, Skyler. His blog is http://2012juniorbigyear.blogspot.com/

Thank you to all of my blog readers for following my progress on this amazing year.

Day two of New Jersey - 4 more from the shore!

2011-12-30T13:50:00.001-08:00

Cape May. Cape May. The name is fame for birders. Hawk migration, best in the country. Rarities abound. Cape May is birding paradise. And today I got to see why.

I started the birding day at Lake Lilly in Cape May where a Eurasian Wigeon has been reported for quite some time on eBird. We arrived and the ducks were everywhere. Gadwall, Mallard, and American Wigeon made up the bulk. But there were others, diving ducks, cormorants, swans, geese and grebes. There had to have been at least a few hundred waterfowl individuals. I searched and searched and searched. I looked through small and large groups of American Wigeons, and Gadwall. I checked to make sure that every wigeon didn't have a red head. Several times I thought "it's not here" but what keep getting me was that on nearly every scan I kept finding birds that I hadn't seen on previous scans. Even very obvious birds, like the only cormorant on the lake and Mute Swans. If I hadn't spotted them before, maybe I hadn't spotted the wigeon. I searched and searched some more. I really had covered basically everywhere on the lake and was losing hope fast. But there was one last group to check out one more time - a mixed Mallard/Am. Wigeon group on the far shore. I sifted through that group with my scope. American, Mallard, American, Mallard, Mallard, American, EURASIAN! Yes, Eurasian. And it was. The male Eurasian Wigeon showing all of his beauty. Number 433 for my Junior Big Year. A wonderful success. From there we headed to the Cape May hawk platform, just to see where the famous spot was. There we met several birders and they told us a spot that was even better for Saltmarsh Sparrow than the one I had heard about. After the hawk watch we headed to the "beanery" where a Bell's Vireo has been reported lately. There were 3 other birders there and the time we were there, no vireo. We went to the new spot for Saltmarsh Sparrow that the folks at the hawk watch told us about. We walked around and then I spotted a good looking sparrow fly into a bush. I approached slowly, pishing and making mouth noises. No sparrow. No sparrow in that bush. I didn't see it fly away, neither did my dad but it was gone. I knew I couldn't let this sparrow go. From what I saw I knew that there was at least a 50/50 chance that it was a Saltmarsh. "there!" I exclaimed quietly. Then it gave a brief but good look. It was what we hoped it was, the more common one of the two Sharp-tailed Sparrows - Saltmarsh. A life bird for both my dad and I and number 434 for my year. After the sparrow score we headed back to the Avalon Sea Watch where we got the life Common Eider yesterday and where the King Eider is supposed to be. It took some time just to find the eider/scoter flock but we did, though they were pretty far out. We had to get to a good location for a good view but we did and I was sifting through a part of a distant part of the flock when I spotted the male King Eider. How beautiful. I have long-wanted to see a King Eider but little did I think it would be on December 30 in the last 48 hours of my Junior Big Year. How amazing. From there we headed to the spot I originally heard was good for sharp-tailed sparrows to try our luck on the other one - Nelson's. We walked around for a good while but no luck. Given my cold and everything we were now tired so we took a brake and rest and ate. Things were clicking so the next obvious thing to do was to go try for the Bell's Vireo again. When we arrived there were no other birders, and no vireo to be seen. We walked around and sat around but the whole time we were looking. I followed a bird around for a while, hoping it was the vireo but it turned out to be a chickadee. While sitting I spotted it - the Bell's Vireo! It sat around and gave a nice look to both my dad and I. I didn't catch the wing bars, my dad didn't catch the eye marks, but we both caught the yellow on the sides, so between us we saw all the field marks. Success! Right after I saw the vireo some other birders showed up. We left a little while after they arrived but never saw the vireo again. They stayed longer, I hope they re-found the vireo!

Tomorrow I drive home. I really don't expect to get any more year birds but ending the year at 436 is amazing. I will do one or two last posts on New Year's Eve and or New Year's Day. What a year it's been.

Day one of New Jersey trip - number 432

2011-12-29T15:07:00.001-08:00

A couple of days ago I came down with a cold so I've been a little bit slow going. I contemplated not going on this trip but the cold wasn't bad enough to stop me from my last Big Year trip. Normally I would say "oh, let's just go next week" but at this point in the game there IS NO next week - I am now in the final days of my Junior Big Year. 2 more full days.

I left home about 9:30 am this morning with my dad. We went through the Baltimore area on our way here and since I've been there for 2 chase trips in the last 1+ month, I recognized almost every place in the area. In fact, we drove within a mile or two of where I saw my life Le Conte's Sparrow back in late November!

Our first stop in NJ would be the Avalon Sea Watch where a group of Common and a male King Eider are being seen. We arrived to find several other birders there. The Common Eiders were easy - tons of them, both male and female swimming about. A lifer for me and number 432 for my Junior Big Year! There were lots of other sea ducks as well - Black and Surf Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks. But the King Eider was not to be seen. One of the birders there said that the King was seen about an hour before I arrived but a boat scared it off. I will try for it again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the day - I have 7 targets. I will start in Cape May and try to locate both a Bell's Vireo and Eurasian Wigeon being seen in Cape May. Then I will work my way up to Avalon again, stopping in Stone Harbor at a location where Saltmarsh and Nelson's Sparrows are often seen, according to eBird. It's going to be a great day.

I have some photos of the sea ducks including the eiders from today that I will post on this blog later.

The Cape May plan

2011-12-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'm leaving Virginia for the last trip of my Junior Big Year - heading to Cape May and area, New Jersey. It's going to be amazing! In fact I have 8 targets, of course I won't get all of them but they're all possible.

The 4 main and perhaps easiest targets will be:

Common Eider - lots are in the area. Should be very easy.
King Eider - what a bird to get in the last days of the year. I've always wanted to see a King Eider. A male is being seen with a Common Eider flock at the Avalon Sea Watch.
Eurasian Wigeon - a drake E. Wigeon is being seen at a lake in Cape May.
Bell's Vireo - a Bell's Vireo is being seen at a place in Cape May.

The other targets:

Nelson's Sparrow - hit or miss at a certain location.
Saltmarsh Sparrow - hit or miss at the same location as Nelson's.
Razorbill - seen occasionally from the Avalon Sea Watch. In fact, on Dec. 22 5 were seen.
Black Guillemot - seen occasionally from the Avalon Sea Watch.

It will be awesome.

Heading to Cape May to end my Big Year

2011-12-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

The plan for the end of my year has become obvious. John Vanderpoel's pelagic trip out of NC has been delayed so he will not have time to come to Tennessee for the Hooded Crane after all. This makes my choice even more clear: I'm headed to New Jersey, the state of my Snowy Owl, only in the totally other part of the state. I'm headed to Cape May, a legendary bird watching locality. This is a perfect place to end my Junior Big Year. You never know what will show up there (heck, earlier this month they had a Bell's Vireo!) If the 3 birds that are in that area now hold, the NJ trip could bring my year total to 434 and close it off with that.

Right now in Cape May there's a male Eurasian Wigeon that has been hanging around for quite some time. About 30 minutes north of Cape May there's the Avalon Sea Watch that for the last several days has hosted Common and King Eiders.

I will be leaving Thursday for 2 nights, which will bring me home Saturday, the very last day of 2011. I will plan to post each day - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Update

2011-12-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! It's Christmas eve day and it's time to announce my plan for the last week.

My hope is to still chase the Hooded Crane when (if) John Vanderpoel (bigyear2011.com) goes for it. If he doesn't, my dad and I still may chase the Hooded Crane or any other vagrant that shows up. I hope to do one more chase before year's end.

That's really the only news. I'll post when I know what (if any) rarity that I plan to chase.

Merry christmas!

The end is closer than ever

2011-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just a couple of days from now. That means one thing: my Big Year is closing in on the end. What a year it's been! 431 species so far including such rarities as Black-vented Oriole, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Brown Shrike, Garganey, and Rufous-capped Warbler.

My plan now? I'll be going as strong as she goes right up and on through December 31st. My next (and perhaps final) ideal chase would be to go to Tennessee to chase the Hooded Crane and meet up with John Vanderpoel. However, right now there is a Nutting's Flycatcher in Arizona, a Dusky Thrush in Anchorage, and a pelagic trip that John is scheduled to be on out of Hatteras NC on the 27th. We'll see if it works out for us to meet John in Tennessee. I'll be watching the listservs for any good rarity. I'll post on Christmas day if not sooner with an update and tentative plan for the last week. It's gonna be a great ride to the finish line.

The grosbeak chase

2011-12-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning in Harrington Delaware, positioned about 23 minutes away from Denton, Maryland where the Black-headed Grosbeak immature male has been visiting a feeder.

I arrived at the feeder at 10:15 am and luck would have it - the Black-headed Grosbeak was feeding right there when I arrived! It stayed 3-5 minutes and then flew away. We went to the car to get the camera but the grosbeak didn't show again soon. Given that it only shows every approx. 2 hours it wasn't worth us staying. We got the bird. We got a great look. That's what matters. Another lifer and number 431 for my Junior Big Year!

On a side note, last night we created a life list for my non-birder mama and the BH Grosbeak was her number 295! Go work on 300 mama.

The Maryland trip was a success. I'm happy to be sitting at 431. Let's grab a couple more before it's over.

Black-headed Gull photo

2011-12-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the photo of my number 430.

The white-headed Black-headed Gull. Black-headed Gulls only have black heads in breeding plumage.

Mission accomplished! The white-headed Black-headed Gull

2011-12-21T15:16:00.001-08:00

My plan for Maryland chasing was to grocery shop, etc. this morning and chase my two targets (Black-headed Gull and Black-headed Grosbeak) this afternoon and tomorrow morning. I arrived at the Best Buy Parking Lot of Hunt Valley MD at about 12:30 this afternoon. There were two wonderful birders (Russ Ruffing and Steve Collins) there both trying for the bird. In fact, Russ is who first found the gull! Steve was visiting the area from Texas and the Black-headed Gull would be both a new "Maryland bird" for him as well as a year bird. Steve has a very impressive year list (I believe it's 487, please forgive me if I'm wrong). 1:00 came and went. 1:30 did too. Steve had recently been at Paper Mill Flats where the BH Gull often hangs out but he decided to run over there again, just in case it was there while my mom and I kept watch at Best Buy. Just minutes after he left I spotted a small group of Ring-bills coming in and sure enough, a much smaller gull with a black-patch on the face was traveling with them! When it got close enough I could see the red beak and legs. I called Steve (Russ had already left) and he came back. Unfortunately the gull had already left when Steve returned. Very fortunately Steve picked back up on it flying a little distance away and it came in and circled overhead for a brief moment. A lifer for me and number 430 for my Junior Big Year! Mission accomplished. That white-headed Black-headed Gull was the reason we came to Maryland in the first place.

But we had more missions. Another "Black-headed" bird, this one a grosbeak had been discovered in Maryland, only about 2 hours away in the town of Denton. We left Best Buy headed toward Denton. By the time we arrived in Denton, it was all too dark to search for the grosbeak so we continued on to the Super 8 of Harrington Delaware where I am now. We'll spend the night here and are right in position to chase the grosbeak tomorrow and then drive home.

Another Black-headed chase

2011-12-21T07:05:00.001-08:00

So I'm here in Maryland on a chase for the BLACK-HEADED Gull and I've just gotten word of a BLACK-HEADED Grosbeak about 2 hours away so we're staying an extra night in Maryland and will be chasing both black-headed birds!

I'll post tonight with what I've gotten and my plan.

No gull yet - probably tomorrow

2011-12-20T14:30:00.001-08:00

i spent from about 3-4 today searching for the Black-headed Gull at Hunt Valley Mall in Maryland. No luck today - just lots of Ring-bills. The Black-headed was seen earlier in the day though. It is being seen daily. We'll really search our heads off for it tomorrow.

I'm at the Mt. Washington Hotel and Resort in the out-skirts of Baltimore and am right in position for the full chase tomorrow. I will post tomorrow evening. Really hoping to get number 430 with this sucker.

Go north now!

2011-12-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

The choice has become obvious. John Vanderpoel is "stuck" on Adak Island, Alaska. The clock is not only ticking on his Big Year, it is on mine too. There's 2 birds that I really hope to chase before year's end, a Black-headed Gull to my north and a Hooded Crane to my south. I want to meet up with John at the Hooded Crane. But John is stuck in Alaska. I can't wait for him to chase the crane before I chase any birds. Heck, a Nutting's Flycatcher showed up in Arizona, John may chase that before he comes east for the crane. I have to go get the gull. In all likelyhood, I won't be missing John Vanderpoel because of that.

So tomorrow I'm heading to Maryland to chase the Black-headed Gull. I can get that bird out of the way and then just focus on watching John's plans and chasing the crane when he does. I'll post tomorrow night at my hotel in Maryland.

Christmas Bird Counting

2011-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

I spent this weekend on two different Christmas Bird Counts for my 2 local counties - Augusta and Rockingham.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went out with Rockingham CBC coordinator Bill Benish and his wonderful friend Larry. It was great to be birding with Bill again, he is a great birder and got me my life Acadian Flycatcher back in May. We had a fun, great day and saw some nice birds including a beautiful look at a Merlin eating a bird (titmouse?)

Today I went out with Augusta CBC coordinator Allen Larner, Augusta Bird Club president Penny Warren, and Penny's neighbor Mark who is also a birder . They're all wonderful people and good birders but especially Allen, he his an amazing birder and a SPECIAL THNAKS to him for getting me many birds over the course of my Big Year. Today was amazing. I got up early to join them in "owling". We didn't hear any owls but got a beautiful look of a Barn Owl in the headlights on a pole alongside the road. Beautiful! Probably my highlight was seeing 2 Brewer's Blackbirds, I got them as a lifer in Arizona but they hold a special place for me, they were my number 400 for the year. Great to see them again.

I plan to chase the Hooded Crane in Tennessee next week and I'll coincide my trip with whenever Big Year birder John Vanderpoel (www.bigyear2011.com) is going so I can meet up with him at the crane. However, at the moment John is "stuck" on Adak Island, Alaska due to a failure with an airplane-related issue. He may not be able to leave Adak until Thursday!

Let's see how it goes. For those wondering my count that haven't been following along, my year total is 429.

Plan

2011-12-16T06:57:00.000-08:00

The last half month of my Junior Big Year is all shaping up. I'm hoping to chase 2 more certain birds before the year is over.

Originally my plan was to chase the Black-headed Gull in Maryland early next week but a Hooded Crane has showed up in Tennessee. I would love to chase that bird too. I have been following John Vanderpoel's blog all year long who is doing a BIG Big Year and is actually trying to beat the all-time record of 745 species, set by Sandy Komito in 1998. John is currently at 740 species and right now is on the remote Alaskan Island: Adak. Best of luck on Adak John! John's wonderful blog is: bigyear2011.com I may actually be able to cross paths with John for the first time at the crane in Tennessee. John's planning to chase it after he's done in Alaska, if the crane stays around. My hope is to chase the crane and meet John there before Christmas, if the crane holds and John's going to be there. If that's what happens, I'll plan to chase the Black-headed Gull in Maryland between Christmas and the end of the year, if the gull stays around.

This coming weekend, I'll be participating in 2 different Christmas Bird Counts for the local counties.

I'm excited about the last couple of weeks!

Black-headed Gull plan

2011-12-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

As promised, today I would post my plan for the Maryland Black-headed Gull. I'll leave here next Tuesday, chase the bird Wednesday and come home Thursday. I was in touch with the local birders, sharp-tailed sparrows and King Rail are going to be sort of tough and far out of our way. Will just go for the gull.

Photos from Arizona day two.

2011-12-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Photos from Arizona day two. Refer to that day's post: http://juniorbigyear.blogspot.com/2011/12/arizona-day-two-nine-more-lifers.html

Enjoy the photos!

My favorite lifer from Arizona. Prairie Falcon.

A flock of Lark Buntings, a lifer.

A HORRIBLE photo of a Greater Roadrunner!

The third Vemillion Flycatcher of my life (all on Arizona days one and two) and my first adult male.

Time for a big update

2011-12-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in Virginia. All went well today with traveling from LA and what a trip it was!

My goal for the Arizona trip was to reach 400 species for year's end and I was at 378 when I went to Arizona. I knew that in all likelyhood that I would pass 400 but never in my craziest imagination did I expect to add 51 new year birds (including 48 lifers!) and be at 429 when I returned home. W O W!

A few "trivia" bits from the trip:

-I stopped off in Denver on my way to Arizona, hoping for an American Dipper. Could not find a dipper but got my life Clark's Nutcracker.
-I reached 400 species on the first birding day in Arizona, with 21 new birds that day.
-a flock of Brewer's Blackbirds was bird number 400.
-the rarest bird was the Rufous-capped Warbler seen near Madera Canyon.

I'd like to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone that helped me on this trip! An especially huge thank you to Laurens Halsey, our guide in Madera and Florida Canyons on Saturday! What a time and amazing birds, Laurens. Thank you. Thanks to everyone else: guides at Tucson park bird walks, the "Mountain Plover people" that found me Mountain Plover on Friday, and many others.

My plan now? For the last 2.5 weeks I'll really be in "cleanup" and chase mode in the "local" states and hopefully add a few more birds. Tomorrow my mom and I will discuss our "chase plan" for Maryland for the Black-headed Gull and other more common birds there.

I will plan to post photos from the trip over the next few days.

Surprise...Birding in C A L I F O R N I A!

2011-12-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

Written evening of December 12 2011.

I'm sure that this title gets you all excited! Well it was a surprise for me too.

Our itinerary home from Arizona was via Los Angeles. We had a very tight (30 minute connection) in LA. Heavy rain in Tucson (yes, rain in the desert!) delayed our departure by maybe 10 minutes. Yet again, bad weather in LA delayed our arrival as we circled around before they let us fly in. We ended up getting to our gate in LA right as the doors closed for our plane to Washington Dulles. In fact we saw the plane that we were supposed to be on, a Boeing 777 United getting push back right after we walked into the terminal. Obviously, we missed the flight to Dulles. The only other flight to Dulles today was a late flight, arriving in Dulles at 11:59 pm and from Dulles we still had one more short express flight to Shenandoah Valley, and the last Dulles-Shenandoah flight leaves Dulles in the 9:00 hour. Obviously we didn't want to get to Dulles at midnight and still find a hotel, so we decided to stay in LA. This was GREAT news for me -- I knew that possible birds including Herrman's Gulls, Clark's Grebes, Long-billed Curlews, and Brandt's Cormorants were waiting at parks within a reasonable drive from the airport!

Our first stop was a park, just 9 minutes away from the airport known for great birding. I arrived, and I immediately spotted about 8 gulls (give or take a few) perched on a human-made structure. I lifted my binoculars and I just couldn't believe it -- they were Herrman's Gulls, every single one of them! This park was great for other birds as well and some of the waterfowl/shorebirds included: American Coots (by the dozens), Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard, Bufflehead, Marbled Godwit, and plover of unknown species (will be trying to get identification from expert "shorebirders" from my photos and will update blog with result) among others. We also saw a selepherous hummingbird adult male, I believe it was a Rufous. I have both North American selepherous hummingbirds so even if I made a mis-ID it doesn't effect my year list. Other than the Heerman's Gulls my highlight here was a total of 4 grebes that were either Western and/or Clark's and I will also be getting an ID on them (got photos) and will update this post with the result.

After the "Heerman Gull park" we headed to a park that has had consistent eBird report of Brandt's Cormorants, along the Pacific Coast. I saw lots of cormorants far out but I could not get a positive ID on Brandt's. I realized that the reports were probably made by excellent "sea birders" (which I'm surely not!) that have 60 X Swarovski Spotting Scopes. I wish I was one of them, but am far from it. And my lower quality scope is in a duffel bag at LAX:)

So I'm at 428 (and possibly 429 or 430 with the plover and more likely grebe).

Tomorrow I'm flying from LA back home to Virginia but sometime soon will be Maryland bound chasing.

Update evening of November 13 2011: while on the plane back home to Virginia today comparing my photos to Bird ID books, I looked up the 4 grebes that I didn't know if they were Clark's or Western. 3 of the 4 were Western (which I already have) but the forth was a Clark's! My photos showed the brighter bill and no black around the eye. Clark's is a lifer for me and number 429 for my Junior Big Year! I also looked up the plover, and it was a Black-bellied, which I already have of course.

Arizona day four - at 427 and 89 raptors!

2011-12-11T19:40:00.003-08:00

Wow! Today was a great last day of Arizona birding! I got 2 more lifers today which puts my year total to 427.

I started the birding day by spending 45 minutes at one of the best spots that our guide from yesterday Laurens Halsey said that some good birds often come to, including Magnificent Hummingbird and Hepatic Tanager. At the 40 minute mark of my 45 minutes at that location in Madera Canyon this morning the MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD came on in! It stayed around for about 15 seconds giving a couple of very nice looks! Because I had to wait 40 minutes for it, a sure reminder that patience pays off.

We left Madera Canyon and our plan for this last day of birding was to hit the Sulphur Springs Valley, look for whatever year birds we could find and since raptors or both my dad and I's favorite birds, look for raptors. We traveled the roads, essentially making a big loop covering some amazing habitat in the Sulphur Springs Valley. Even before we got to the valley we pulled over to look for Lark Sparrow. There were lots of Chipping Sparrows here, loads by the dozens if not hundreds. I knew that there had to be at least a few Lark with them. Then I spotted a group of 5, longer-tailed sparrows. 4 kept flying. 1 briefly perched! With it's distinctive facial pattering, I could confirm it as a Lark Sparrow, the second lifer of the day and number 427 for my Junior Big Year!

We had a great day in the Sulphur Springs Valley searching for raptors and ended up with a total of 89 individuals, broken down by by 6 species. Counts were as follows (raptor with highest number to lowest):

Red-tailed Hawk--53

Northern Harrier--15

American Kestrel--12

Merlin--4

Cooper's Hawk--3

Harris's Hawk--2

these are the total counts for the whole day, from Madera Canyon to Tucson via the Sulphur Springs Valley. We did very little or no back-tracking so I am confident that no raptors were double-counted.

In the Sulphur Springs Valley we also went to Whitewater Draw to see the Sandhill Cranes which was amazing.

Tomorrow before I fly home to Virginia I will try for a Broad-billed Hummingbird. I checked the listservs for near home, it looks like I may be headed north once again. A Black-headed Gull has showed up in Maryland, ironically in the very same area as where I was for the Le Conte's Sparrow and Calliope Hummingbird a couple of weeks ago. I've been in touch with a great local birder there and he said that both sharp-tailed sparrows and King Rail could be possible in the same general area of Maryland. So I'll be talking my mom into a trip to Maryland sometime before Christmas...

Arizona day three - a day at Madera Canyon with 16 new birds!

2011-12-10T19:13:00.001-08:00

Southeast Arizona continues to blow me away. Laurens Halsey, birding expert and professional birding guide with his guiding business Desert Harrier took us out this morning and my oh my it was amazing! Laurens gave us much more time and covered much more area than what he normally does for this kind of trip (but he does a wide range of things from day long trips to 3 hour bird walks for Santa Rita Lodge). He was able to get me 15 new birds (including 14 lifers) and tell me what I was listening for for number 16 for the day. THANK YOU Laurens! He is an incredible guide and if you're coming to the Madera Canyon area and need a birding guide, no one is better than Laurens and please use him: www.desertharrier.com

We met Laurens at 7 am at the parking lot at Santa Rita Lodge. He told us that there had been a Lunar Eclipse and we went to look for the end of it but the moon had already set. On a checklist provided by the Santa Rita Lodge (which Laurens helped compile!) I circled the birds I really wanted and showed that to him and from what he saw he said the first place we should go was nearby Florida Canyon where several RUFOUS-CAPPED WARBLERS had even bred in previous years and 2 had been reported for the first time since 2010 a few days ago. But we had to swing back to Santa Rita Lodge to pick up my dad's binoculars and on the way added a few common life birds for me at some easy roadside spots: Bridled Titmouse, Painted Redstart (a beautiful bird at a sapsucker sap well), and Mexican Jay (although just heard, until later when they were commonly seen). On our way to Florida Canyon we stopped at a certain location and was able to pick up Green-tailed Towhee, one of my most wanted life birds. A beautiful bird and I was able to learn it's distinctive, interesting call (of course, thanks to Laurens who taught it to me). GTT was number 413 for the year. On the walk into the Rufous-capped Warbler I added several year birds, which was terrific. The first one was Acorn Woodpecker, which we ended up seeing by large numbers later in the day. They were a year bird but the one today that was not a lifer, I got to see them back in 2009 in Monterey, CA. Great to see them again. A little bit later Laurens reported hearing Olive Warbler and I quickly picked up on the sound of this number 415. Later several gave very nice looks. I was concerned I wouldn't get an OW in Arizona but they were one of my most wanted birds so it was a great thrill. Soon after Olive we heard Rufous-crowned Sparrow, a lifer of course. Hermit Thrush was a nice "trip bird". We met several other nice birders (which Laurens knew) and we searched for the Rufous-capped Warblers. Someone called out possibly hearing Rufous-capped. Laurens heard it too, and so did I. Laurens thought it was Rufous-cap but he said that they were calling an offal lot and actively. Then one popped up. Yellow breast and rufous cap! Oh yes baby! We watched it for probably a solid 5-10 minutes. Once complete with the warbler we headed back to bird Madera Canyon. On our drive out of Florida Canyon Laurens spotted a bird that I didn't see and I asked him what it was. He replied "probably just a Canyon Towhee" but Canyon Towhee was music to my ears! I needed that as a lifer and didn't even imagine it on this trip. Laurens said that the one bird was gone but he knew a trail where they were common. That trail was our next stop and indeed we found several Can. Towhees as well as 3 other lifers! We spotted a flycatcher and it was immediately ID'd as one of the empids and because of the active wing-twitching among other identifying things, Hammond's. That was a very nice bird for me to get because every once in a while I want to kick myself for not chasing one in Texas that was there when I was, but that turned out to be okay because I got it here in Madera Canyon, 2 states to the west. Soon after that Laurens was pleased and sort of surprised to find a Townsend's Solitare which was my number 420. 425 was really within easy reach this year, and possibly today! They kept coming with Dusky Flycatcher as 421. Laurens was a little bit surprised that we found Hammond's and Dusky but not the easier one, Gray. We went back to the same sap well as we got Painted Redstart at earlier because a Red-breasted Sapsucker had been frequenting that. And believe it or not, it was there right when we pulled up and gave awesome looks to several birders! What a gorgeous life woodpecker! We searched relentlessly for an Arizona Woodpecker and once we found one we found many. My dad really liked that one as did I. That was a good 423. I was inching up to 425. Laurens took us to a good spot for Yellow-eyed Junco as well as where a Williamson's Sapsucker was seen yesterday. We didn't find the sapsucker but did the juncos. It was about time to leave Laurens but I asked him for advice. Some of my main targets were owls: Northern Pygmy, Whiskered and Western-Screech. He taught me the calls and locations and said that Pygmy may call in daylight as well. Maybe 45 minutes later I heard a Pygmy: the double-toot owl, 425! At dusk and shortly after we tried multiple locations for the screech-owls but got skunked.

I was silly enough to forget my camera this morning so I don't have many pictures but after our time with Laurens I was able to see some of the common birds again and will post a few photos from today tomorrow.

Arizona day two - nine more lifers

2011-12-10T19:12:00.003-08:00

Written evening of December 9 2011.

Wow. Today was another awesome day in Southeast Arizona! 9 more lifers today brings my year total to 409.

I started the birding day at the Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, which is known for excellent birding. Almost immediately I spotted a couple of Lesser Goldfinches but I noticed a Lawerence's with them. Lawerence's Goldfinch! That was a bird I did not expect on this trip and an exciting 401. From there I birded my way around the wetlands but my dad went ahead. I met some very nice birders at the wetlands and gave a few of them my blog address (hope you like it folks!) While watching an Anna's Hummingbird (not a year bird of course, but very nice) my dad came walking down "I think I saw that red cardinal-like thing that you were telling me about" He's not a birder, but I knew what he meant: Pyrrhuloxia. So he took me to the spot. First all I saw were Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers. But then I spotted the cardinal. Sure enough, there was a female Pyrrhuloxia! Thank you papa for finding me 402:) From there my dad and I walked around, of course looking for one thing: birds. We spotted a woodpecker fly into a tree and my dad said "Gila, right?" I responded "I don't think so, let's stay on this bird" It finally gave a pretty good look showing a lot of red around it's head and I knew it was either a Red-breasted or Red-naped Sapsucker. I went to look at my Peterson Guide to get the ID but I realized something: my Peterson Guide was GONE. We went to ask some of the people I had seen before if they had seen it, but they hadn't. On the bright side of things, they did have a Sibley Guide and they let me look up my sapsucker. It was a Red-naped, a lifer for me. Unfortunately I never found my Peterson Guide. Oh well. Fortunately I have several copies, although not on this trip. I have my Sibley Guide that I'm using now that my Peterson is gone. Happy to be at 403, we left Sweetwater and headed to the Santa Cruz Flats to drive around and do one thing: birding. One the way to Santa Cruz I spotted a Prairie Falcon along the highway, an awesome life raptor and one of the most wanted Arizona birds. Almost immediately once in the flats I spotted a large flock of birds that I was able to identify as Lark Buntings, another life bird. After the Lark Buntings, after getting oriented after being slightly lost we had an amazing flyby Prairie Falcon, a much better look than along the interstate. That was wonderful! From there we headed to a Turf Farm where Mountain Plovers and other good birds had been reported. We were fortunate to run into some other wonderful birders. After a little while they spotted what the man thought was Mountain Plovers so he got the scope out. Indeed there were about 10 Mountain Plovers, a lifer and number 406 for my Junior Big Year. Excellent! Thanks to those wonderful people for their help. They said that in certain habitat Sage Sparrow and Bendire's Thrasher were not out of the question. We drove around some roads in prime habitat and spotted a Sage Sparrow! It gave a brief but nice look. We ended up skunking on a Bendire's. After the Sage Sparrow getting slightly lost paid off as a Greater Roadrunner road ran across the road! That was one of my very most wanted birds this trip, let along this year. It was of course a lifer and number 408. We ended up seeing one more Roadrunner later in the day and managed some poor but ID-worthy photos (which I will post and some other photos from today). From the roadrunner we proceeded to a spot where a Rufous-backed Thrush (AKA Rufous-backed Robin) had been reported. We ran into several birders including the Mountain Plover people. We thought we might have had Ruddy Ground-Doves but they turned out to be Incas. Crested Caracara was a nice "trip bird" there and my first ones since Texas. The "Mountain Plover people" told us that Lark Sparrows can sometimes be seen at Tucson City Parks so we headed there. We skunked on a Lark Sparrow but got a beautiful male Vermillion Flycatcher. On our way to Madera Canyon I decided to bird some good habitat and happened upon a Gambel's Quail, which was my last new bird of the day. A hare (rabbit) came running through and scared the quail into the brush! That was quite an event.

All in all, Arizona day two scored. And tomorrow is going to be amazing. We're getting up early to go on a morning bird walk with an amazing and professional birding guide from this area. I've been in contact with him and he's helped out a lot! Thanks so much, Laurens. I will post his guiding website on my blog in tomorrow's post.

Photos from Arizona day one

2011-12-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a few photos from today. My focus was on observing so not many photos but these are what I got. Enjoy!

One of many Black-throated Sparrows seen today, and this species is one of 19 lifers today.

Not a year bird, but this Golden Eagle flyover was quite a treat.

We saw many Cooper's Hawks today, as well as a few of their Sharp-shin cousins.

Gila Woodpecker was one of the lifers today.

Not a year bird of course, but this up close American Wigeon was nice.

One of a billion Phainopepelas. Hard to believe they were a lifer this morning, because we saw SOOOO many today.

Black Phoebe. Not a year bird but the last "trip bird" of the day, and seen right after I got number 400.

Day one of Arizona - 4 0 0

2011-12-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

Wow. Wow is all I can say. Today was birding at it's best for Big Year birding.

I'm at 400 species for the year. Wow.

I added 21 new year birds today in Southeast Arizona. 19 of 21 were lifers. I will summarize the birds from each location with brief descriptions (if there are descriptions).

We started the day at Agua Caliente Park with a morning bird walk in Tucson Arizona. On the drive to the park I added 2 year birds:

Gila Woodpecker -- saw 2 on drive to Agua Caliente. At Agua Caliente and other locations they were common.

Phainopepela -- saw several on drive to Agua Caliente, they were abundant nearly everywhere I was today.

At Agua Caliente on the morning bird walk I added 9 new year birds:

Verdin

Abert's Towhee -- single bird, very nice to see

Cactus Wren -- first heard several individuals, then one gave very nice looks. Beautiful bird.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Brewer's Sparrow

Western Bluebird -- a few together, one of the 2 year birds today not a lifer

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher -- pair along trail, mellow and giving very nice looks. Excellent bird.

Black-throated Sparrow -- somebody reported seeing a few, we finally spotted one. It took about 10 minutes, and we thought the work was necessary, but only if we knew we'd see them by the dozens at a different area later in the day.

Costa's Hummingbird -- nice to grab another hummer.

Happy to be at 390 after the Agua Caliente walk, we headed to the Tanque Verde Wash in hopes of finding Vermillion Flycatcher and sparrows. There I added one new year bird:

Vermillion Flycatcher

There we met a very knowledgeable birder who said that he had just been on an excellent birding road that we had never even heard of. So we changed our plans, skipped the Mount Lemmon Hwy and headed to that other road.

What a road it was! The birds were excellent and the landscape, OMG. Sugaro Cactus in the lower elevations and pines in the higher elevations, this was amazing. On this road I added 7 new year birds:

White-throated Swift -- a few flying around. Beautiful birds.

Rock Wren

Black-chinned Sparrow -- 2 at different locations. Nice bird.

Ash-throated Flycatcher -- a very welcome surprise, this was a bird I never imagined getting on this trip. I spotted it perched atop a small tree, and I immediately thought "Great Crested" since they're common in Virginia in the summer. But there's no Great Cresteds in Arizona at all, let along them not being in the US in winter. This bird had a lighter chest and giving field marks, and most importantly range it was clearly an Ash-throated.

Mountain Bluebird

Western Scrub-Jay -- the other bird that was a year bird but not a lifer today

Juniper Titmouse

I was now at 398, just a stone's through away from 400. To close up the day we decided to go back to Agua Calliente Park and hope for 2 or more birds. There were still some birds listed on their checklist as "common" that I needed: Pyrrhuloxia, Greater Roadrunner, Gilded Flicker, and others. And a few listed "uncommon" that I needed: Brewer's Blackbird and others. So we were hoping.

I happened managed 2 new year birds at Agua Caliente Park in the evening, just enough to put me right at 400:

Gilded Flicker

Brewer's Blackbird -- year bird # 400! What a milestone. It was a flyover flock, and we later found a flock, presumably the same one along the road.

I am so thrilled to be at 400. I can't believe this!!!!!!!! And I have 3 more days of birding just to celebrate and add some more birds for 410 or 415.

Tonight I plan to do a photo post with a few photos from today.

Arriving in Arizona with 379 but without a dipper

2011-12-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned previously, today on my way to Tucson AZ I would leave the Denver airport for a while and go to a park (called Lair 'O The Bear Park) to try for an American Dipper. We got to the park, looked in the places that dippers are known to be. No dipper. We drove up the road a little bit and searched along the creek but most of the creek was frozen (not good!) We hiked a trail along a portion of the creek with open water. No dipper. We decided to try Lair 'O The Bear Park one more time. My dad stayed back and rested but I want walking, looking for a dipper. No dipper. Then I saw a bird fly over my head and I saw the black in the wings and large bill, I was 80 percent that it was a Clark's Nutcracker but that would have been a good bird and as all birders know - you can't count it until you're SURE. So of course I had to re-find the bird. I spent the following 18 minutes trompsing around a foot of snow in sandals, freezing my feet off to look for a jay-like gray bird. How many people would do that? But I'm doing a Big Year, and that would be a terrific life bird and well make up for the loss of the dipper. At the 18 minute mark (I timed it with my dad's watch) I spotted the bird fly up out of some brush. I got another in-flight look. Then it perched atop a tree. B I N G O! There was a Clark's Nutcracker perched beautifully. Number 379 at dipper park but not a dipper. Colorado was breathtaking with the fresh snow and the foothills of the rockies. I saw some excellent raptors including both eagles (Bald and Golden).

Now I'm in Tucson Arizona at the Hilton Hotel and tomorrow morning we have a morning bird walk at a local park, followed by an afternoon spent birding in the Santa Catalina Mountains. 4 full days of birding in southeast Arizona..I can't wait!

In 12 hours I'll be on a plane...

2011-12-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

This is it. In 12 hours my dad and I will be on a plane with an itinerary to Tucson Arizona to rap up my Big Year with one last big trip and in all hopes and likelyhood put me over the 400 bird milestone. This is it. I can't believe it.

My itinerary (all on United Airlines):

Shenandoah Valley Virginia-Washington Dulles
Washington Dulles-Denver Colorado
Denver Colorado-Tucson Arizona

We'll be leaving the airport for several hours in Denver, getting a rental car and going to a local park known for American Dippers and hopefully add it as my number 379. Gosh it will fell good to land in Arizona with 379, 21 birds is easy.

I will post tomorrow night in Arizona.

The end is near

2011-12-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's already 4 days into December and there's less than 4 weeks until my Big Year is over, but I plan for it to be a heck of a great 4 weeks.

In just 3 days we're southwestward, heading to Arizona where I hope (and in all likelyhood will) advance over 400.

When I'm back from Arizona I'll be in cleanup mode. Maybe a run to the coast for both sharp-tailed sparrows and King Rail or a vagrant chase or two. Who knows.

It's going to be an awesome four weeks! Unless I manage to score on a rarity before I head to Arizona (which would mean one has to show up in one of the local counties, because no traveling is on the board until Arizona), my next post will be Wednesday Night.

Gooseeight sure beats a gooseegg

2011-11-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

After my dentist appointment in Fredricksburg Va I headed east on Rte. 3 today to try for a Greater White-fronted Goose being seeing off and on lately at several ponds. I tried pond # 1. Here there were a few Canada Geese, maybe 50-100 and some assorted ducks. The highlight was 6 Bald Eagles. There was also a harrier in the area. No white-fronted goose though. We tried pond # 2. Here there were also 50-100 C Geese and some assorted waterfowl, but no target. I tried the final stop. Things looked more promising here. There were Canada Geese. Lots of Canada Geese, at least upwards of 300 and probably over 500. I spent time walking along Rte. 3 and kept searching. Then I spotted a goose without the black neck of a Canada with an orange/pink bill and black on the belly walking among the Canadas! Bingo! There was my White-front. Another lifer for me and 378 for the Junior Big Year, thus the title "gooseeight" (for three-seventy-EIGHT).

A week from today I head southwest.

Snowy Owl, Calliope Hummingbird, and Waggoner's Gap photos

2011-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

Here's 4 photos, one of the hummingbird and one of the Snowy Owl. The other two are from the Waggoner's Gap Hawk Watch in PA, in which we stopped by on our way home yesterday.

Calliope Hummingbird in Maryland, a rare visitor from the west. A lifer for me.

The majestic Snowy white Owl. What a beautiful bird for my # 377.

Me watching for hawks at the Waggoner's Gap Hawk Watch

Red-tailed Hawk at the Waggoner's Gap Hawk Watch

Tomorrow I try for a Greater White-fronted Goose being seen near Fredricksburg, Va.

A great northern wanderer - Snowy Owl

2011-11-27T17:05:00.000-08:00

I left Annapolis Maryland at about 10:30 am this morning, headed for the Merrill Creek Reservoir for the Snowy Owl being consistently reported there.

We arrived at 2:30 pm and asked at the visitor center for directions to the Snowy Owl. She said that it was a 3 mile round trip walk to the main dam where the owl was being seen. However the gates close at 4:30 pm so we need to houf it.

We arrived at the dam but no Snowy Owl. Then I spotted a group of about 10 people with spotting scopes way down by a stream. We found a trail to go there but it was steep and treacherous. We we eventually got there and there was a nice man there with a swarovski spotting scope and thanks to him I got to look through the scope at this amazing bird. A lifer for me and number 377 for my Junior Big Year! Thank you beautiful Snowy...

We then went for a thai dinner at a superb thai restaurant and am now at the Holiday Inn, Allentown PA. Tomorrow we drive home.

Back at home, I plan to make a photo post from this trip with photos of the Calliope Hummingbird, Snowy Owl, and scenery along the way.

New Jersey bound

2011-11-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

It's a Big Year, you got to try for every bird possible and one bird that I surely won't let down is one of my long-wanted life birds, Snowy Owl.

For the last long while (I'm inclined to say at least a month) there's been a Snowy Owl consistantly seen at Merrill Creek Reservoir, northwestern New Jersey.

The chase is on!

A Marylandic Adventure - Le Conte's Sparrow AND Calliope Hummingbird

2011-11-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

I asked the homeoner of the vagrant that I've mentioned several times in my blog and she said it would be okay to say the name of the species and the state as long as I don't post the location or her contact information. Thank you. So, I'll let 'the cat out of the bag'. The vagrant that I first posted about several weeks ago and chased today is Calliope Hummingbird in Maryland. I first learned about that bird on November 3rd but the next day my mom was leaving for Canada. Right after she got home my dad would leave for the Czech Republic. My mom and I were planning to go when I was away but then my mom and I both got sick. I thought that there was no chance that the Calliope would hold on until after I got back from my Eastern Shore trip (the next possible time for me to chase it) but it did. But then I couldn't go before thanksgiving. Would it really hold on that long? But it did. So yesterday my mom and I headed north, for Maryland.

To sweeten everything up, yesterday I got word of a Le Conte's Sparrow in a different part of Maryland but that I could try for as well, before I tried for the Calliope in the afternoon. But I had a commitment to be at the Calliope location at 1 pm and with hours of driving to get from the hotel, to the Le Conte's, and then to the Calliope I had a mere 20 minutes to search for the Le Conte's. I arrived on site and someone said it hadn't been seen for 1.5 hours. UGH! I didn't have all day to search for the bird by any means, and maybe it was gone if it hadn't been seen for 1.5 hours. But then someone pointed and everyone gathered around them. Did they see it? I ran to them. Sure enough, the Le Conte's was there and gave great looks. This is a major milestone, 375 for my J. Big Year! This was my second goal (first was 350, second was 375, and now it's 400)

But we had to keep going. We were two hours from the Calliope Hummingbird and we had about exactly 2 hours to get there. So we programed the GPS and hit the road. We arrived right on time (or just a minute late) but the homeoner said it hadn't been seen for a while but often feeds around 2:00 so if we waited it should show up. And sure enough, at 2:15 it was spotted perched on a small tree. Then it flew to the hummingbird feeder. Fed on some plants and flew away. Bingo! 376. I would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to the homeowner for being so gracious in letting us come to see her visiting rarity.

I'm now in the Doubletree Hotel, Annapolis Maryland and tomorrow drive home.

I am H A P P Y to be at 376!

The chase is on, once again

2011-11-25T05:39:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving my house once again today..this time for a 2-night out of state chase for number 375. The vagrant that I first mentioned many weeks ago has held on. As I stated previously, I can't give the location or species however I can say it's out-of-state and will be my number 375!

I will post tomorrow if I get the bird (which I should).

Time for an update

2011-11-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

Now that the Eastern Shore trip is done it's time to look over my Big Year and talk about how it's going.

I added 4 new birds on the Eastern Shore trip plus Eared Grebe the day before I went to the shore. How is this compared to what I hoped? Right on track. I had hoped for 375 after the trip (am at 374) however one bird is not anything to get concerned over.

My target for year's end is 400. What are the chances? Very likely! Even if Arizona treats me on the low end of things I should make 400.

Is Arizona my only new supply of year birds? basically but not totally. The vagrant that I mentioned earlier in November is still around. My mom and I hope to chase it this weekend. No telling on what it is and where until later (once it's gone). This is per the request of who discovered the bird. I will hopefully add an additional vagrant or two as well in this area before year's end.

So that's it for now. I will update if I get that one vagrant. It would be number 375 which was my second goal. Original goal was 350, I was doing great and mid-year I upped the goal to 375. Once I got back from Alaska I was doing perfect so upped the goal to 400.

Day four of Eastern Shore trip - Hudsonian Godwit, Peregrines, hawks, Kyle Wright and Bob Ake

2011-11-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, just by the title you get the point - a LOT happened today! We left Chincoteague at 8 am but would slowly bird our way down the Eastern Shore. Our first stop was near Exmore Virginia because Allen Larner (refer to day two post) said there was a chance for a Hudsonian Godwit at this location. We arrived and I thought I had a whole darn bunch of Hudsonians but that just didn't make since, especially because there was no Marbled Godwits with them. I got my book out. Willet popped into my head. Oh well, they we were Willets. But then I spotted a more distant flock of Marbled Godwits. And a grayer one with them with a white stripe in the wing! Bingo! Hudsonian! Another lifer for me and number 374 for my Big Year. Our next stop was Kiptopeke State Park Hawk Watch, I didn't plan to add any year birds here but I wanted to stop by since I spent a few days there last year, meet this year's counter Kyle Wright and hopefully see some birds. And boy was I ever satisfied! I met Kyle and right away he picked up on a Cooper's. More coops and sharpies followed suit. For the next 1.5 hours we witnessed non-stop action! Several Peregrines came through and a local dive-bombed a vulture several times! What a show. The hawk counter at Kiptopeke caught a Cooper's Hawk and Kyle brought it up to be released on the hawk watching platform. Thanks Kyle, it's always great to see raptors in the hand. Bob Ake, who did an ABA Big Year last year and holds the third highest record for an ABA Big Year (hewas second until John Vanderpoel broke his 731 this year and is now at 734 and encroaching on Sandy Komito's record 745 bumped Bob into third place a little while ago) showed up at the hawk watch.

I ended the Eastern Shore trip with an impressive 112 species for the trip including 4 lifers and 11 raptor species.

All in all, what a great trip to the Eastern Shore and I'm happy to be at 374 for the year. Arizona is just a few weeks away!

Day three of Eastern Shore trip - quieter birding day

2011-11-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

Written evening of November 20 2011.

Today my dad and I birded Chincoteague Area and explored the area. We got to see lots of good birds including terrific looks at a Wilson's Snipe and heard some more Clapper Rails (which was a lifer yesterday) but no new year birds.

Tomorrow we bird our way down the Eastern Shore and then drive home. We'll try for a Hudsonian Godwit and whatever else I can find and I'm hoping for goodness's sakes that I'll at least advance to 374 (375 would be awesome but I'm not expecting that).

Day two of Eastern Shore trip - the best clap to end a great day

2011-11-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

Written evening of November 19 2011.

Today I birded with the Augusta Bird Club at Chincoteague Virginia. Allen Larner is leading a field trip for the ABC here at Chincoteague but it was a very small turnout. Allen as leader, 2 others, my dad and I. Allen is a very knowledgeable birder. He's found me several year birds of the course of the year and I'm mentioned him several times in my blog so it was so great to bird with him here. We met the group at 8 am at the Visitor Center for Chincoteague. We birded the whole day and found some good birds including well over 50 Red-throated Loons however no year birds until...the end. Allen's group as well as the group from the Monticello Bird Club that we birded with yesterday met at Saxis Marsh, about a 30 minute drive from Chincoteague to listen for rails and look for Short-eared Owls. My target was Clapper Rail as that would be a lifer!! We arrived and one of the participants played their tape for the Clapper Rails and one responded! Then two, and more. It was soon a party of calling Clappers!!! We ended up also hearing a Virginia Rail, a good bird and a year bird for Allen Larner but not a year bird for me.

Tomorrow the bird clubs go home and we'll do our own thing around here. I don't expect to add any new birds but who knows..Sharp-tailed Sparrows of either species could happen with some luck! On Monday on our return home we're going to make several stops and with a little good luck I'll hopefully advance to either 374 or even 375.

Right now I'm happy with 373!

Day one of Eastern Shore trip - the Purple Sandpiper, Great Cormorant, an tons of other thrills

2011-11-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Written evening of November 18, 2011 ***note: I didn't have computer access where I stayed so wrote each night and am posting all now

5:00 am, I admit it, I didn't want to wake up...but I knew what lay ahead and it propelled me. Dave Hogg of the Monticello Bird Club (which I'm part of) had a trip to the Chesepeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) Islands, and Chincoteague Virginia planned. On the special CBBT Islands which normally are not open to the public held 2 life birds and other birding fun. We met Dave Hogg and 7 other birders and were escorted to the islands by the police (since the islands are closed for security reasons). Arriving at the first stop ("Island number 2") we started looking. Ruddy Turnstone, Laughing/Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, all great but I was focused on life birds, year birds, birds that would bring me closer to 400 species for 2011. I found 3 shorebirds, a Sanderling, and a Dunlin but joined by a huge prize -- Purple Sandpiper, a life bird for me and number 371 for the year. While watching the Purple Sandpiper, Brenda Tekin yelled out Great Cormorant. I hauled fast the less than 50 yards to her; that would be another lifer for me! Sure enough, I got distant but ID-worthy looks of this number 372. We birded our way on 2 more of the CBBT Islands and then up the Eastern Shore. We saw no more year birds but saw a low hunting harrier, several Bald Eagles, a Merlin, and much else. We arrived to Chincoteague in time to see the Snow Geese put down for the night. I ended the day with 66 species including 2 lifers and 7 raptor species!

I'm now in the Blue Heron Motel, Chincoteague VA and tomorrow will bird around here and hopefully add a couple of more list birds...

Eared Grebe, 370!

2011-11-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

Eared Grebe in Virginia, photo by Allen Larner

My mom asked me a question this morning around 11:30 am (yes, she's not a birder) "what's an Eared Grebe?" I responded "it's a REALLY RARE type of grebe in this area" "is it a year bird for you?" she responded "heck yes, a lifer!" I said. She had gotten word that one of the area's best birders Allen Larner had found an Eared Grebe only maybe 30 minutes away at Stuarts Draft. I didn't have directions though. So I called Allen. He gave directions. Next thing you knew, we were off.

I arrived at the pond where it had been seen and within seconds I spotted the grebe. It swam around giving terrific looks! Surprisingly the only other waterfowl there was a single American Coot. Eared Grebe, what a great life bird and # 370 for my Big Year!

On another note, on my way to Arizona my dad and I are going to rent a car for a few hours in Denver, Colorado and go chase an American Dipper. I've been in touch with a local birder and there's a certain park I will very likely be able to get a dipper at.

Tomorrow it's off to the Eastern Shore.

Top 10 targets

2011-11-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

I've created a top 10 target list for the 10 birds I most want for the rest of the year, although, of course I'll take any winged creature that I have not yet seen in 2011! Of these top 10 I have a reasonable chance at finding all of them (ok, well maybe not a "reasonable" chance at King Eider, but it's one of the birds I would so love to see and there is a chance on the Eastern Shore of Virginia this coming weekend).

Top 10 list:

King Eider
Prairie Falcon
Purple Sandpiper
American Dipper
Pyrrhuloxia
Olive Warbler
Green-tailed Towhee
Phainopepela
Costa's Hummingbird
Greater Roadrunner

The Eastern Shore trip is just around the corner now..departing in less than 33 hours, birding starts in just over 37 hours!

Update

2011-11-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

It's time for a quick update to say how my year is going for numbers, my plan, etc.

I'm in perfect shape. My current year total is 369 and I'm right in place for 400+ at year's end (400 is my goal).

My plan:

I have my eyes on a certain species that I hope to have be number 370. I'm not going to let the 'cat out of the bag' on this one. All that I can say is that it's a vagrant from the western US, it's hanging around at a certain out-of-state location, and if my mom and I are healthy and the bird sticks around we are going to chase it at the end of this week.

Next big trip is the Eastern Shore: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Islands and Chincoteague. Trip is leaving in 10 days and will last 3 days. I hope to add 5 year birds here, some of my targets are Purple Sandpiper (easy), Great Cormorant (easy), Hudsonian Godwit (unlikely but possible), Nelson's Sparrow (hit or miss), Common Eider (hit or miss), King Eider (unlikely but possible), and any vagrant that might be in the area. I hope to be at 375 after this trip.

After that I have a possible slot for a vagrant trip somewhere in the state, and then it's on to ARIZONA. This is the trip that will put me to 400 if I will get to 400 which I very likely will. This is my last resource for year birds, after this trip I will likely get no more year birds unless a vagrant pops up somewhere in my neck of the woods. There are so many targets for Arizona but I'll just list a few..Western and Whiskered Screech-Owls, Phainopepla, Pyrrhuloxia and much else.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 12 2011: My mom and I have both come down with colds so we won't be chasing the vagrant that I mentioned in the first part of this post. Well, for now anyway. If it happens to stick around until we're back from Chincoteague we'll try to chase it then. So unless a vagrant happens to show up right near home here the next place I'll add year birds is the Chesepeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Islands on next Friday. This is the first part of my three-day long Eastern Shore adventure. If I have internet connection where I'm staying I plan to post Friday Night.

Saw-whet Owls

2011-11-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (uh, today at 1 am!) I gave a very quick update saying that last night I added Northern Saw-whet Owl as year bird number 369. Here's the story.

Clair Mellinger and Charles Ziegenfus ("Zig") run a Saw-whet Owl banding station, about 1.25 hours to my north. We went several times last year, it is amazing. One night we were there last year Clair caught 13 owls. Last night Clair and Zig caught 6 owls. It is amazing..my dad and I got to hold them and release them on the picnic tables. So special BUT netted birds don't count for the list. I asked Clair if I would be able to hear one or see a non-netted one. He said likely for the first option but very unlikely for the second. So we were hoping to hear one. We listened and listened but no calling owl. We released one on the picnic table and it flew up and away. Over 10 minutes later my dad spotted a Saw-whet perched in the parking lot. Whether this was the one we had released earlier is unknown but I say I can count that bird. Clair said that he almost never sees that and he indeed agrees that it is countable. Success!

So there's the story, NSWO is year bird 369.

Until later
KestrelSwan

Saw-whets

2011-11-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

A very quick update..

went to a Northern Saw-Whet Owl banding station this evening. We caught 6 owls, but netted birds don't count. Fortunately, I was able to see an un-netted bird which made for year bird number 369 (yes, I'm back at 369 after my Virginia Rail "glich")

It's 1 am and I'm tired. Will update with info about the NSWO tomorrow (well, today technically!)

Set back to 368

2011-11-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

While reviewing my Junior Big Year list I noticed a mistake..I have listed Virginia Rail twice. I got the bird in New York in June on my way to Ontario, Canada but I forgot but now see from my list that I also heard it in Texas in March. I had counted it twice. I need to subtract it once. This puts my number back down to 368. Oh well. Better that I catch it now than after the year and have to subtract from my end year number!

Another Goshawk and planning Chincoteague

2011-10-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

No, not a new year bird, but amazing to have 2 in a weekend and it was a year bird on Saturday. While at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch yesterday afternoon another N. Goshawk flew by! Perhaps I'll end up with more goshawks in VA than I would have at Waggoner's..they had none yesterday!

Also, while at the RGHW, Allen Larner was there and he's co-leading the Chincoteague field trip which I'll participate in the weekend before Thanksgiving. I knew I could pick up Purple Sandpiper, and Great Cormorant but others I wasn't too sure about. Allen assured me that I'd get Marbled and perhaps Hudsonian Godwit and a shot at Common Eider, and a very remote shot at King Eider. He said there was at least a 50/50 chance at Nelson's Sparrow and since I seem to have good luck with sparrows I'm hopeful. Looking good!

Until later

KestrelSwan

Not going to Waggoner's

2011-10-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

because I got a NOGO today we won't be going to Waggoner's Gap. Instead we will take the opportunity to go look for bears in Shenandoah National Park (unless a vagrant happens to show up somewhere within 3-4 hours that we will go chase).

The next big trip and year bird supply is going to be Chincoteague and some special birding islands the weekend before thanksgiving. Here I should add Great Cormorant, Purple Sandpiper and hopefully a few other year birds.

Until later.

They come to me before I go to them!

2011-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

I often count migrating birds in my yard. Today I went outside from 1:15 pm-2:45 pm and had a superb time.

By 2:15 pm I had already tallied a Northern Harrier nearly at eye level, a Bald Eagle, 2 Red-shouldered Hawks, several Red-tailed Hawks among other non-raptors. At 2:13 pm I spotted a large raptor just to my north. It proceeded to fly nearly directly overhead low giving amazing looks. I first thought it was a Red-tailed or Red-shouldered Hawk but I put my scope on the bird only to discover that it was an accipiter. I started noticing the field marks. Black by the eye, small head, OMG those tail bands are uneven, and the underside is white with gray streaking! It was a Northern Goshawk adult, my nemesis bird up until this point in the year, a year bird for me # 369.

The odd thing about this is that tomorrow I was planning to head north to Waggoner's Gap, PA to try for a goshawk. And last year right before I went to Duluth MN (2 days before) where one of my main targets was Northern Goshawks (where I saw several), I saw a large accipiter that I believe to have been a Northern Goshawk from my yard. I'm just not sure on that one though, it was fairly distant and didn't give good looks as today's goshawk did. It's like the goshawks know I'm coming for them and come to me beforehand!

Because I got a NOGO today I likely won't be going to Waggoner's Gap but I may because it's a great hawk watch and there's lots of other great raptors (although not year birds). I will update this evening or tomorrow with my plan.

Eyes on my NOGO

2011-10-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Eyes turn to the NOGO, the Franklin's Gull and Brown-headed Nuthatch (and the North Carolina trip for that mater) are now history and Northern Goshawk is the next target I lay my eyes on.

It's not long now - Sunday October 30 we're northbound to Carlisle, Pa and the Waggoner's Gap Hawk Watch.

I plan to leave and arrive at the Wag Gap watch for the last few hours on Sunday, spend the full day at the watch on Monday, and spend a good part of Tuesday at the watch and then come back home Tuesday afternoon. In all willingness I will get a goshawk in this time period. If not, that's okay, it's a wonderful hawk watch to go to with Golden Eagles common there and much else. And if I don't get a gos, I have a few possible backup plans.

I will update from my hotel Sunday night.

Day three of North Carolina trip - Eagles back home!

2011-10-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today I left the wonderful Doubletree Hotel of Durham NC at around 1:00 pm Virginia bound.

It was a nice but rather uneventful trip home until we got 30 minutes out. We stopped by the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch and upon my arrival Rose Thomas who I know was looking at a Golden Eagle! Not a year bird but always amazing to see and rather rare for this area. About 5 minutes later a Bald Eagle flew over! A nice way to be welcomed home!

I won't post until more news or when I'm heading off to Pennsylvania to Waggoner's Gap for my goshawk trip, but that will be soon (probably leaving a week from today).

Day two of North Carolina trip - the Vagrant chase

2011-10-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

There wasn't much light yet when the wakeup call rang. Is this really 7:15 am? I checked the clock. For goodness sakes it was 6:50 am and the wakeup call had come at the wrong time. Better that than late though! We were out at approx. 8:00 am and put in the intersection near the bridge where the Franklin's Gull is being seen into our GPS. But the GPS just wouldn't get a signal it was 8:20 and we still weren't more than .5 mile from our hotel. We didn't know what to do, where to go and our GPS wouldn't work. We were ready to ask for directions (but after all who at a gas station 20 minutes away would know the northerly Farrington Road Bridge on Lake Jordan?) But I had the idea, check for written directions on the GPS. And that worked. Before you knew it we were on I-40 west and headed for the gull. We arrived to the lake and almost immediately spotted the flock of Ring-billed Gulls. I got out my scope. I was looking for a smaller, darker, dinky-billed gull with white crescents above the eyes. That would be a Franklin's Gull, a lifer for me and year bird number 368. I searched for it and then I spotted a smaller, darker gull! Could it be? I got the scope on the bird. I studied it and was 99 percent sure but I'm not a gull expert. Another birder pulled up and asked if it was there. I told him I was pretty sure it was the Franklin's I was looking at. I asked him for conformation help. He looked and indeed it was the Franklin's Gull. We were there only about 20 minutes and we had got it as easy as pie. Happy as can be, we headed off to another park to do some birding. As expected, I didn't come up with any year birds but I tallied 25 species plus a confusing fall warbler. Highlights included many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, several Brown-headed Nuthatches which was a year bird just yesterday, a Magnolia Warbler, a Great Blue Heron, a Killdeer that flew right by me, and an Osprey in addition to White-throated, Song, and Chipping Sparrows.

What an awesome trip - the 2 target year birds and so much else fun!

Tomorrow we head home to Virginia, but not for long, by the end of the middle of the first week November we're headed north to Waggoner's Gap PA to try for a NOGO (N. Goshawk).

Until later,

KestrelSwan

Day one of North Carolina trip - Brown-headed Nuthatch and Big Year movie!

2011-10-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

This afternoon around 1:30 pm my mom and I pulled out of New Hope Virginia, North Carolina bound with eyes on the Franklin's Gull and Brown-headed Nuthatch. Around 6:00 pm we pulled into Chapel Hill North Carolina and arrived at the health food store. As luck would have it I discovered a "birdy" area right around the parking lot of the food store. House Finch, American Goldfinch, but my eyes were looking for a nuthatch. I saw an interesting bird fly into the tree and I looked carefully at it. Clearly a nuthatch but I didn't have binoculars so I couldn't tell what kind. But then thank god I heard it call - Brown-headed Nuthatch! Number 367 for my Junior Big Year.

We got everything we needed in the shop and continued on, to a movie theater to check when the Big Year was playing in case we wanted to go see it tomorrow after I search for the Franklin's Gull. Luck would have it, I arrived at 7:02 pm and the Big Year started playing at 6:50 pm. That means we where there in perfect time to arrive just in time but miss the previews. We got tickets and in we went. We still had to see some previews but fortunately didn't miss any of the Big Year. It was a wonderful movie with some amazing bird scenes (talk about the fallout on High Island Texas! My gosh!) I also loved the scene of the Great Gray Owl in the snow. Just awesome! For any birders that haven't seen it yet, I HIGHLY SUGGEST it.

We're now in the Doubletree Hotel of Durham North Carolina, but are you sure this is a hotel? It's as big as a house! And are you sure this is 3 stars? It's good enough to be a 4-5! We got it on Hotwire for $52 per night but it's normally about $150 per night (which in itself seems low for this room!)

We're right in position to get up in the morning and go to the Farrington Road Bridge where the Franklin's Gull is being seen. I hope to get it early so we can explore the area, bird other places, etc. tomorrow but we'll be on site all day to wait for the bird if that's what it takes.

I will likely get to 368!

2011-10-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

More exciting news:

I asked for help on the Carolinas birding list for directions, etc. to the Franklin's Gull. Many people have responded and BIG THANKS to all of them - now it will be easy to find the bird!

Someone told me that they read on this blog that I need Brown-headed Nuthatch. And yes I do. He said that if I learn the call it's easy in the pines along the lake that the Franklin's is at. That's excellent news as it makes for a likely 2 year birds which will put me at 368 for the year, just 32 away from 400! In Arizona I'll dash through 400. Eyes are on the end of year number! 402? 406? 410? January 1st, 2012 12:00:00 am will tell!:) No, not December 31st, 2011 11:59 pm because what if I heard an unusual owl calling in the last minute of 2011? Yes, unlikely, EXTREMELY unlikely, but you don't count your number until the year is officially over!

The chase is on!

2011-10-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

I just got notified of a Franklin's Gull that is being seen daily from a certain bridge near Chapel Hill North Carolina. This is a rare straggler to the east and a bird that I need for my year list. Tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 22 my mom and I are taking off to NC! We plan to search for the bird (and find it) on Sunday and return home Monday.

We have the hotel and everything booked, we're all set if I can get the printer working to print up the information!

I plan to post each day with updates. Franklin's here I come!

Mid-October overview

2011-10-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

It's now early/mid October and I only have 2.5 months left in my Junior Big Year.

It's been over a month since my last year bird (Red-necked Phalarope, number 366 on September 10). Truthfully, this is not surprising super surprising. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Blue-winged and Connecticut Warblers (other than an odd vagrant) would be the only birds that I could possibly still pick up in my area. Those are very tough and it's now late for them. I won't really get any more new year birds in may home area other than possibly Northern Goshawk if I get really lucky.

I'm at 366 for the year and 400 is my goal for the year's end but if I get in the 390s somewhere I'm solidly happy. I'm over 350, my original goal, what more can I ask?

Brown-headed Nuthatch will be the easiest year bird I still can pick up. It is very easy on a certain trail in Chincoteague Virginia, a place I'm visiting this November.

Northern Goshawk will nearly certainly be placed on my year list one way or another. In late October or early November I'm making a quick run up to Waggoner's Gap Hawk Watch in Pennsylvania where I should be able to get a gos. If not I have a couple of backup options. Goshawks do rarely migrate through this area. The local Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch (where I've been spending most of my time lately) records one or two most years. Arizona has a population of Goshawks and with luck I can possibly get one.

On my trip to Chincoteague Va in November I'll be stopping over at some awesome birding islands with the Monticello Bird Club. These islands can hopefully host several easy year birds: Great Cormorant, Purple Sandpiper, one or both of the Sharp-tailed Sparrows, and possibly an oddity.

Arizona will nearly surly get me 20-30 year birds.

I should make 400 but you never know. What if weather scrues up Chincoteague, the Islands, or Arizona and diminishes the number of year birds I get? There's always iffs.

On another note, I may have to subtract a bird from my year list: Northern Hawk-Owl. The one and only individual I have this year was the injured one I rescued and found alive on the side of a road in Alaska (see August entries in my blog for more information in the post titled Day eleven of Alaska trip - Welcome to Denali I would say!). Because the bird was found injured, unable to fly along side of the road I don't know if it's countable or not. If any of you readers have info on this, please comment and let me know.

UPDATE OCTOBER 14 2011: last night I attended the monthly meeting of the Monticello Bird Club in which I'm on the board of directors for. This month's speaker was Bob Ake, who did a Big Year in 2011 and ended up with the second highest record for a Big Year (731)! I asked Bob about my Northern Hawk-Owl and he said that I can keep it on my list. He said that since I was the one to find it on the road and stumbled upon it it counts. If someone else had found it, taken it and then told me about it and I came to see "their" bird it wouldn't count, but this wasn't the case so fortunately I'm still at 366 not 365!

Until 367 or more news.

KestrelSwan

The Red-necked Phalarope adventure, it's number 366!

2011-09-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

When I was in Alaska, I went to a pond that was apparently to be full of Red-necked Phalaropes. Despite my several tries, none. A couple of days ago, here in Virginia where they're way off course one was reported about an hour from where I live, I went to look and no phalarope. Did they just like to avoid me? I didn't know. So today, the third good chance, a phalarope was reported just 30 minutes from my house. Would I finally get it this time? We went and looked in high hopes. As I pulled up, among the Wood Ducks, with my naked eye, I spotted my long-eluded target, the phalarope! The jury was still out on it's ID when I got there but it was thought to be a Red-necked. It didn't really matter to me though as Red-necked, Red, or Wilson's would all 3 be lifers for me. We stayed a while, several other birders were there including some of my friends. After I left with good photos and a life bird in hand, I headed to Shenandoah National Park where I saw a Black Bear. When I got home the email came out from one of the area's best birders, the case had been solved, it was a Red-necked Phalarope. Lifer for me and year bird 366!

They're coming like crazy, Summer T. new on list!

2011-09-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I attended a bird walk at Ivy Creek Natural Area with the local Monticello Bird Club which I'm part of. Ivy Creek is on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains than what I live on in the city of Charlottesville. For some reason, although still uncommon Summer Tanagers are present on the Charlottesville side of the mountain but occur only extremely rarely on my side of the mountain. Because of this I do not have it yet this year.

I really was hoping for a Summer Tanager on the Ivy Creek walk today and soon into the walk I asked leader Peter Brask what the chances were for one today. He said basically almost no chance as he's never seen one there. Oh well I thought. About half way through the walk someone called out a female tanager. Obviously, I assumed a Scarlet Tanager as it's the only common tanager there. But to my delight, Stauffer Miller one of the if not the most experienced birder on the walk said that it didn't have black wings and he heard it's call and that it was a Summer Tanager! The female Sum.T gave several nice looks at it perched near the tops of small trees. Lifer for me and year bird 365!

As I've said before, I'm completely happy with any number between 375 and above for total number of birds at year's end and I'm nearly 100 PERCENT that I'll get over 375 but I'd really love to get 400. In order to get that, things have to click. Yes, I'm going to Arizona and if all goes as planned that should be over 25 new birds. That gets me within arm's reach of 400. We're going to Chincoteague Virginia and area, that should bag me about 3-5 new birds. The numbers are inching up. In addition to these 2 trips, unexpected birds are crucial. Unless everything goes perfect with Arizona and Chincoteague (30+ new birds in Arizona, 5+ in Chincoteague) which is unlikely, I can't reach 400 on these 2 trips alone. This is where unexpected or hard-to-get birds come into role. I'm doing amazing with unexpected birds right now. Just since I've been back from Alaska 2 weeks ago I've added 6 new birds(which is totally unbelieveble, thus the title "they're coming like crazy!", 4 of which were unexpected (Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites, Baird's and White-rumped Sandpipers), 1 a 50/50 chance I thought I'd get it this year (Summer Tanager), and 1 an important but near-sure bird (Pectoral Sandpiper). If this trend continues, 400 is a piece of cake. If few more of these birds come, I'll end up somewhere in the upper 380s or 390s which is TOTALLY AWESOME.

Until 366 or more news.

KestrelSwan

Pectoral364!

2011-09-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

One of the last birds that I thought that I could fairly easily pick up in my home area this year was the Pectoral Sandpiper. Yesterday evening, on my way to Harrisonburg, a city about 30 minutes away from here I stopped at Leonard's Pond, a great birding location to look for shorebirds. I scanned the pond. Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer! I counted 25. Then I noticed another bird, a largish sandpiper. I got my scope on it. Oh ye baby, that's a Pectoral! I saw the brown or whatever you call it extending way down the underside. No question! I was 100 percent sure but since I have trouble IDing shorebirds I was just a bit like "no other birder saw it, can I be sure?" but I was. And later I found out that an amazing experienced birder Allen Larner stopped by that pond last evening as well and saw a Pectoral in addition to a few Least Sandpipers which I thought I also saw..so I did get my shorebirds ID'd correctly.

Pectoral Sandpiper is year bird 364!

Baird's, White-rumped!

2011-08-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

With Hurricane Irene around several good birds including Sooty Terns, Bridled Terns, and most excitingly a BROWN-CHESTED MARTIN have been seen by good birders, especially on the Eastern Shore (5 hours from me) so I couldn't see them, but I had a great day today. A good birder about 45 minutes away reported a Baird's Sandpiper, a rare bird here and a lifer I needed, so my dad and I went to the site. We arrived on site but Pete (the guy who found it) was there and it turned out he had a misidentification and it was a common Least Sandpiper. Oh well. We went to Shenandoah National Park for a quick hike on the way home and then something happened just before we got home. Let's back this all up a bit. Earlier this morning I made a quick run through my neighborhood to look for birds. I found 5 sandpipers at a local pond but I'm not good with identifying shorebirds and they remained "unknown" to me but I posted photos of them asking for ID help to a local birding listserv. So, when on the way back from the failed search for Baird's Sandpiper I came across Allen Larner, one of the best local birders. He gave me the exciting news that 2 of my sandpipers were lifers for me and fairly rare for the area. One was a White-rumped Sandpiper and the other was a BAIRD'S Sandpiper, the species that was mistakenly reported by Pete that I was on my way back from looking for! The other shorebirds at the pond of the Baird's and White-rumped were Leasts. Allen taught me all the distinguishing features of Baird's. Thanks so much Allen!

What a great day.

KestrelSwan

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Irene is tracking it's way up the east coast, I hope all people, animals and birds are safe. What's exciting though is the chance of storm-blown birds. Sooty Tern and Brown Noddy have both been reported in South Carolina from this storm and an Arctic Tern is at Cape Charles Virginia. I'd love to chase the noddy and sooty but a bit out of reach from Virginia..

I'm keeping my eyes on the listservs to see if anything good shows up closer to home...I'm also regularly checking a local pond for unusual birds.

Kite, kite, kite, kite, kite!

2011-08-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

What a day.

2 Swallow-tailed Kites and 1 Mississippi Kite have been reported for over a week (Swallow-taileds) and a few days (Miss.) in Campbell County, 2 hours from where I live in Virginia. They're both life birds I still need.

My dad and I went down today and arrived on site where other birders were including someone I know Brenda Tekin. They told me exciting news, 2 Mississippi and 2 Swallow-tailed Kites were there. I immediately saw the swallow-taileds - what a gorgeous bird! It took a minute for me to find them but I soon saw the distant Mississippis. After a little while, Broad-winged and Red-tailed Hawks were seen, and a THIRD Mississippi Kite joined the group of already-4 kites. At one time I had 5 kites, 3 Mississippis and 2 Swallow-tails in the same binocular view! A WOW moment!

Possible hurricane coming into the area next week. Storm-blown vagrants?? Hopefully!

Until later

KestrelSwan

In the best shape possible

2011-08-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on how I'm doing on my Junior Big Year:

P E R F E C T! Before Alaska I would have said pretty good but not great. I had got a few less year birds than hoped on the Ontario trip, and if Alaska and Arizona also were not great for year bird count I may not reach my goal of 375 at year's end but I thought I would. In Alaska I got 38 year birds and my goal was 20-30 and my guess was 25. Now I'm at 359 bird species for the year and 375 is going to be as easy as pie! 400 I would not say is my new "goal" (because if I don't get that I'm PERFECTLY HAPPY with just what I have now 359 given my original goal was 350) but it is a number that is my highest vision and that I'd work towards. Anything between 375 and 400 is totally great with me though.

Tomorrow I make a 4 hour round trip to try and find a Swallow-tailed Kite that's been hanging around south of Lynchburg Virginia. That would be a life raptor, super exciting bird number 360 for the year and raptors are undoubtly my favorite birds.

KestrelSwan

Denali Highway

2011-08-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

I just got back to my home in Virginia so I can't do a detailed post but I can do a basic post and will post in more detail later.

For the last part of the great Alaska adventure, we spent a few days on the Denali Highway which is a dirt road runs 130 miles connecting 2 small towns, Cantwell and Paxson. We stayed at Denali Highway Tours and Cabins, 42 miles from Paxson at a couple's place who are serious dog sledders. They are building a house and I got to sit up on the hill in what will be either their living room or kitchen for hours and watch with my spotting scope moose and caribou. It was amazing. On the Denali Highway I added 3 life birds, Lapland Longspur, Gyrfalcon, and Glaucous Gull. We got to spend 15 minutes watching the gyr hunt and pester other birds. Amazing, more info to come.

South of Paxson on the way back to Anchorage not on the Denali Highway, I spotted several Swainson's Hawks, a life bird.

And I got home to exciting news - 2 Swallow-tailed Kites are hanging around just 2 hours from where I live! Saturday I'll make the run for them.

KestrelSwan

Days twelve and and thirteen of Alaska trip - The Denali experience

2011-08-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

We planned to take the bus into Denali National Park for three days, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Yesterday we went in 25 out of the 90 miles into the park and just got an idea of how the bus system works and get an idea on where to hike. We were fortunate to be able to meet Alan, the park's bird expert. I told him some of my target birds like Lapland Longspur, Rock Ptarmigan, and White-tailed Ptarmigan and he said the hike to do was Stony Dome. For Long-tailed Jeager he said Sable Pass. We did Sable Pass yesterday but no jeager, there was a nice Golden Eagle there though but not a year bird.

Today my dad and I hiked Stony Dome but it was too steep that we couldn't make it to the summit. We made it about half way up and on that part of it we got terrific looks at one of my target life birds for the hike - Rock Ptarmigan. We saw lots of awesome wildlife in Denali today - caribou with babies, grizzly bears (10), moose (bull and cow with calf), red foxes, dall sheep, and more. This evening while hiking on this property I came across one of my most wanted life birds - the Pine Grosbeak.

Awesome day!

Day eleven of Alaska trip - Welcome to Denali, I would say!

2011-08-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Wow - what an amazing day today has been. Grizzly Bear and cub, 2 Moose and what amazing birds...

We planned to hike a 5 mile loop called the Byers Lake Loop Trail in Denali State Park and we did the first part of the trail (the sign said a mile but it didn't seem like a mile, it seemed like 1.5 to 2 miles!) but then there was a bridge that was WAY too dicey to cross. The hike was well worth it though even though we couldn't do the loop as on the way to the bridge we came across a pair of Willow Ptarmigan on the trail and got to have amazing encounter with them, following them down the trail. Life bird! We drove another approx. 50 miles on the way to our hotel near Denali National Park and we stopped to look for bears and I found a mother grizzly with a cub. Just down the road from there my dad and I spotted a bird struggling along side of the road and my first thought just as we drove by was "maybe Saw-whet Owl". I thought that only because it's the only smallish northern owl I am familiar with. We pulled over and walked back. It was a bitter/sweet thing because what we found was a Northern Hawk-Owl (a life bird for me) but unfortunately it had been hit and was unable to fly. Fortunately only the wing appeared to be hurt and the bird was in overall good condition. We thought about what to do but my dad and I saw that the only way the bird would have a chance it living is if we took it and tried to find a raptor rehabber. We threw a pillow case over top of it and put it in my lap and we headed north with it. Fortunately just a few miles up the road was Centwall, a small town where maybe a wildlife rehabber was. We asked around but no luck except for a vet which wasn't there and in all odds would not take an owl. 30 miles up the road was the town of Denali and the entrance to the national park. Perhaps there'd be a rehabber there. We asked around and we came close several times but the only rehabber we could find out about was way back down in Anchorage, 4 hours away and a place we were not able to get to. We were ready to let it go back into the wild and let it die and let nature take it's course. But there was one more outdoor store to try. Maybe there'd be a rehabber contact there. BINGO! The worker there was ever so helpful and there was a bird expert giving a bird talk in Cantwell that could take the bird. Thrilled, rapped in our pillowcase we left the Northern Hawk-Owl with Darrin, the guy at the outdoor store and the bird expert's friend was going to come pick it up and it would be fed and cared for for a short while by her and by week's end would be taken to the bird rehab center in Anchorage. YEAH!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

Happy that our owl was in good hands, we drove 20 more miles to our cabin where we are now. Guess what? While birding around the cabin I saw some warblers in a tree and got terrific looks at ARCTIC WARBLERS (2)! One of my most wanted Denali life birds.

What a way to be welcomed to Denali...

KestrelSwan

Off to Denali

2011-08-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I'm heading north form Anchorage to the Denali area for a week so I may or may not be able to blog until I'm back here in Anchorage.

Day ten of Alaska trip - 350!

2011-08-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

Drum roll, drum roll, drum roll please! Drum roll, drum roll! Today I hit a major milestone for my big year - 350 species for the year!

I had heard of a Sabine's Gull hanging around near Homer so I went to look for it but the road was too rough we couldn't get to the location. But near there I did spot an immature Northern Shrike - a year bird and a very exciting one, number 350!

Now that I've reached 350 it's time for an update on how I feel my Junior Big Year is going. I say it couldn't be better! I was right on track before I left for Alaska but needed things to keep clicking in order for me to get to 375, my goal at year's end as I was only at 321 species when I left for Alaska. And boy oh boy - have things ever clicked! My goal was 20-30 year birds for the whole trip I'm now at 29 year birds so far this trip, and I'm only half way through the trip! Wow. I WILL get 375 NO PROBLEM and will be pushing up on 400.

KestrelSwan

Days seven, eight, and nine of Alaska trip - bears and some year birds

2011-08-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

On the end of day six (the amazing pelagic day) my mom and I went out to the Homer Spit, a spit of land in Homer because Karl, the pelagic birding guy said that Fork-tailed Storm Petrels sometimes can be seen from the spit. I had already tried once but wanted to try again. But my mom and I spent time there and no luck on storm petrels but we did see some neat birds like a Tufted Puffin and some Sea Otters and Seals but no year birds. After that, while driving back along the spit I spotted some shorebirds and after searching - jackpot - year bird, Whimbrel!

On Friday, day seven we did an amazing thing - we flew out with Emerald Air Service to Katmai National Preserve to watch the Alaskan Brown Bear. We did and it was totally, totally astonishingly amazing to watch them eat salmon, walk on the tundra, etc. Wow! On that trip I saw a Snow Bunting, a year bird.

Yesterday I spent time with friends, etc. but no year birds.

Today I birded the area and had good success. I started out walking this property, Seaside Farm and found some nice birds but nothing new for the year. Than my dad and I went out to the spit to take another chance for Fork-tailed Storm Petrel and other birds. We looked around for the petrels and I was scanning and my dad said to me "I really want to find you that petrel!". Right as he said that I said "there it is". He said "what's there?". "The fork-tailed petrel" I said. I began watching it closely just to be sure it was. My thoughts were "smallish bird, somewhat bigger than a swallow, light gray overall, very swallow-like, low flight, yup!". Fork-tailed Storm Petrel, an awesome life bird. I said to my dad "while the tide is good, let's go try to pick up Western Sandpiper along the other part of the spit". We came across a group of shorebirds and I saw yellowlegs and different things but I was avoiding everything that I knew. I was after a life bird - Western Sandpiper. I had just looked in my Peterson guide at Western Sandpiper so I knew exactly what to look for. There - a sandpiper caught my eye that seemed to say "Western!". I looked ever so closely. Could it be? After spending time watching, while making sure it couldn't be anything else I said under my breath "yup..western" and than once I was one hundred percent sure I said it to my dad in full voice "yup - WESTERN - life bird!". Two awesome life birds this morning.

Tomorrow I head back north and leave the pacific and Kachemak Bay and head back up to Anchorage and then it's on to Denali!

Alaska has been fantastic for birds so far - the trip is not even half done and I wanted 20-30 year birds the whole trip - and I'm already at 25 or 27 making my year count somewhere just below 350. Amazing!

Days four, five and six of Alaska trip - I CAN SAY P E L A G I C!

2011-08-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in Homer Alaska at the beautiful Seaside Farm that has amazing birding just here.

On day four of the trip, I headed from Cooper Landing down here to Homer and did a beautiful dirt road along the way along which I added a new life bird, Pacific Loon! There was a pair on a pond. Once I got here to Seaside Farm where I'm staying I walked along the beach of Kachemak Bay on the pond and while scanning out on the water for ducks and such I came across a raft of ducks..Black Scoters! That was also a life bird.

Yesterday, day five I birded around the area but did not manage any year birds.

Today was the jackpot though - oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!! I went out with Karl Stoltzfus who does birding trips from his boats on the Kachemak Bay to an amazing bird rookery, Gull Island. Right as we left the dock I almost immediately got a life bird, as Karl pointed out nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes. Right after he pointed those out he said something like "there goes a Horned Puffin!" and we got good looks as it flew around. Amazing as that's not a sure bird on his trips! Soon there after we got Common Murres, another life bird for me. We continued on and we soon spotted one of my so long wanted life birds, Pigeon Guillemot and got great looks. We then arrived at Gull Island and the birds were everywhere. Black-legged Kittiwakes, kittiwakes, kittiwakes, kittiwakes, everywhere! Mixed in were cormorants, mostly Pelagic and some Red-faced Cormorants, Red-faced being an awesome life bird. Some Red-faceds were on nests. Karl told me all the things distinguishing the 2 as I'm by no means a cormorant expert:) Here for me the best bird was Tufted Puffins, and in fairly good numbers. Just amazing birds! I got both pacific puffin species! Karl also does water taxi so we had to go pick up some people and Karl said that near there there was a chance for Marbled Murrelet and indeed, we got lucky and they were there, a chick and an adult breeding plumage! It finally became time to go back but Karl said that there may be Wandering Tattlers near the dock which would be a life bird. In almost no time, 3 flew by! THANKS Karl for this amazing experience!

If you're ever coming to Homer Alaska and want to go on a birding trip OR go on a trip to Kachemak Bay State Park or other locations and need a water taxi, use Karl - he's awesome! His website is: http://www.xyz.net/~bay/

What an amazing first pelagic trip...

KestrelSwan

Day three of Alaska trip - OMG

2011-07-31T17:05:00.001-07:00

Right now I'm at Cooper Landing Alaska, half way between Anchorage and Homer and we'll be spending the night here.

What an amazing day today - not only were the birds incredible, I got to see wild Dall Sheep, Moose, Black Bear, and orphaned/injured rehabilitated animals at the Alaska Wildlife Rehabilitation Center such as Bison, Musk Ox, Kodiak Bears, Caribou and more.

Today I got 4 of my chief Alaska targets. First off as we were driving just out of Anchorage I spotted a swan and identified it as a Tundra. One of my favorite birds but first one of the year. A little ways past that I was parked in a roadside parking lot and found a woodpecker and identified it as an American Three-toed. Year bird and one of my chief Alaska targets. Then as we were driving I spotted some common gulls and then I spotted a tern - Arctic Tern! and got some great looks. What a special life bird! Once we got to our waterside place at Cooper Landing I spotted a duck flying up river and put my binoculars on it. Goldeneye! Barrow's Goldeneye! Life bird.

How amazing Alaska is treating me for birds! I had hoped for 20-30 year birds during my whole 3 week trip and I already have an amazing 13 after 48 hours! Current year count is 334.

What a great day.

Until later

KestrelSwan

Alaska trip day two - yup, we're north!

2011-07-31T08:00:00.001-07:00

Written July 31 2011.

Yesterday, July 30 I birded around Anchorage and had the most wonderful time. I managed 6 new year birds, plus 3 the day before making the Anchorage total 9, much better than hoped.

I started out at the beautiful Potter Marsh where I got 2 new year birds, Black-billed Magpie and Short-billed Dowitcher as well as many other beautiful birds including Sandhill Cranes, both yellowlegs, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and more.

Then we went to a place called Smoke Jumper Trail, a very boreal forest filled with northern trees. While walking I heard a chickadee, which I first regarded as one of the many Black-cappeds. But then it caught my attention. No! Not a Black-capped! It's a Boreal Chickadee! I walked to the sound and starting pishing. It came in and gave me the most beautiful look. One of my long wanted life birds had finally made a showing.

Then I went to a bog near where I'm staying and I got to spend time with a beautiful Moose.

Yesterday evening I went to a place called Arctic Valley and climbed to above tree line and got to hike there with magnificent views, true Alaska. On that outing I got 3 new year birds, Northwestern Crow along the way and Gray-cheeked Thrush and Rufous Hummingbird at mountaintop. The Rufous Hummingbird was attracted to the red of a chair lift of a small skiing area.

Today I head south starting my trek to Homer and am more focusing on mammals today stopping at a wildlife rehabilitation center, looking for Dall Sheep, and a hike for bears. Between now and when I get back to Anchorage next week I don't know if I'll be able to post much, but I will write and next week will post all at once if I can't post at Homer.

Until later.

KestrelSwan

Alaska trip day one - travel day and first birds

2011-07-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

ALASKA! It's official! We're here! I can't blog in detail because it's 9:50 in the evening Alaskan time, 1:50 in the morning Eastern time where I came from, I've been up close to 24 hours. Right now I'm in a nice Bed and Breakfast in Anchorage Alaska.

After landing I did some quick birding around a few spots in Anchorage in good areas noted for boreal birds. I managed 3 year birds, including two lifers (Common Redpoll and Western Wood-Pewee) as well as year bird White-winged Crossbill. Tomorrow I try to go after more boreal birds and enjoy the amazing Alaska!

Until later

KestrelSwan

Quick update

2011-07-22T11:06:00.001-07:00

I'm off to Shenandoah National Park to look for bears but I thought I'd let you all know that in a week I'm off to Alaska! So exciting!

Simcoe County birding - an awesome rap up to Ontario

2011-07-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Virginia..but NOT FOR LONG! In just over 2 weeks north is the direction I head once again. The farthest north I've ever gone..Alaska! Pine Grosbeaks, Alutean and Arctic Terns, just the thoughts get me super excited.

I haven't blogged since I've left Algonquin but here's the report from the Barrie area (Simcoe County)

I met up with Alex Mills, a professional ornithologist from the area who took me around the area birding and got me 3 valuable life birds. He said 2 should be fairly easy, Piping Plover, and Black Tern. Indeed we got both of those, which made me very happy. My third target for that day was Clay-colored Sparrow but Alex said that would be tough. He said if we saw a Christmas Tree farm we could try to hear it but expectations would be low. We indeed found a Christmas Tree farm and after walking around a while as we were getting ready to give up "chhh - chhh - chhh". Alex said "listen, there you go, Clay-colored Sparrow!". We walked over to where the sound was coming from, got to hear it excellently and got a few brief glimpses.

Thanks for 3 great birds Alex!

All in all an awesome trip to Ontario, 14 year birds bagged well. Excellent. 321 is the standing year count.

KestrelSwan

Days eight, nine, and ten of Ontario trip - a nice rap up to Algonquin and it's on to the Stayner/Barrie area

2011-06-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

The eighth day of the Ontario trip (June 27) I birded around Algonquin Park and the nearby area and had some great wildlife experiences but no year birds. June 28 (yesterday), I birded and looked for animals on my way out of Algonquin park and just a few miles before I leaving the park, I spotted one of my remaining target Algonquin birds: Gray Jay. That was a year bird and a nice surprise to find. Today I spent time with family and made a TV appearance about my bear book in the Stayner/Barrie area of Ontario.

Right now I'm in great shape with my Junior Big Year. I wanted at least 10 new year birds on the Ontario trip by the time I left Algonquin park I was in good shape and I left with 11. Perfect.

Until later

KestrelSwan

Day seven of Ontario trip - Algonquin targets, some of them anyway

2011-06-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Written at 9:35 am on Monday June 27.

Yesterday (June 26) I explored and birded Algonquin Park.

Right as I left my cabin about 30 minutes from the entrance to the park I picked up my first year bird of the day and one of my Algonquin targets - Alder Flycatcher. That made high hopes for many more year birds in the day.

I went on a morning bird walk with Peter Mills at Algonquin Park and we saw some good birds but nothing new for the year list.

Then I gave a talk at the Algonquin Park visitor centre and I talked about how to be among black bears and I read my book about bears "Oh No, Gertrude!" That went great.

In the evening I went to an area Peter suggested for some of my chief Algonquin targets such as Boreal Chickadee, Gray Jay, and Black-backed Woodpecker among other not so important targets. Peter said that there was a certain location with a Black-backed Woodpecker nest. We couldn't find that but fortunately, I got one in a different part of the trail. I also got to hear an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Both life birds for me.

Today and tomorrow I try for Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee but if I miss them, that's okay, I'll get them in Alaska. Tomorrow afternoon it's heading back south but we're going to spend a couple of weeks in the Barrie area of Ontario where my family's from and I'm going to be able to do birding there.

Right now I'm RIGHT ON TRACK for 380 to 385 for year's end. In order to keep on that track I needed 10 year birds on the Ontario trip before I left Algonquin, and right now I'm right at 10 so am looking good. Hopefully the Barrie area gives me good birds - because I really want 10 more before I get home in order to stay on track for 375 at year's end which is my much wanted goal. After Alaska I'll have a much better since if that's going to happen but if the rest of this trip, Alaska, and Arizona as well as Chincoteague, Virginia treats me well I'm right on track to go over 375.

KestrelSwan

Day six of Ontario trip - the Mourning Warbler and northern mammals

2011-06-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Written at 8:50 pm on Saturday June 25.

A L G O N Q U I N! A L G O N Q U I N! Yes I'll say it again - A L G O N Q U I N! Today I birded Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario for the first time and it's more than awesome. Although I only added one year bird today, Mourning Warbler I talked to Peter Mills, Alex Mills' son (I'll be birding with Alex in southern Ontario in a couple of weeks) who works at the Visitor Centre for Algonquin today. Peter is a really avid birder and gave me some extraordinary tips on where to find some of my Algonquin targets such as Olive-sided Flycatcher, Boreal Chickadee, Gray Jay, and Black-backed Woodpecker! Thanks Peter! Tomorrow I'm going on a bird walk that Peter's leading and hopefully I'll get a few year birds there.

It sure is nice to have Mourning out of the way, though. Now there's one less bird on my target list for this trip which makes it one step easier to load up on all the birds I want this trip.

The best part of today though was not bird related. It was the northern mammals. I was lucky enough to be able to observe a cow and calf moose and a Pine Martin (that's Martin the mammal not Purple Martin the bird:)). What great animals.

Until later

KestrelSwan

Day five of Ontario trip - Bear!

2011-06-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday since one of my other favorite things is bears I went out with the bear techs from Algonquin Park in hopes of live trapping and radio collaring bears. We got really lucky and was able to see and get up close and personal with a tranquilized bear. What an experience!

Because of that I didn't get birding today but tomorrow it's birds abound..

KestrelSwan

Posting in Algonquin Park

2011-06-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me to say that posting on the blog while in Algonquin Park might be tough but I'll write each evening and post when I get back to civilization this coming Tuesday (that's if I can't while at Algonquin).

Day four of Ontario trip - the northern sneakies

2011-06-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been another great day, lots of fun with a couple more year birds underway. We left Kingston this morning and our destination was Killaloe where my mom's and now my friends, Mauranee and Kevin O'Conner live. We didn't have many unusual birds along the way, nothing new for the year list anywhay but as we got close to Killaloe we hit the jackpot. Along the road we spotted one of the birds I had hoped for in Algonquin Park this trip but a welcome surprise here, Spruce Grouse. I haven't seen a sprucie for 2 years, when I saw several in Glacier National Park Montana. That was great. Then right as we were getting close to Mauranee and Kevin's I spotted a Black Bear crossing the road. Bears are just wonderful. Right as we arrived at Mauaranee and Kevin's Kevin showed me his bird list from his yard and I noticed Evening Grosbeak on it. That was a bird I had really wanted on this trip but I thought the chances were none or next to none. But he said they come around from time to time and I was hoping. Within a few minutes guess what I spotted on Kevin's bird feeder? A female and a male Evening Grosbeak!!! That's my first one ever - lifer! Kevin took me out on his pontoon boat and I even got to drive it and we saw some Common Loons, beautiful scenery and what was really neat was an island full of dead trees that the Double-crested Cormorants feces killed and there were tons of cormorant nests on it and I even got to see a baby cormorant getting fed.

Just a great day.

Tomorrow it's on to Algonquin Park and we're going live trapping and radio collaring bears tomorrow with the experts which is an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity!

Until later

Day three of Ontario trip - two year birds and boat trip

2011-06-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today I got up, hung out and ate breakfast and lunch with my Aunt Joanne and then my mom and I headed off on a birding outing. Our first stop was along some roads in the Glenvale area in hopes of Upland Sandpiper because they had readily been reported in that area in the last few months. After some long searching and right as we were getting ready to give up while we were parked along a roadside some passing motorcycles and cars flushed one up! That was rejoicing. Then we headed to a certain conservation area where Black Terns were suppose to be common but after some long searching we never found one. But while searching for Black Terns I spotted and got a nice look at a Sedge Wren, a lifer for me so that's really awesome.

Tonight my uncle Kevin has a boat that he took me out in on a big lake called Dog. It was a blast and we saw some neat birds but now year birds.

Tomorrow it's on to Killalou and then Algonquin Park Friday.

Right now I'm in good aims for my well needed 15 to 20 year birds on the Ontario trip. I wanted at least 5 before getting to Algonquin in order to have a relaxed pace in order to be on track for my 15 to 20 in Ontario and 375 by year's end and I already have 4 and Algonquin's not until Friday so I'm looking very good for that.

Gotta go.

KestrelSwan

Day two of Ontario trip - first year birds underway

2011-06-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

We're in Canada! Canada! Canada! I'm here in Kingston Ontario with my aunt Joanne and uncle Kevin.
It's a great place.

Today on the way from Bimhangton New York to here we stopped in 2 places in hopes of bagging 2 year birds - Virginia Rail and Least Bittern. I had heard of spots that we're good for them via eBird. Our first stop was for Virginia Rail, along a certain road north of Syracuse. We pulled along the road in a marshy habitat and my mom spotted an unusual bird flying in. I examined it but it was more than obvious - it was the rail I was after. We viewed it, then it landed in the marsh out of view and on we went. It was one down, one to go. Then we stopped at the Least Bittern spot, a beautiful vast marsh habitat. After a little waiting it called and we heard it well.

All in all a very successful first day of year birds. Tomorrow it's birding around Kingston and then it's on to further north in Ontario.

Until later.

Day one of Ontario trip - getting started

2011-06-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

Departed! We're off. We're off north. My mom and I hit the road today on day one of our Ontario trip. Right now as I write this I'm in the Riverwalk Inn in Binghamton New York and tomorrow we wake up here and continue on to meet my aunt Joanne in Kingston Ontario but we're stopping along the way in New York to try for Virginia Rail and Least Bittern.

Today we stopped near Harrisburg Pen. to try for Black Terns but the chances were low and the low chances proved low - as there was nothing more than a few Double-crested Cormorants and a Great Egret, neither a year bird.

Tomorrow it's back on the road - I love the road!

That's it for now - hopefully my update tomorrow will say that I got Virginia Rail and Least Bittern.

Off to Ontario

2011-06-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I start my drive north to Ontario Canada for birding and family reunions and hope to get some birds on my year list on the way up, too. Tomorrow my first stop is for Black Tern near Harrisburg Pa. Chances low, yes, but it takes only 5 minutes, yes, and I could get something else there, yes which makes it a worth while stop plus around there we'd need a stop for bathroom, food, etc. We spend a night in southern New York and then the next day go on to Kingston Ontario and on the way hope for Least Bittern and Virginia Rail. Kingston is a stop for my aunt but we'll also go around and see what birds we can find (not sure what's all there but I will research). From there it's on a few hours farther north to visit a friend but her husband is a birdwatcher and apparently there's lots of good birds there. Then it's on to Algonquin Park where I have a long list of targets that include Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Mourning Warbler, grouse of different species, Boreal Chickadee, and Gray Jay. Then it's on to Stayner and Barrie where most of my family is and I will hopefully get good birds there too and then it's on the way back home and birding on the way back. 3 weeks in all. Gonna be great!

On another note, I can feel birds slipping from me but that's fine because I'm doing a Junior Big Year, not a competition that I'm trying to get over 700 in. But man there's some nice birds I'd like to get! Most of note is a FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER out of all things was in southern Virginia yesterday! A Cassin's Sparrow is hanging around for over a week in Ohio. Amazing birds that I wish I could see but Ontario blocks any of the already slim possibilities that would normally occur!

A good trade

2011-06-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I talked about how I was going to go to Chincoteague for birding this weekend well, that's been canceled because of various things including that as I've done farther research and because my papa who's doing so much for my J. Big Year said that he could only promise one trip to Chincoteague this year, I'll probably get better birds this fall than now. PLUS I wrote a book about Gertrude, a mother black bear who was relocated 60 miles from where she was getting into trouble 2 years ago and just now she has returned (what a walk!!) and by not going to Chincoteague now I get to go look for her this weekend instead!

This is a good trade, I get to go look for Gertrude and I get to go to Chincoteague this fall when the birds are better there!

And super exciting - I'm going to Ontario in just a few days where birding will be amazing for me!

KestrelSwan

Another trip headed my way!

2011-06-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

What do I have other than a year list full of birds? Well, lots of things! But specifically - the best parents in the world! They are awesome in every way, and this year is NO EXCEPTION! Thank you guys for taking me all over the place for this Junior Big Year! I was flipping through my field guide yesterday and said to my dad "man, I wish I could make it to Chincoteague this summer, I would pick up all sorts of costal summer birds" (Chincoteague is a place almost 6 hours from here in eastern Virginia). That got papa thinking and because he's such a good papa and "crazy but in a good way" as I said he agreed to take me for an overnight to Chincoteague this weekend! It's going to be amazing. I hope to get at least 7 year birds at Chincoteague which seems very reasonable which would put me at 314 for the year, and then I head to Ontario the day after I get back from Chincoteague so if all goes well weather and other stuff wise in Chincoteague and Ontario I should be up and over 330 by the time I get back from Ontario, but possibly more because I could get more than 7 in Chincoteague. Then it's alaska and I'd hope to be at least 355 and probably more by the time I get back from Alaska, I should pick up at least 25 in Arizona and there I am, over 375 birds at year's end which is my goal for year's end. This is darn right awesome!!!!

Clapper Rail, Least Tern, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Saltmarsh Sparrow, and Brown-headed Nuthatch in addition to other uncommon birds are my targets in Chincoteague.

Later

KestrelSwan

The adventure of Bobwhite

2011-06-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

One of the birds I've really wanted to get that I've been trying for around my home area is Northern Bobwhite. I've been through areas where No. Bobwhites are seen frequently but what have I gotten? No bobwhites. I thought I'd have to wait to bag that bird in Chincoteague Virginia when I'm there in November. But I often go to Shenandoah National Park, and in one of the park's best birding and wildlife areas, Big Meadow I've several times heard an unusual bird sound there. I didn't know what it was. It turns out that yesterday I was having lunch with my friend Larry Brown who's not a birder but rather a great wildlife photographer. Larry generally photographs bears, whitetail deer, coyotes, and other things but he also likes to photograph game birds. Recently he got his first looks at No. Bobwhites and photographs of them at Big Meadow. He said that he heard them make an unusual sound. I wondered if it was the sound I had heard. I imitated it for him and he said it sounded like it. When I got home I checked the sound recording of No. Bobwhites and sure enough - that was it - a year bird for me!

Larry Brown is a wonderful nature photographer and a really good man! Please take a moment to view his wonderful photography at his website www.shenandoahviews.com or for some of his best, most recent photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwbrown/

Ontario soon and update

2011-06-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have now bagged all the common birds for my local area this year. That's not to say that I won't get any other year birds in my local areas because I will get uncommon and rare ones, a few but no more common ones. They're all on my list.

Secondly, and more exciting - my 4th big trip of the year is coming up, Ontario - I'm hitting the road north in a week from tomorrow! That trip is exciting in all ways because one and foremost: BIRDS! Birds, birds. I hope to bag 15 to 20 year birds that trip in which would get me up and over 325 which would put me in good aims for 375 or more at year's end with Alaska and Arizona still to do. Some of my most wanted birds on Ontario trip are Bicknell's Thrush along the way, Clay-colored Sparrow, Grouse of different species, Boreal Chickadee, Mourning Warbler, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Other birds of interest -- WHAT EVER I CAN FIND! Also very and almost as exciting about this trip are family related things. My mom has all of her family there and there are a fun school reunion and a fun family reunion while we are there. What a fun trip it's going to be!! Birds - get ready - mr Junior Big Year is coming:)

Highland County life birds - including Long-eared Owl and YB Chat!

2011-06-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

As I said yesterday, today I took a trip to my neighboring county Highland because there were some birds breeding there that I still needed not only as year birds but as lifers as well.

As it did when I was there this past February, Highland County treated me. We were just getting going and our first main stop was Margaret O'Bryan's property where Golden-winged Warbler was a likely bird and it was a lifer for me. Just approx. 1/2 mile before reaching the O'Bryan place we came across a group of birders with Field Guides (I think that was the company). My mom and I were riding with the trip leader and bird expert of the area Allen Larner. The leader of the Field Guides trip said to Allen "we got a Long-eared Owl and Golden-winged Warbler, interested?" "ye!" said Allen. We pulled over but at that moment I was like "forget warblers, I want an owl -- LE Owl is a lifer for me!". The Field Guides person showed us the owl and Allen's group from the Augusta Bird Club that I'm part of "ooed" and "awed" at the Long-eared Owl. After watching for a fairly long time we heard the GW Warbler and was able to get brief looks at it. We continued on to Margaret's and there we were able to get good looks at more Golden Wings but the highlight for me was hearing a Yellow-breasted Chat as that was a lifer for me that I've been looking for for quite some time. We left Margaret's and continued on and got different well wanted but not year birds. LE OWL!!!!!! YB CHAT!!!!!! GW WARBLER!!!!! These are the things I'll always remember about today.

What an awesome adventure.

KestrelSwan

Chuck-Will's-Widow

2011-06-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

After 1 previous attempt that failed I tried again this evening at the only reliable spot in the area to find Chuck-Will's-Widow to add it as a life bird. After about 5 or 10 minutes of listening we heard Whip-Poor-Wills and then as the whip stopped "Chuck-Will's-Widow" was the sound that filled the area. That was it, and then the whip sang again too, special to hear them both at the same time-and I got it on my list! 303 for the year.

Tomorrow I go to nearby Highland County and will hopefully get Golden-winged Warbler and YB Chat.

New Splits - Common Gallinule question

2011-05-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday the ABA (American Birding Association) came out with their new 'splits'. Every so often ABA splits birds that were once considered one species and with studies they've done now believe to be 2 different species.

One that has been 'split' this time, and the only one that would effect my year list is Common Moorhen. This bird, previously called Common Moorhen, which was considered the same species as the Moorhen in Europe is now considered a totally different species, the Common Gallinule. I have already seen this "Common (now Gallinule, previously Moorhen)" in two different places, Florida and Ohio, both when this was still considered Common Moorhen. Now that it has been split, if any of you followers of mine know the answer, please comment and let me know. The question is: what does this do to my year list? Do I simply re name it on my list even though when I saw it it was considered Moorhen not Gallinule? Do I just keep it as Moorhen on my list, even if I see it again while it's called Gallinule because I first saw it while it was called Moorhen? Do I keep it as Moorhen on my list for now but if I see it again then change the name on my list to Gallinule? Do I delete it off my list for now but if I see it again, put it back on as Common Gallinule but if I don't see it again don't count it at all? Do I keep it as Moorhen now and if I see it again count it as Gallinule as well so then I'm counting it twice but one time with the name C. Moorhen and onetime with the name C. Gallinule? Do I do something I haven't thought of?

To read more about the splits, go to this link: http://blog.aba.org/2011/05/bulletin-new-splits.html

Thanks in advance for help with what do with my list,

KestrelSwan

Chat attempt failed and got my gulls in order

2011-05-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update because things have been quiet on the Junior Big Year front lately..

This morning I drove over an hour to an area that is known to be good for Yellow-breasted Chats but after lengthy searching I got skunked. Beautiful Indigo Buntings there though but not a year bird, very special none the less. I'll get chat another day.

I've been feeling a little bit sick the last couple of days but within the last 5 hours I've been feeling much better (!!), so I thought about something to do. "gulls" came into my mind. I had no clue what gulls I still needed for my year and where I'd get them. So I pulled out my bird books and looked up the gulls and went through them one by one. "Great Black-backed - check" "Lesser Black-backed - check" "Herring - check" "Ring-billed - check" "California - check" "Western - check" "Mew - check" "Glaucous-winged - check" "Thayer's - check" among others. So then I went into "in the areas I'm still going to be, what do I need?" "Glaucous - yes, need it" "Black-legged Kittiwake - yes, need it" "Iceland - yes, need it". It turns out that I'd really need luck to pull an Iceland or Glaucous but BL Kittiwake is likely in Alaska. That settles that. Unless a rare Iceland or Glaucous shows up in Virginia which I'd learn of via the Va-Bird listserv, the only gull I'll still get is Black-legged Kittiwake. Not great for the number of gulls but it's easy to keep track of!

While I was writing this I heard my papa yell "nighthawks..nighthawks!!" and they're very special so I was all excited and ran outside, there they were, flying fast!! Second time of the year for Common Nighthawks!

My next 'expected' year bird Chuck Will's Widow on this coming Tuesday.

Until later

KestrelSwan

A goatsucker adventure

2011-05-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

This morning, first thing, check the news on the Va-Bird listserv. Has the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher been seen this morning? No news. I checked every hour or so. I kept drawing blanks, no news on the flycatcher. It had been a 'one day wonder' that I missed. Had it been one day sooner or one day later I probably would have got it but there was nothing to do but let that bird slip. Oh well.

This evening, Ken Hinkle was leading a trip for the Rockingham Bird Club which I'm part of to go looking and listening for Whip-Poor-Wills and other goatsuckers (nighthawks and nightjars). I already had whip on my year list but I wanted to go on the adventure and also hopefully pick up Chuck-Will's-Widdow as that would be a lifer for me. We headed off and at one of our first stops somebody said "oh look!" and was looking up at the sky. I looked up. There was a flock of 8-10 Common Nighthawks circling over head! I love nighthawks. It was so special and amazing to watch them for 5 or more minutes. They're just beautiful. And it's a year bird! #302. We continued on and Ken had a nice pickup truck so for a lot of the way since it was very almost none-used, gravel mountain roads I got to ride in the back of the pickup truck and go "birding from the back". Soon we began to hear Whip-Poor-Wills and I got a brief look at one. I love their song! And we stopped at a Chuck-Will's-Widdow location but no luck in the time we were there. Thanks to the Shanks who own the land that the chucks are on, we can go back and get the bird another day. It was a really fun, fun outing and I came back with one more bird on my list. Just awesome!

Willow Flycatcher, eyes on a Scissor and Dismal Swamp no

2011-05-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Lots of news.

One of my highly wanted birds was Willow Flycatcher. The Augusta Bird Club that I'm part of has an active facebook group and I asked where to find Willow Flycatcher in the county. A nice birder from the area, Andrew Clem said that they were fairly common along Bells Lane, a location just 20 minutes from where I live. I went there this afternoon and after not much time I heard it, "Fitz Bew" "Fitz Bew". After another couple of minutes I spotted it. Willow Flycatcher on the board -- a life bird for me and year bird 301!

Another piece of news is I got my "eyes on a Scissor". A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, rare for the east coast (other than Florida in the winter, but I missed it there) was seen by several birders about 2 hours away from here today. First spotted at 8:30 am it was still there at 6 pm. If it's around tomorrow, I'm Scissor-tailed bound! Also tomorrow is a trip for Whip-poor-will's and a good chance for Chuck-will's-widdows in the evening. Chuck is a lifer I still need! All so exciting!

Also, Dismal Swamp is a no. My mom just got back from Canada and she's getting a book off to the printer and it's taking all too much time to yet fit a 3 day trip into the Dismal Swamp and Piney Grove Preserve for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. So I'm giving up Red-cockaded Woodpecker. There's still a chance I can get Swainson's Warbler in southwestern Virginia, or more likely West Virginia. Oh well. I can't do everything and it's not worth busting to the full endless possibilities while home this week to go on the weekend.

KestrelSwan

Slowing Down after 300

2011-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

You all may notice that I'm not posting as much as I used to. My new birds aren't coming in as easy as they were before.

The first half of the year, even without the "big trips" I was still getting big numbers of new birds migrating into my home area and now that the migration is slowing down, I've basically picked up all of the eastern warblers and most of the other birds. And this shows, I got 300 in less than half a year, and now 75 more is what I expect in the rest of the year. That's part of the fun though! It makes every new bird so much more exciting!

I'm down to four "easy" non warbler visitors in my home area: Summer Tanager, Common Nighthawk, Chuck-Will's-Widdow, and Willow Flycatcher. They will take some work, especially the first and forth on the list, but I will get them. Other birds too, but those are the most easy. I'm also down to only seven eastern warblers that I don't have: Golden-winged, Blue-winged, Kirtland's, Swainson's, Connecticut, Mourning, and Yellow-breasted Chat. Kirtland's is out of the picture. There's nearly no chance I'm making it to Michigan and where else am I going to see a Kirtland's? If I were going to see a Kirtland's this year, it would have been at Magee and none have been seen there this year. Swainson's, not too tough. Somewhat, but I'm likely going to make it to the Great Dismal Swamp where I'll be able to fairly easily pick up Swainson's. Golden-winged and Chat, they're the easiest, it's very likely I'll be able to pick both of them up around home without a problem. Blue-winged, Mourning, and Connecticut, they're purely hit or miss. If one shows up in the area, I'll try to chase it. But it's pure luck. More than Blue-wing was at someplace just an hour away a couple of days ago but has not since been reported. A Mourning was at a park just 40 minutes away about a week ago and spent a couple of days but by the time I could get out it was gone. Connecticuts are the hardest and are PURELY hit or miss. My biggest numbers will come on the big trips by far. Ontario, Alaska, and Arizona as well as smaller trips will bring me the big numbers and that's what will get me to 375!

Just an update.

KestrelSwan

300 and Matt Stenger!

2011-05-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

My oh my, the last few days have been very great!

First of all, on Wednesday the 18th I hit a major milestone for my big year..300 birds! I went to Shenandoah National Park, in hopes of finding birds and bears. First thing of note that day was coming upon one of my favorite deer..an old buck that my friend and I call Ol' Rutter. Last winter after the rut (mating season for deer), Ol' Rutter wasn't looking too good, thinned out, limping and had a punctured eye. He made a rebound though and became the strong, healthy buck he usually is. But this one day (Wednesday May 18th) Ol' Rutter wasn't looking good, he was pretty thinned out, limping and couldn't keep up with his companion buck. Poor Ol' Rutter. But then we went on to Pocosin Cabin, one of the very best birding places in Shenandoah National Park. I heard that Least Flycatchers can sometimes be seen at the parking lot there and that was a lifer that I still needed. I did the walk and checked the parking lot before I headed on the walk, but no Least Flycatchers. After the walk which yielded Blackpoll and other warblers, I thought I heard a Least at the parking lot. It did it again. I followed the sound to the bird. There it was, a LEAST FLYCATCHER!!!!!!!! So exciting. I reached 300 birds for 2011. What a thing! Only 75 more to go and I would reach my goal.. Just amazing. And what a beautiful flycatcher and it has an interesting call. So special.

The following day my mom received an email from Matt Stenger, who is doing a big year this year. Matt said that he was going to be traveling through Virginia on his way to the Dismal Swamp to look for Swainson's Warbler. We offered Matt to stay Thursday night. He took us up on that offer, came on Thursday night, we had dinner on our porch and hung out together before going to sleep. The next day (yesterday) we took Matt exploring the mountains of western Virginia in hopes of finding Red Crossbill which would be a lifer for Matt. Unfortunately and surprisingly even though we tried 3 spots we missed Red Crossbill. We got a verity of warblers including Blackburnian, and had a great flyover adult Bald Eagle. What fun to bird and hang out with Matt! This morning Matt headed off to the Dismal Swamp and I wished him a fun time and good luck finding the warbler and he went on his way. It was totally great to have him here! Check out Matt's big year blog: http://716birds.com/

Me (left) birding with Matt Stenger!

On another note, I may be going to the Dismal Swamp for Swainson's Warbler this weekend and also getting Red-cockaded Woodpecker! The VSO (Virginia Society of Ornithology) is leading a trip to Piney Grove Preserve and will get Red-cockaded Woodpecker on Saturday, the 28th. After that trip we would go on to the swamp. My mom says 50-65 percent she can do it for me so not for sure but very likely! Thanks mama!

What a great few days.

KestrelSwan

Edging up to 300

2011-05-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

My oh my, only 76 more to go for my total number of species goal at year's end! My goal is 375 and right now I'm at 299!

So what was my 299th? Yesterday morning when checking my emails I got notified of an important, hard-to get year bird: Dickcissel. A male Dickcissel had been reported in southern Albemarle County, about 90 minutes from my home. Only 90 minutes away was this midwestern rascal! I headed out to the location within a few hours, with high hopes of finding the Dickcissel. I arrived at the location, searched around and found some good birds..Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows, among others. Then my mom pointed out a bird down the way. I got my spotting scope on it and heard it sing. Dickcissel! My second one ever and a year bird..# 299!

My year is shaping up greatly!

KestrelSwan