tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434738785285573752024-03-14T02:38:50.503-07:00My Junior Big Year Birding from ages 11-12KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-48856353646769535802014-11-30T17:39:00.001-08:002014-11-30T17:39:34.433-08:00Eyes on the record! 2014 year summaryHello followers,<br />
I know it's been a while since I've updated my blog but I wanted to give an update.<br />
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As you know, my year record is 437 species in 2011 when I completed my Junior Big Year. However, this year, by no act of trying, I have landed myself amazingly close to that record. My current year list hovers at an impeccable 434 species.<br />
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This year has been a fun year. Quite fun. My trips have been versed --- Northern California in January, Ohio in May, Maine in June, Montana in August, Texas in November plus all around my local state of Virginia.<br />
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I have landed an exciting 28 life birds this year. Frankly, I am a little surprising that I keep racking up lifers after birding so hard from 2010-2012, especially in my Big Year in 2011. <br />
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My most productive trip lifer wise was California. I haven't birded there since I was a beginning birder in the beginning of my 2011 Junior Big Year. 3 years later, I was an astonishingly better birder. I had many highlights with 14 lifers but a few of my favorites were Mountain Quail, Spotted Owl, and Harris's Sparrow.<br />
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In Ohio, given that this was my 3rd trip there, and it isn't too far away from my home, I didn't land all that many lifers. In fact, I only had one, but it was a good one. It was one of the rarest birds I've ever seen (not for the area, but in terms of world population). There are only a few thousand Kirtland's Warblers in the world!<br />
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In Maine I scored 3 lifers. I went to a Teen Birding Camp on Hog Island which was an amazing experience. I got the "iconic" bird, the Atlantic Puffin, but I think Black Guillemot was my favorite lifer there. The other one, Roseate Tern, was also awesome.<br />
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In Montana, given that this was my 5th trip there to Glacier National Park, an amazing place and my family's favorite vacation spot, I only got one lifer as well. It was a good one, Black Swift!<br />
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Texas was excellent for lifers! Even though this was my third trip there, I got 7 lifers! I attended the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and the trips there helped me get some specialty birds. My lifers were Zone-tailed Hawk, White-collared Seedeater, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Tropical Parula, Scaled Quail, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, and Groove-billed Ani!<br />
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In addition, despite the fact that I bird here so much, I got 2 lifers in my home state of Virginia this year. Both were fairly rare. The first was an Iceland Gull in January near Richmond, VA. They show up around the state from time to time but this was my first time catching up with one. The other was a Red Phalarope that showed up here in Rockingham County of the Shenandoah Valley in October. Red Phalaropes are fairly common offshore Virginia, but given that I've never gone offshore, I was so happy my lifer showed up right near home!<br />
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The interesting thing about this year is that I have hardly done any chasing. There were birds I could have, should have chased. There was a Sabine's Gull just 3 hours away that I really should have chased. Even the Whiskered Tern up at Cape May was SUCH a good bird and not THAT far away, I should have chased it. Hawk watching which is one of my, if not my very favorite kind of birding, got the best of me. I was tied up counting hawks. I should have chased these 2 birds, though! It's as simple as that!<br />
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So, if you read back on my most recent blog post before today, you will read that last year I was also close to my year record of 437, but I didn't go all out for it at the end of last year. So you may ask, am I going to this year? YES! I can't stand being in the 430s but not 438 two years in a row! I am going all out! I figure that with one trip to the shore I can at least tie my record with Saltmarsh Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, and King Rail. It is also quite possible that I can score one more bird while down there (anything rare that shows up... Like a King Eider or Eurasian Wigeon that are down there now, if they stick around). If not, there is a Black-headed Gull returning for ANOTHER winter (I got it there in 2011!) at a place in Maryland that I can drive up and chase.<br />
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So, with any luck, I should be able to reach 438 and break my Junior Big Year record! For the remainder of the year, because I am attempting to break my 2011 Junior Big Year record, I will post here if I get year birds! Stay tuned and wish me luck!KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-91241451372239488612013-11-21T07:59:00.005-08:002013-11-21T07:59:39.128-08:00Update - in the 400 club, again!It's November 21st 2013, and its hard to believe that it's been 2 years since I was running around the country chasing around birds to finish off my 2011 Junior Big Year with a bang. <div>
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Whats harder to believe is that, without even trying to do another Junior Big Year, I am so close to my own "record". I've just birded a lot this year--and traveled a lot this year but really haven't put in much effort to try and brake the record, at all--yet as of 11/21/13 I've landed 430 species (my 2011 record was 437)! </div>
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It's been a GREAT year this year and by that I mean GREAT. 2011 will always be my favorite year I've ever birded--- until I do a full all-blown Big Year or something - but for my youth years 2011 will always be on the top of my favorite list. It was an incredibly fun year but this year is one I will not soon forget either.</div>
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The cool thing about this year is that while I've landed an unreal close number to the number of bird species I landed in 2011--- I've traveled to a lot of different areas than 2011 and seen a lot of the same yet a lot of other birds. Other than my "home turf" (i.e. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia) Texas is the only place that is a "repeat" location for 2011 and 2013. In April of this year ('13) my Godmother (a fellow birder) and I took an awesome trip to the Rio Grande Valley Texas - same area I went in 2011. In '11 I went in March so birds were similar but a little different because late April is getting into heart of migration season - when everything changes around!</div>
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Locations I visited this year that I 'bypassed' in '11 include -Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana (I didn't realize until now that they are 3 'M' states -funny!). I also went to New Jersey (Cape May) this year and I did in 2011 but this years trip was for only 8 hours. though I did land 2 lifers - Parasitic, Long-tailed Jaegers.</div>
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My family and I go to Glacier National Park Montana most summers but 'bypassed' it in '11 because we went to Alaska instead. </div>
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One of the fun aspects in my Junior Big Year ('11) was bird chasing - crazy, out of my mind, twitching, which I did very little of in my other birding years ('09, '10, '12) so it was fun to do some again this year. In fact, this year my chasing was, for the most part even a little more out of my mind than in '11 - because at least two of the full-blown chase trips were 'stabs in the dark' - no more than 50/50 chances of scoring the bird. My first 'all-out' chase this year was to Massachusetts for a Gyrfalcon that my dad and I chased early in January. Gyr is one of both of ours favorite birds and we've only seen one - this one had been hanging around so we went for it. But we knew it would be a longshot - it was getting less and less reliable. We dipped it. But we had a great time saw some cool birds including a rare in area Short-eared Owl that I actually found and my lifer Hoary Redpoll (of which the following month I got 8 of in Minnesota).</div>
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My second all-out chase was early March - a long day trip with my mom and my Godmother to North Carolina for a previously reported Northern Lapwing. It had been seen for almost a week but the report from the day before our chase was of a no show for the Lapwing. But this lifer was too hard to resist and we had to go for it. We got lucky and we scored it. We arrived at the cemetery a few hundred yards away from the pond where the bird had been seen and several other birders arrived. In the first 10 minutes -no luck. Then I was checking out some Scaup in my scope and behind the Scaup -Ta Da! Lapwing. Apparently I was so dumb-founded that I was so quiet in saying it "oh there's the northern lapwing." And my mom had to ask "You see the Northern Lapwing? That's the bird we're here for, right?" I finally got excited got all on the bird! </div>
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I've had several other chase trips this year but these were the 'stab in the dark' all out chases - got 1, dipped 1, not bad. </div>
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I scored 40 life birds this year which I am pretty happy with since I saw so many birds in 2011 and other years also. I am now officially in the 500 club for life list - in fact my life list is now 532!</div>
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I don't think I'll break my '11 Junior Big Year record this year as I don't have any more big birding trips planned - just local birding with Christmas Bird Counts and stuff but it's been another fun year. Looking forward to another one next year and hopefully many more lifers!</div>
KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-49316498955766082882012-12-17T14:35:00.000-08:002012-12-17T14:35:37.894-08:00Time to reflect--2012 nears the endThere are only a couple of weeks left in 2012. Last year at this time, my Junior Big Year was nearing it's end and I was in cleanup mode. Mad-dashing across Eastern North America to add 5-10 new birds to my Big Year list. Exactly 1 year ago at this time I was birding in the Augusta Bird Club Christmas Bird Count. This year, I participated in that count yesterday. Last year when I participated in that CBC (and the Rockingham County one the day before) it was a mere "regular birding" brake in my mad-dashing last month. A week before I had returned from a week in Arizona where I added 50 new birds. In the last two weeks of my year (between this date and the end of the year) I spent 5 nights away from home on two different trips and added 8 new birds. <br />
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This year, the last two weeks will be much more relaxed. However, I do have my eyes set on another rare bird, once again. A Tufted Duck is being reported from Maryland. I've birded a lot in 2012, a whole lot and added some 30 birds to my life list. But it's been since my Junior Big Year since I've done an all-out mad-dashing chase. I'm ready and this duck is my chance. If all goes well my mom and I will leave on Thursday of this week and will return 25-30 hours later, and if all is willing with another life bird on my list. <br />
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Now, I want to reflect on 2012 compared to the Big Year. I kept a year tally this year but it wasn't as "important" to me as it was last year. My year list now stands at 290 and if I head to Maryland I should add a few more, but I'll finish out shy of 300. Last year I finished shy of 450. That's roughly 150 birds difference. Which think about it is a LOT. To get near 450 is tough. It took what I did. Chase anything I could, make lots of trips, and really work for the list. This year I traveled to Glacier National Park in Montana where I saw about 20 birds I did not see last year. Take away those, that's 170 difference from last year to this year. Take away the other 10 or so that I saw this year but not last year, and we're looking at almost 200 birds that I saw last year but not this year. That's because I traveled to Florida, California, Texas, Alaska, Arizona, as well as up and down the east coast last year. <br />
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But this year was just as fun just not as intense and not as many birds. The Montana trip was awesome, I had 18 life birds as well as 32 bears (mostly Grizzlies) and lots of other wildlife. I saw several really rare birds this year, and found rare birds myself for the first time. I remember the total thrill of finding a rare White-winged Dove in eastern Virginia this February. The rarest bird I saw this year, I would say was the Black Rail in West Virginia. I am one of the few people that can say they've SEEN (rather than just heard) a Black Rail in West Virginia. <br />
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And if you're wondering, my life list is now 491. I hope to reach and surpass 500 in 2013. <br />
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Wish me luck for the Tufted Duck and lots of birds in 2013!<br />
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!<br />
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Gabriel (KestrelSwan)KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-1796248948510771292012-05-29T06:41:00.001-07:002012-05-29T06:41:17.291-07:00May finishes..sort of a repeat of last yearIt's time for another update on this blog.<br />
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The 5th month of 2012, the year after my Junior Big Year is coming to a close. This is not a Junior Big Year, however my birding is shaping up similarly. The trips last year are what gave me the big numbers. So far I have not flown anywhere this year and only have one flying trip planned for the rest of the year. Obviously, my list is lower at this time than it was last year at this time. Right now my "year list" is at 209 species, last year at this time that number was 302. Call it 100 below, it is very close. Although that is a big difference, the way the birds are shaping up is VERY SIMILAR to last year, only with less bird species since there have been less trips. As an example, last year from mid April-mid May I was adding more than one year bird every day, on average. Some days there would even be 5 or 8 "new ones". This is because a large percent of wood-warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, vireos, etc. winter in Mexico or South America. When the birds return for breeding, a lot of them pass through or breed here in Virginia, so the birds just "racked up". A very similar scenario happened this year. I had multiple days with 5-8 year birds and few days with none, from mid April-mid May. However, at the end of the third week in May, here in Virginia the migration turns the "off switch" with not much notice. By May 25th, Blackpoll Warblers and a few other "late warblers" are the only ones trickling through, and in very small numbers. You still have the breeders (Redstarts, Ovenbirds, Black-and-whites, Chestnut-sideds, Hoodeds, Ceruleans, Waterthrushes, and so on) however they are all fairly common and I will have likely "picked them up" by the first week of May. So come mid May last year year birds all of a sudden became few and far between. In the first half of May last year I added 21 year birds. In the second half of May last year I added 4 year birds. A very similar thing happened this year. In the first half of May I added 21 (do you see the pattern here?) year birds and so far from May 15-May 29 I have added 1 year bird. <br />
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This shows you, that even when 2 birding years are very different, same patterns can and do occur with bird migration.<br />
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So long.<br />
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GabrielKestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-50755717700443166892012-04-28T16:33:00.002-07:002012-04-28T16:33:40.482-07:00Life birdAlthough as a general rule I am not keeping this blog up to date (my current blog is www.wildwithgabriel.blogspot.com) I figured that a life bird also deserved a mention on this blog.<br />
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I added my 468th life bird this past February in Delaware, a Razorbill. I had heard rumors that Blue-winged Warblers breed in Loudoun County Virginia, something that caught my interest since I needed a Blue-winged Warbler as a life bird. But I didn't fully believe the rumor until I heard it from a Loudoun County bird expert himself. Then I knew that this summer I had to make the 3 hour one-way drive to tick a life Blue-wing. But today I was on a bird walk, only an hour from my house that saved me a trip to Loudoun County. I heard the "BZZZ_zitt" of a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER on that bird walk, several times. Once at the beginning of the bird walk to put it down as a possible sighting and again after the bird walk to confirm it. Thanks to other birders for also confirming the identity of this 469th LIFE BIRD of mine! <br />
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Stay tuned to www.wildwithgabriel.blogspot.com to see what other birds I am seeing this spring.<br />
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Happy birding,<br />
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Gabriel<br />
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<br />KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-80539946096571642582012-04-16T18:25:00.000-07:002012-04-16T18:25:43.891-07:00The wonders of spring migration and some reflectionsIt's mid April.. spring migration time. Exactly one year ago I was sitting at 253 bird species for my Junior Big Year, gearing up for spring migration, one of the few 'make or brake' parts of any Big Year attempt. Last year, spring migration treated me well, I went from 250 bird species at the beginning of spring migration on ahead to around 310 once it was all said and done. While this year, 2012 is not another Junior Big Year attempt by any means it's still an exciting time. Warblers, thrushes, buntings, and tanagers, our colorful, tiny feathered friends are returning from their wintering grounds in the Southern US, Mexico, and South America. And they make a wonderful addition to any year list, a Junior Big Year one or not. I was out birding with a good friend and excellent birder Vic Laubach this past weekend and with my mom today and had 9 warbler species in the 3 days, including 6 FOY. My 2012 year total now sits at a comfortable 156 species. This is 97 (call it 100) species behind what I had at this date in 2011. The gap will continue to grow. In January the number was only about 30 apart. Now it's 100 apart. I expect that I'll end 2012 with approximately 300 species, which would put me 137 behind last year. That may not sound huge, but it is. The 300 birds I will see this year will all be mostly expected eastern birds along with maybe 40 rocky mountain species (I am going to Glacier NP in Montana this summer) Compare that to the 437 species, which included some Alaskan, Arizonian, Californian, Texan, and Floridian species as well as east coast species. While it may be <i>only </i>137 behind last year, the "quality" of the birds is far different. Last year the "best" sighting could be considered either Gyrfalcon, Brown Shrike, or one of the other "super" birds from 2011. So far the "best" bird in 2012 is probably the White-winged Dove. That's a nice bird, especially for Virginia, where I found my 2012 individual. But it doesn't compare with my "best" bird as of April 16 2011, Brown Shrike or Black-veneted Oriole.<br />
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These are just a few reflections on how amazing 2011 really was. I look forward to adding more spring arrives to my 2012 year list and the question that's in my mind now is once again "when can I go birding?"<br />
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Happy migration,<br />
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GabrielKestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-37789629943514707632012-04-09T17:50:00.000-07:002012-04-09T17:50:07.941-07:00One down, three to go!Tonight I presented "My 2011 Junior Big Year!" presentation to the Augusta Bird Club, one of my three local birding clubs. It was well received and I had so much fun giving it. Next month I'll be presenting at the Rockingham Bird Club in Harrisonburg and in October I'll be at the Monticello Bird Club in Charlottesville. I've been invited to the Blacksburg Bird Club but don't yet have a date.<br />
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Very exciting!<br />
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GabrielKestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-26801663990862397152012-03-29T18:30:00.000-07:002012-03-29T18:30:09.145-07:00"My 2011 Junior Big Year!" presentationI've spent a lot of time in the last couple months putting together my presentation "My 2011 Junior Big Year!", a slide presentation about my amazing year. <br />
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It's finally almost complete!<br />
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I am scheduled to give the presentation at 3 local birding clubs, the first of which is going to be Monday April 9th at the Augusta Bird Club here in Virginia.<br />
If anyone would like to come to my presentation, please comment on this blog post and I will give you details.<br />
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So long,<br />
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Gabriel (KestrelSwan)KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-46626554002171573642012-03-01T07:07:00.000-08:002012-03-01T07:07:27.311-08:00The birding continues...the all-minded-listing does notToday marks the two month mark since the finish of my Junior Big Year.<br />
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Am I still birding? Oh yes! I am all-so actively birding still, and I currently have a 2012 year list of about 122 species. While that may sound high, they're basically just the regulars (other than one or two oditys) that are in Virginia at this time of year. I am about 40 birds behind what I was at last year at this time. Once the summer gets here and I don't do nearly as much traveling as last year, that number will slip to 100-200 behind last year. Other than for a trip to Montana this coming summer, this is basically a "normal birding year". This past weekend I went out east to Maryland and Delaware in hopes of finding 3 rare birds: Pink-footed Goose, Razorbill, and Virginia's Warbler. Of those 3 we only found the Razorbill, which was a life bird for me. However, instead we ended up in Chincoteague Virginia and I found a White-winged Dove, a rare visitor to Virginia and spent time adding about 20 new 2012 year birds, watching the Tundra Swans, and seeing the Chincoteague Ponies. Had I been doing a Junior Big Year, we would have stayed longer at the goose and warbler, perhaps spent more money on another hotel night, and would have missed the magic of Chincoteague. <br />
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As thrilling and amazing as the Junior Big Year was, it's a little bit nice to now have a more mellow birding and wildlife watching life, again :)<br />
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Gabriel<br />
ps. be sure to check out my new blog, which I'm more-or-less keeping up to date: www.wildwithgabriel.blogspot.comKestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-26476294522938234362012-02-14T07:33:00.000-08:002012-02-14T10:51:25.579-08:00Looking back on 2011Today 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.<br />
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</div><div>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. </div><div><br />
</div><div>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. </div><div><br />
</div><div>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. </div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Good birding!</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-91941202219247056482012-01-30T14:33:00.001-08:002012-01-30T14:33:45.964-08:00"Wild With Gabriel" blogNow that my Junior Big Year is done, I'll continue blogging on my new blog "Wild With Gabriel": www.wildwithgabriel.blogspot.com<br />
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Enjoy my new blog!KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-13083242550151405972012-01-18T12:15:00.000-08:002012-01-18T13:36:05.207-08:00Painted Bunting! Total is 437, not 436!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.<br />
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</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Wow! A very nice surprise.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Good birding everyone!</div><div><br />
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</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-78620562831565676742012-01-13T14:43:00.000-08:002012-01-13T14:43:15.827-08:00Junior Big Year talksHello everybody,<div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Good birding!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Gabriel KestrelSwan</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-20506556399756981932011-12-31T16:25:00.000-08:002011-12-31T16:27:21.281-08:00Oh what a yearAs 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.<br />
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A few of the most memorable birds:<br />
<br />
Brown Shrike<br />
Gyrfalcon<br />
Horned Puffin<br />
Black-vented Oriole<br />
Green Jay<br />
King Eider<br />
Prairie Falcon<br />
just a few of the most amazing.<br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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/<br />
<br />
Thank you to all of my blog readers for following my progress on this amazing year.KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-32844631869621283712011-12-30T13:50:00.001-08:002012-01-18T13:39:35.407-08:00Day two of New Jersey - 4 more from the shore!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Marker Felt'; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>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!</div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-39336064263182958342011-12-29T15:07:00.001-08:002011-12-29T15:07:28.854-08:00Day one of New Jersey trip - number 432<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Marker Felt'; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div>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. </div><div><br />
</div><div>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! </div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I have some photos of the sea ducks including the eiders from today that I will post on this blog later.</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-73558893100357370112011-12-28T08:21:00.000-08:002011-12-28T08:21:38.714-08:00The Cape May planTomorrow 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.<br />
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The 4 main and perhaps easiest targets will be:<br />
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Common Eider - lots are in the area. Should be very easy.<br />
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.<br />
Eurasian Wigeon - a drake E. Wigeon is being seen at a lake in Cape May.<br />
Bell's Vireo - a Bell's Vireo is being seen at a place in Cape May.<br />
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The other targets:<br />
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Nelson's Sparrow - hit or miss at a certain location.<br />
Saltmarsh Sparrow - hit or miss at the same location as Nelson's.<br />
Razorbill - seen occasionally from the Avalon Sea Watch. In fact, on Dec. 22 5 were seen.<br />
Black Guillemot - seen occasionally from the Avalon Sea Watch.<br />
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It will be awesome.KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-955795997929230832011-12-26T07:10:00.000-08:002011-12-26T07:12:55.913-08:00Heading to Cape May to end my Big YearThe 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-80584408328613335862011-12-24T15:18:00.000-08:002011-12-24T15:18:08.989-08:00UpdateMerry Christmas everyone! It's Christmas eve day and it's time to announce my plan for the last week.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
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That's really the only news. I'll post when I know what (if any) rarity that I plan to chase.<br />
<br />
Merry christmas!KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-31557677653108349092011-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:002011-12-22T19:01:53.954-08:00The end is closer than everChristmas 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.<div><br />
</div><div>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.</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-75371179818200056902011-12-22T15:33:00.000-08:002011-12-22T15:33:25.198-08:00The grosbeak chaseI 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.<br />
<br />
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!<br />
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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.<br />
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The Maryland trip was a success. I'm happy to be sitting at 431. Let's grab a couple more before it's over.KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-10974945064742643952011-12-21T15:42:00.000-08:002011-12-21T15:42:42.125-08:00Black-headed Gull photo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Enjoy the photo of my number 430.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kyXuOUUS43g/TvJuwJCROII/AAAAAAAAGZA/jjOuJykkD6o/s1600/black-headed+gull.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kyXuOUUS43g/TvJuwJCROII/AAAAAAAAGZA/jjOuJykkD6o/s320/black-headed+gull.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The white-headed Black-headed Gull. Black-headed Gulls only have black heads in breeding plumage.</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-89425219226707828372011-12-21T15:16:00.001-08:002011-12-21T15:17:10.244-08:00Mission accomplished! The white-headed Black-headed GullMy 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.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>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.</div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-30009677934638061912011-12-21T07:05:00.001-08:002011-12-21T07:05:00.387-08:00Another Black-headed chaseSo 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!<br />
<br />
I'll post tonight with what I've gotten and my plan.KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443473878528557375.post-37791378338167880932011-12-20T14:30:00.001-08:002011-12-20T14:30:02.205-08:00No gull yet - probably tomorrow<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Marker Felt'; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">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.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">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.</span></div>KestrelSwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10377621281583624243noreply@blogger.com0