The Big Year Academy Awards, Part 1: The Birds

At long last, BirdSeed has returned! After taking a hiatus to catch up laundry, sleep, and Netflix (not necessarily in that order), I am finally ready to recap our year for you.

I now present to you: the Big Year Academy Awards, The Birds. This group of awards will recognize some of the most notable birds we encountered during our year. The categories and envelopes, please?


Category: Most Mundane Bird
Awarded to the bird we recorded the most often.

Second Runner-up: Northern Cardinal, recorded on 109 checklists.

First Runner-up: American Robin, recorded 119 times.

Winner: Mourning Dove! Also recorded 119 times, but given the Most Mundane award for their essentially complete lack of personality.

I'd offer a picture, but... why bother?


Category: Hardest Bird To Find
Awarded to the bird that caused us to work the hardest to find it.

2nd Runner-up: Nelson's Sparrow, which we pursued in five states including being foiled by a marathon that was run down the trail we visited, and eventually only found by hiking through a pond in chest-high cattails.

1st Runner-up: Buff-collared Nightjar, which we attempted at least half a dozen times, two of which were washed out by massive thunderstorms, and eventually only found by hiring a guide who took us to a spot near the Mexican border while carrying a gun for protection.

Winner: White-tailed Ptarmigan! We looked for them on at least 4 different visits to Colorado, with multiple attempts per visit, spending HOURS at the top of mountains at 10,000-12,000 feet elevations. Relevant blog post

Category: Most Painful Miss
Awarded to the bird that we never ended up seeing, but should have, because a) we worked more than hard enough, and b) we deserved it!

2nd Runner-up: Iceland Gull, which we chased through Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and Ohio, and after leaving Ohio, got an email from somebody who said it was too bad we didn't ask him, because he knows of a spot where they roost at night!

1st Runner-up: Black-billed Cuckoo. If only we planned our East Coast trips for earlier in the summer! We know of a place where they nest, but didn't get there before they left for the Fall.

Winner: Hook-billed Kite! We thought we had one in April, but when an expert reviewed our photo, they said, "Psych! No!" We looked over and over for them, even going into a park before it opened and getting harassed by the local Constable (who drove over our coffee cup!).

I'd include a picture, but of course, I don't have one. :-(


Category: Easiest Hard Bird to Find
Awarded to the rare or unusual bird that we just walked up to (thank you, eBird!).

2nd Runner-up: Barnacle Goose. While we did have to find our way to Long Island, NY to see one, we found it within 10 minutes of arriving at the pond where it had been reported.

1st Runner-up: Key West Quail-dove, which was reported in Florida for the first time since 2002, and is nearly extinct. And, which we found by walking up to a guy who had been looking for it for three days, and standing there for 15 minutes, when it walked into view from deep in the underbrush.

Winner: Rustic Bunting! She was reported in Golden Gate Park last January. We drove down there, only an hour from home, and found her in 5 minutes, exactly where the reports said she would be. This is apparently only the 5th ever found in California.

Category: Most Adorable
Awarded to the bird that stole our hearts the most.

Second Runner-up (tie): Atlantic Puffin (that schnoz!) and Wilson's Storm-petrel (daintily dancing on waves!)

First Runner-up: Mountain Quail, seen with several chicks running through the sagebrush.

Photo from Audubon

Winner: American Dipper! which we watched experience water possibly for the first time ever. We watched him hop out of a burrow and onto a stick, very carefully avoiding the water. Then, he accidentally fell in and flailed his way out and onto the stick. A few minutes later, he tried the water experiment again, and this time apparently liked it, as he spent several moments splashing around and taking a bath. So CUTE!

And now, time for intermission. We'll be back soon with more awards!

Win a Few, Lose a Few

Hey there!

I'm still working on the wrap-up of our Big Year... we decided that removing a year's worth of cobwebs, putting away months of laundry, and starting to get our life back to normal was probably a bit more important than cranking out an update!

But, over the last few weeks, our list has undergone a few modifications, despite 2015 being long gone:

• The Birding Police are pretty sure that the Brown Shrike we saw early in the year near Arcata is probably a hybrid, and thus doesn't count. The bird hung around for several weeks and thanks (or no thanks) to photographers, we have documentation of how the bird developed from juvenile plumage into adult. Its feather patterns apparently don't look like any one kind of shrike, hence the declaration of it as hybrid and therefore not countable (because which would you count it as?). So -1 from the list. Damn you, Birding Police! [sad face]
  
• A couple weeks ago, I received a random text. It turned out to be from a person we met in Texas when we attempted to find the Golden-crowned Warbler near Corpus Christi. Her message was, "I've been doing a lot of listening, and the bird we heard was indeed the warbler." !!!! So we dug out the iPhone recording we had made and studied it more carefully. And indeed, the call we recorded does match the warbler in question! We had been literally carrying around the recording for over a month, and didn't bother to ever study it. Bad birders! But, +1 to the list [happy face], and a big thanks to the gal from San Antonio! Maybe we'll actually get to SEE the bird next time!

So, we're still at 692 for the year, but with these kinds of changes still possible, we'll wait a few more weeks before declaring the number final.

Stay tuned for that wrap-up!

Nice Try, Mr. Owl

Feliz Año Nuevo!

The message was delivered. The message was heard. And he tried to hide, but to no avail.

So there we were: exiting our last flight of the year on Tuesday afternoon, We had just returned from Phoenix, and before that Akron, on our last trip of our Big Year. But we had some unfinished business.

We were off in search of a Short-eared Owl. A very particular Short-eared Owl, whom we were determined to find before the year was over. Of course, we could have gone after other owls, but since we had tried and failed several times--and we don't take failure lightly--this one was personal.

Now, I may have suggested to this Owl in a recent blog post that we would be displeased if he evaded us. Displeased enough, I believe I said, to send a fleet of giant mowers to cut down all his grass. Or something like that. I forget.

This Owl, though, he's a clever one. Resourceful. With his own connections. And he only had a little more than two days to stay out of sight.

So, he recruited a friend to help keep us away. His partner in crime? A 900-pound Elephant Seal, who did her best to block the highway that runs in front of Owl's field for most of Monday and Tuesday. Her name? Bathsheba de Tolay, apparently. (follow the link, the event is pretty entertaining!)

Her escapades resulted in miles and miles of traffic jam, and we were sorely tempted to turn around. And she might have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids from the Marine Mammal Center! Also, once we got stuck in the traffic, we literally had nowhere to turn around, so we had no choice but to crawl past her.

Managing to keep our sanity long enough to finally get to the turn-off, he put one more hurdle between us.

We walked nearly a mile along Skaggs Island Road, to where the "Area Closed", "No Trespassing", and "Cameras In Use" signs are posted at the base of the old bridge. For nearly an hour, we respected the signs and scanned the fields from that point, as before finding plenty of raptors of various kinds, but nary an owl. Finally, with the sun and desperation setting in, we decided to ignore those signs and follow the road to the apex of the bridge.

From there, in less than five minutes, we found him! He had been hiding far in the distance, in an area where our view was blocked by the bridge. Only by slightly ignoring those signs (rationalized by thinking that as long as we didn't go off the pavement we were fine, and if they really wanted us out they would have put a gate there), were we able to locate him. Phew!

And that about does it for our Big Year! Unless something crazy shows up this afternoon, our final tally will stand at 692, far beyond what we originally set out to do.

Check back next week, as I'll let you know if we get one more bird, and then wrap up the year.

For now, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve! And, once the fireworks settle down just past midnight, keep your ears open...you might find your first bird of 2016 even before you go to sleep!

Happy New Year,
Me