The Hare Hits 700

No surprise given how hard Neil has been working in August, the Hare yesterday reached 700 bird species seen in the full ABA area when he visited Patagonia SP in Arizona to see an immature blue-footed booby.  He was on his way to New Mexico last week when the blue-footed booby found there was picked up to save it from starvation, so he was pretty happy at getting a second chance.  During my lower 48 big year in 2010 I was hoping that a blue-footed booby would show up but alas it did not.  You can get the full update of his birding since my last post about the hare and the tortoise at his blog site which is linked to mine.

It seems only fitting to provide a bit of perspective to Neil's effort so far.  For those who have been reading this blog lately, you already know that the record holder, Sandy Komito, reached 700 birds at the incredibly early date of July 12th back in 1998. and finished with 748.  John Vanderpoel in 2011 hit 700 birds on August 27th, and finished the year at 743 plus 1 provisional.  John's fall proved to be extremely successful.  By the time he reached 700 species, he had seen 45 code #3-#5 birds, and by the end of 2011 he saw another 35 of which 14 were seen in Alaska.  Neil saw 44 code #3-#5 birds on his way to 700, so he is on a pace that is consistent with John's in 2011.

Neil still has some pelagic trips to make, at least another trip to Alaska, and 10 likely to see code #1 and #2 birds to pick up.  It is impossible to predict just how many code #3-5 birds may show up over the next 4+ months, so all the big year watchers will be paying attention to see if Neil can break Sandy's record.

My photos are of the greater flamingos and a Wurdemann's heron that I saw in late August in Florida during my big year (click on any photo to enlarge).

Turning to the tortoise, Jay Lehman has not posted any updates since the 1st of August.  I have been informed that he has unfortunately had some major flooding problems at his home in Cincinnati which has kept him out of action.  I believe he has finally gotten the situation under control, and will soon be back out birding.

Finally, I mentioned in my last post that I had recently heard of another birder, Ron Furnish from Virginia, who began the year committed to adding to his full ABA area life list, and has now decided he is also doing a big year.  I received a comment on my last post telling me that he does have a blog on the whatbird.com site where you can read his trip reports which I have now done.  I have decided to call him the new guy because I only recently found out about him, and because he began the year with only 132 ABA area life birds.

His level of birding experience reminds me of another big year birder, James Vardaman, who was not really a birder at all.  Nevertheless, he decided back in 1979 to attempt a big year because he thought it would be a good marketing tool for his timber company.  He wrote a book about it afterward titled, "Call Collect, Ask for Birdman".  His year ended with 699 birds on his list which at the time became the record for the full ABA area.

Like James Vardaman, Ron has had the support of many good guides in his birding adventures to assist him in locating hard to find species.  One of those guides he used I also know from my big year, Wes Fritz.  We met first on one of Debi Shearwater's pelagic trips since he was the main chummer for her that year.  While I did essentially no birding with guides during my big year, Wes and I hit it off, and ended up doing some birding together in the fall to chase rarities in CA that he also wanted to see.  Wes is one of the more colorful birders that I have met over the years, and one of the best field birders that I know.  I always enjoyed our time birding together that year, and have seen him since in California when I have been out to do other pelagic trips.

In reading through Ron's trip reports, I noticed a couple of things that I think merit commenting on.  First, Ron is not counting heard birds as part of his list even though that is acceptable by the big year birding guidelines.  Given that he is a relatively new birder, this is probably a good decision since his field experience with bird calls and songs is limited.  In his blog he wonders at one point if anyone who has broken the 700 level has in fact seen at least 700 species.

I personally know 9 of the other 700+ big year birders.  In my case, I had 4 heard only birds on my lower 48 states big year list (black rail, boreal owl, Bicknell's thrush and himalayan snowcock), so I did see exactly 700 species plus the 4 heard only species.  I have not asked Sandy Komito (748), Bob Ake (731) or Lynn Barber (723) about heard only birds, but given how high their year totals were, I would be very surprised if they did not see at least 700 birds during their respective big years.  John Vanderpoel (743), Dan Sanders (715), Greg Miller (715) and Al Levantin (711) all have emailed me that they saw more than 700 species during their respective big years.  In fact, Al said that he had no heard only birds on his big year list. I do not know how many heard only birds Benton Basham (710) had in 1983.  That leaves John Spahr of those I personally know who emailed me that out of his total of 704 birds in 2010, he had at least 6 heard only birds, so he would be the only one that I know of the 700+ group who had less than 700 seen birds as opposed to both seen and/or heard.

At another point in Ron's blog he references a conversation he had in May with someone in Texas about the 12 birders who have seen and/or heard 700+ species in a calendar year.  This person claimed without naming the birder that one of the group was not legitimate.  Ron wrote in his blog that he was going to talk with Bob Ake about it.  I spoke with Bob after reading what Ron had written to see if Ron had done so.  Bob told me he had, and that he had told Ron that he had no doubts about the legitimacy of the 12 known 700+ birders.

I am raising this point because, like golf, birding is all about an honor system when it comes to bird lists.  Do people cheat in golf--yes.  Do people claim birds on their list that in fact they might not have seen and/or heard--yes.  But in both cases they hopefully are the rare exception.  Being a member of the 700+ group, and knowing what it takes to complete a big year, I find it troubling that a relatively new birder would publish in his blog something that might besmirch another birder, and then not follow up on his blog to clear up the allegation.  In this day when the internet is free to anyone to say anything that they want, and then what is written may remain in the ether for years to come, I feel that it is the responsibility of all bloggers to be sensitive to that reality, and to clear up anything that may be misleading, and in turn hurtful.

I am off to the Pribs in Alaska in mid Sept.  I will post again prior to that trip.  Stay tuned!

Big Year 2013--the Tortoise and the Hare

It is August first and time to do another update on this year's full ABA area big year efforts.   I have decided to call it the year of the tortoise and the hare.  The tortoise is Jay Lehman because of his very slow start, and the hare is Neil Hayward because of his record pace so far.

Jay has spent the last 3 weeks in the northeast, North Carolina, Texas and California beginning to pick up the vast number of code #1 and #2 birds he still has to find for his big year.  He seems to be very focused on this task because he has not chased any of the rarities that have shown up in the lower 48 states in July, not even the 1st recorded sighting in the U.S. of a rufous-necked wood-rail.  You can read all the details on his blog which is linked to mine as is Neil's.  I just exchanged emails with Jay who told me he will soon be updating his blog, and has finished July at 580 birds for the year.  He will be birding in CA and AZ next.

Neil has continued on a torrid pace, picking up many of the remaining code #1 and #2 birds he still needed, but has also managed thru a ridiculous travel schedule to see several code #3 and #4 birds as well.  Neil's past couple of weeks reminds me of the right time/right place good fortune John Vanderpoel had during his big year in 2011. For example, Neil was in FL for a pelagic trip in hopes of getting a white-tailed tropicbird which he did not see, but a fork-tailed flycatcher was found near Orlando that he was able to see.  It disappeared the day after he saw it.  John had the same experience in seeing a fork-tailed flycatcher in FL in 2011.

Neil then flew back to CA even though he had just been there, and was able to see a lesser sand plover in San Diego before it departed the area.  He immediately went to AZ and was fortunate to find the extremely rare slate-throated redstart before bear activity closed the canyon it was in in the Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista.  He also had time to find a black-capped gnatcatcher.

He then went back to CA for a pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay where he had a chance to meet Jay and Sandy Komito, and picked up 3 more year birds.  Then he had the good fortune that a little stint was found in King County that he saw also before it left.  He wrapped up July with a return to Madera Canyon in AZ to spend all day staking out some feeders to be able to see the rare berylline hummer that had just started appearing at Madera Kubo.  As a result he finished July at 696 total birds for his year.  On his blog back on July 2 he outlined his birding plans for the rest of 2013 which undoubtedly will take him well beyond the 700 level.  He is still on a pace that is just a bit ahead of the one John Vanderpoel set in 2011 when he almost eclipsed Sandy Komito's full ABA area big year record of 748.

I spoke with Bob Ake this week who had reached 684 total birds by July 31st in 2010 during his full ABA area big year.  He finished 2010 with a total of 731 birds.  Bob told me there is a man from VA relatively new to birding named Ron Furnish that he has been advising who is also doing a big year.  Bob did not think Ron was doing a blog so no one is aware of his effort.  Bob said Ron has recently passed 600 birds so far for the year.

I added the photo of the Santa Cruz Island jay and the spotted dove because these are both birds that I saw about this time during my lower 48 big year in 2010.  I know that Neil recently saw both these birds, and I assume Jay will be adding them to his list very soon as well.  Stay tuned!

Surprise--Rufous-necked Wood-rail

Last Sunday about mid day NARBA sent out an email reporting that a birder while videotaping a least bittern at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico captured footage of a rufous-necked wood-rail as it walked out of the reeds behind the bittern.  Since there are no records of a rufous-necked wood-rail in the ABA area, you can imagine the excitement this bird is generating.  Neil Hayward arrived back in Boston Sunday afternoon from his whirlwind trip to Hatteras, NC to do a pelagic tour, and was on a plane the next morning for Albuquerque.  You can read about his visit on his blog.

I called John Vanderpoel on Monday morning to see if he was going to see the rail only to find that he and 3 of his Colorado birding buddies had driven down on Sunday afternoon, and were already driving back home when I called him.  He really encouraged me to come out.  I was able to get a frequent flyer ticket to El Paso, TX that left Tuesday morning at 6:40.  I landed in El Paso about 10:45, and then made the 180 mile drive to the refuge arriving at 2 PM!

After a short chat with a very nice and 7 months pregnant refuge staffer, I was off to the location of the rail.  The photo just above is a visual of the Bosque Boardwalk.  The rail has been consistently hanging out on the left side of the boardwalk that splits the water.  When I walked up there were 8 other birders, and one fortunately had a scope on the rail.  We watched it at some distance for a few minutes, and then I suggested that we walk along the marsh trail to see if we could get closer views.

There were 2 openings near where the water stopped, and shortly after reaching them, the rail walked out along the far edge.  While my camera is not the best, at least I was close enough to get a few record shots of this very colorful bird.  It is about 12 inches in overall size, and as it moves around it reminds you of a chicken.  The photos just above and just below were taken by me (click on any photo to enlarge).  The very bottom photo was taken by John Vanderpoel.

As you can see a rufous-necked wood-rail is well named, and also has yellow on its bill and pink legs to go along with the rest of its bright feathery attire.  I had checked to see if my friends Dan and Doreene could make the trip out, but they were not able to find an air fare that seemed reasonable.  Doreene did tell me that she had only seen one of these in central America.  The closest area where this rail normally lives is on the west coast of Mexico.

The heat was very intense yesterday afternoon, so after watching the rail from 2-3 PM, I went back to the visitor center to cool off, and to watch the non-stop action at the hummingbird feeders.  I went out again at 4 and spent another hour watching the rail feed, and then went off to eat myself.  I had heard in the visitor center that the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, which is just up the road from the refuge, had very good green chile cheeseburgers.  I enjoyed eating one but a few hours later my stomach was less enthusiastic--oh well.

I spent last night in Deming, NM, and was able to bird today in the Chiricahua Mountains which is just over the state line in Arizona.  I had not been to the Chiricahua's since my big year in 2010, and I was curious to see how altered the area was because of the large fire that happened there a couple of years ago.  The east side was largely unaffected, but the west side had extensive sections that were burned.  I still had a good day birding, seeing many of the "usual suspects" for the area. 

I just read this evening that a very fine NC birder that I know, Derb Carter, posted on the Carolina listserv that the video of the rail was taken by another birder from NC whose name is Matt Daw.  Back in 2008 another first ABA record occurred at Bosque del Apache when a sungrebe was found.  It was eventually accepted by the ABA, and all the birders who make the trek to see this rail will have their fingers crossed that this rail is accepted as well.

I fly back home tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Further Big Year Food for Thought

On this day in 2010 I was at Grande Tetons NP, a place I first visited as a backpacker in 1968.  I began actively birding in 1973 when I was backpacking in Big Bend NP, and continued ever since (click on any photo to enlarge).  While the tetons is not necessarily a place a birder would visit during a big year since there are no unique birds to be found there, for me it fit into why I chose to do a big year.  While I wanted to see lots of birds, I also wanted to visit old haunts, spend time with friends around the country, and sample good cuisine including finding good burger joints, and wood-fired pizzas.

I am saying this because as I tell everyone who asks, each birder should know going into a big year what he or she thinks the goals are.  Interestingly, Neil Hayward was just out enjoying himself birding early in the year, and as his blog states, the success of his birding adventures morphed reluctantly into a full blown big year effort.  On the other hand, Jay Lehman knew last fall when he was retiring from Proctor and Gamble that he wanted to do a full ABA area big year in 2013.

Sandy Komito made it clear in both of his big year efforts that it was all about setting the full ABA area big year record, and he did it first in 1987, and then did it again in 1998--a record that still stands.  In 2010 I did not set out to establish a new record for the lower 48 states, but my plan for the year gave me the opportunity to do so in the end because I had the good fortune of many code #3-5 birds showing up in the fall, and made the decision to chase after them even though I had done practically no chasing the first 1/2 of 2010.

Last year Michael Delesantro and Renee Rubin, who live in Texas, set as their goal to do a low budget big year which in the end meant the lower 48 states.  Their goal was to drive their Toyota prius, and to spend no more than $10,000.  By the end of the year they spent a bit more than that and saw 654 different species of birds--an outstanding effort on their part.

My last post laid out where Neil and Jay stood at the 1/2 way point of their respective full ABA area big years.   The post generated a few comments about the probabilities of Neil and Jay passing 700 birds for their full ABA big years.  As a result, I thought it might be useful to provide some more data points for readers/followers of big years to mull over.

First, as I have recently stated, the code #1 and #2 birds add up to 667, and seeing almost all of these makes it easier to break 700 birds for the year.  But there is a randomness to the code #3-5's that makes reaching 700 much more uncertain, no matter how much time, money and commitment a birder has.  For example, Sandy Komito saw 27 species in 1987 that he did not see in 1998, but to reach 748 total birds in 1998 he saw many other mostly code #3-5's.

One of the comments on my last post asked when did Sandy reach 700 in 1998.  The answer is July 12th, and by September 1st Sandy had reached 730 birds (plus 4 provisionals of which 3 were accepted by the ABA after 1998) for the year.  John Vanderpoel in 2011 did not reach 700 until August 27th, but by year's end he missed tying Sandy's record by just 5 birds.   So Sandy only saw 15 more new birds after September 1st, while John saw 43 plus 1 provisional (hooded crane).

Other recent full ABA area big year birders who passed 700 total species seen include Bob Ake who reached a total of 731 birds in 2010 after seeing his 700th on September 10th.  He birded that year with John Spahr who was not able to bird as many places as Bob, but John still totaled 704 birds.  Lynn Barber in 2008 finished her year at 723 after reaching #700 on October 24th. 

But a fast start or spending time in Alaska does not guarantee a big year birder will break 700 which is why there are only 12 people so far who have done it.  For example, Matt Stenger in 2011 by mid August had reached 655 total birds, but ended his full ABA area year at 681.  Similarly, John Hargrove in 2012 had seen about 615 birds by mid August and finished his year at 689.

The point of all this data sharing is that while it is fun to try to "predict" whether Neil or Jay will pass 700 total birds, or whether Neil because of his strong start has a chance to set a new record, the randomness of code #3-5's showing up, and the commitment to chase them makes it very difficult to know how a big year will turn out until the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.

That said, Neil in his last blog post listed the 48 code #1 and #2 birds he still needs to see which would take him right up to the 700 mark, so it certainly is much more likely that he will get to 700.  And as the commenters and I have pointed out, Jay has so many code #1 and #2 birds still to see that he could get there also, but it is fair to say that the statistical probabilities are lower for him.  As a comparison to make the point, Neil only needs to average 2 new birds a week to get to 700 whereas Jay needs to average 7 each week.  Stay tuned!

1/2 Way Mark for Big Year 2013 Birders

For big year birders, today is the half way mark in their personal odyssey.  Since Neil put a link to my blog this week, I received a comment on my last post from someone who I assume is following Neil's blog. After reading my last post, his comment was that he thought Neil would make it past 700 different species for the year, but he had his doubts about Jay reaching the 700 level.  Based on the fact that as of today Neil has now seen 653 different species whereas Jay's total is only at 522, the commenter's speculation is not unreasonable.  Let's look at their lists and other big year efforts to flesh out the probabilities.

First, the baseline to any big year effort starts with successfully seeing as many of the code #1 and #2 birds on the ABA list.  Currently this number is at 667 different species, and about 25-30 of them are normally only seen in Alaska.  During my lower 48 big year in 2010, I ended the year having seen 642 code #1 and #2 birds, and did not miss any code #1 or #2 birds that I reasonably would have expected to find in the lower 48 states.

For me to reach my year end total of 704 birds in 2010, I also saw 62 code #3-5 species.  By the end of June in 2010 I had seen a total of 631 bird species of which 34 were code #3-5.  John Vanderpoel, who did a full ABA area big year in 2011, had reached by June 30th a total of 654 birds of which 32 were code #3-5.  He finished the year at 743 plus 1 provisional (hooded crane).  The full ABA area record holder is Sandy Komito who reached 748 total different species seen in 1998.  He also holds the record of 692 species seen by June 30th of his record year, and of that mid year number, 66 were code #3-5 birds.  This amazingly high number of code #3-5 in just 1/2 year of birding is mostly attributable to the el nino spring experienced at Attu in 1998 when so many rarities showed up.

Neil's overall total of 653 by June 30th is on the pace set by John, plus he has seen 33 code #3-5 birds so far which also compares well with John.  Unless Neil decides not to chase aggressively the rest of the year ( I spent $5,000 to see the last 16 birds on my list in 2010), he should definitely see more than 700 different species.  If he returns to AK in the fall, and has very good luck with rare vagrants in the fall, he could end up with a very high number for the year.

Turning to Jay's June 30th total of 522, it would appear that the commenter has good reason to doubt Jay's ability to "catch up".  I have my reservations also, but when you look at Jay's year to date list, you can see that he still has some major areas left to bird like Arizona and California, plus like Neil, he could do several pelagic trips by the end of the year.  His number of code #3-5 birds stands at 32. Jay invested a lot of time (and money) to visit Attu in May and early June.  As a result, he was able to push his ABA area life list to 804 birds, and saw what I would gauge are 31 bird species unique to visiting AK.  Neil on the other hand saw only 24 species that I would say are unique to AK.  Should Jay decide to return to AK this fall, and work really hard on the vast number of code #1 and #2 birds he has yet to see in the lower 48 states, then he still might prove that a slow start to a big year is not necessarily bad.

My bird photos for today's post (click on any photo to enlarge) were taken by me at the end of June during my lower 48 big year in 2010 when I was birding in Colorado.  One of the nice things about doing a blog of your big year, is that you have a record that you can return to for data, and to simply enjoy the memories.  Stay tuned!

More 2013 Big Year Commentary

The summer solstice is almost here, and with it generally comes the much slower half of any ABA area big year effort.  I say that because of the combination of the spring migration has finished, and because most big year birders go all out during the first 6 months of the year to find as many birds as possible in the most efficient way possible.  But now we are heading into the summer doldrums when finding new species really slows down if a big year birder has gotten off to a good start.  For example, in 2010 during my lower 48 big year, by June 20th I had seen 619 different species and only added another 85 birds by year end.

I wrote in my last post about how Jay Lehman and Neil Hayward were doing in their full ABA area big year efforts thru June 1.  And while it is only another 3 weeks since then, it seems worth updating how they have progressed. In reading Neil's blog I found out about Hans de Grys, a birder from Seattle who has just completed an unusual full ABA area big year because he began it on June 13, 2012, and finished up on June 12th 2013.  He did it this way because he is a teacher and was taking a year sabbatical to bird, and to visit other outstanding teachers that he knew or had read about.

His split calendar year provided some interesting data for me via his ebird posts.  He saw 460 different species in 2012 over 6.5 months with the last recorded species for the year being a barn owl.  In 2013 his ebird list totaled 542 different species seen in 5.5 months.  In his blog (reallybigyear.wordpress.com) he said that the total number of different species seen over the full 12 months added up to 647.  Between the 2 year ebird totals, you can calculate that 355 of the total species he recorded in 2013 were repeats from 2012 (460 + 542 - 647 = 355).  In comparing the summer and fall half of his year to the winter and spring half, he saw almost twice as many non duplicate bird species in 2013 which is what you would expect given that we live in the northern hemisphere where the spring migration is much more important to big year birders than the fall migration.

Turning to Jay and Neil, Jay has not posted to his blog since June 11th when he briefly reported on his trip to Adak and Attu plus one day of birding in Anchorage.  He said he was returning to Ohio on June 16th, but he has not yet updated his blog so I do not know yet how the rest of his Alaska visit turned out for him.  I do know that he picked up over 50 more birds in AK as of June 11th (and is now over 800 life birds for the ABA area), so I am going to estimate that he returned to Ohio with about 520 different species on his year list.

Neil returned from a 2nd trip to Alaska where he got to bird with Hans de Grys.  He stopped in MI to see the Kirtland's warbler, and then has continued to bird in New England, and VA and NC.  He visited Howell Woods in NC which is about 90 minutes from Chapel Hill where as expected he saw both Swainson's and KY warblers.  As of June 19th his full ABA area year total is now at 645 species seen and/or heard.  This is a very, very strong start for any full ABA area big year. It matches where John Vanderpoel was during his almost record breaking effort in 2011.  And from reading his blog, he still has not birded in CA.  He also has only done one pelagic bird trip, so there are still more relatively easy to pick up species for him to pursue.  That said, Neil is going to realize very quickly how different the second half of a big year is compared to the first half--far, far fewer new birds to see, and lots more chasing to reach a plus 700 total for the year.

As for me, I have not birded in a few weeks, but instead have been working on the logistics of visiting the Pribilofs in AK from Sept. 15th to Oct. 4th.  I am going with 3 birding friends from Ohio--Dan Sanders, Doreene Linzell and Laura Keene.  In the mean time who knows where I might head off to.  I was all set to drive down to St. Augustine. FL to look for a variegated flycatcher that ended up being a 1 day wonder because of tropical storm Andrea.  Stay tuned!

2013 ABA Big Year Report

Since it is the beginning of June when the spring migration is winding down, it seems like a good time to check in on the progress of the 2 full ABA area big year efforts of which I am aware.  As I have mentioned in some earlier posts, a birder I know from Ohio, Jay Lehman, is undertaking a big year.  I first met Jay on a pelagic trip out of Manteo, NC back in 2002 which is when I also met Dan Sanders (big year in 2005) and Greg Miller (big year in 1998) who are 2 of the 12 known 700+ club big year birders.

Jay has a blog, jaysbigyear2013.blogspot.com, which is how I have been following his adventures.  He is currently in Alaska on a boat as part of a trip led by John Puschock of Zugunruhe Tours to Adak and Attu.  Jay had visited the famed Attu back before it was shut down in 2000.  Now the only way to visit is by staying on a boat, and going into the island each day to bird.  His last post was on May 26th just before leaving on his trip to Alaska which will also take him to Nome.  His total as of the 23rd was 456 species.  He hopes to return from Alaska with at least 50 more species on his list.

The other birder that I have discovered doing a big year in the full ABA area is Neil Hayward, an Englishman who lives in Cambridge, MA.  I tracked him down because of his ebird posts.  Based on his ebird totals, over a month ago I got in touch with him to ask whether he was doing a big year.  He emailed me back to say that he had not planned to do one, but given his fast start he now was "reluctantly" deciding to keep going for it.  He now also has started a blog, accidentalbigyear.blogspot.com.

He made a quick trip to Alaska in May, and has since stopped briefly in Arizona before traveling onto Minnesota where he is currently birding.  His total as of today is 620 species.  This is an extremely good start for a big year when compared to a few other birders who saw more than 700 species during their big year.  Greg Miller had seen about 560 birds by June 1 on his way to a total of 715 in 1998.  In 1998, Al Levantin had reached 619 birds by June 1 as had John Vanderpoel in 2011.  Al finished his big year at 711, and John ended up at 743.  The best start to a big year was Sandy Komito's total of 645 by June 1 when he set the record at 748 in 1998.

During my lower 48 states big year in 2010, I had seen 607 species by June 1st.  Neil has already seen over 30 more bird species that it took me a longer to find such as short-eared owl, great gray owl and hoary redpoll.  It will be interesting to see how Neil does going forward, and whether Jay has enough time left to "catch up".  Stay tuned!