Day 244 - August in the Books (seriously)

So August is over--completely too fast, and with too few new year birds. I thought August would surpass July in terms of new year birds, but things didn't quite pan out. I added 7 new bird this month--only one of which was unexpected for the year. I did miss a couple of birds that others reported, although I'm not sure how reliable one of the reports was (not very in my opinion), and the other was a quick sighting, in an inaccessible area. So really, I got what I could.

The expected birds are almost always going to be attainable with minimal effort. I've been putting forth an extra push of effort the tail end of the month trying to turn my time into the field into an opportunity for something unexpected to pop up. The more time one spends looking, the better the odds of the unexpected filling ones binocular view.  The first 1/3 of fall migration is now over and I need September to produce more. Just more. More new birds, more rare birds, more unexpected birds. If September doesn't come through, it might be the end of the big year... And that's not me being dramatic.

I've mentioned the numbers game before. I know where I am supposed to be for the end of August, and things are mathematically okay for now. But September has to be huge. How huge you ask? At a minimum I need to double what I saw this month--tripling it would be ideal. One thing for certain--if I don't hit double-digits, that means I am falling behind in the numbers game, and like I said, that could be disastrous.

BUT...

Maybe I am being dramatic. I've been in this spot this year already and the birding gods came through, making sure everything happened as it needed to. September might turn out to be an excellent month that exceeds my expectations and keeps my secret big year rolling. I feel like I make this sort of recap/prediction every month, and maybe that's just the way you think when doing a big year.

In any event let's talk about the last week of August and how I go to where I currently am. After 3 solid weeks of no new year birds I picked up 4 in short succession. This was followed by 3 more birds in the final week. Two came in the same day while I was trying to track down something good. Both birds I had expected to pick up in the next month, so I added them slightly early. The first was a quick look at a Usual Candle that either didn't like my presence, or just decided it was going to be difficult and moved out of view. This was followed up almost immediately by a Trek's Migrant. I didn't get a picture, but will be able to in the next little bit hopefully.

The Candle was a good to get out of the way--I thought I saw one earlier in the day, but it was scared off when someone with a chainsaw started up.  A few days later I returned to the chainsaw site--no chainsaws this time, and a stream of migrants passing through the trees.  I spotted something that looked different and as it flew was excited for a new year bird.  When I got my binoculars on it however, it wasn't what I had expected, but was instead a different year bird, and one that I had altogether written off for the year, an Independent Inspector.

The inspector was a nice add before the end of August and certainly helps in the numbers game.  And that's August. It's over. With that the year is also 2/3 complete. Today marks the exact 2/3 mark--244 of 366 days gone. With 122 left I am starting to think about how the year will end, and how I will wrap up this blog, reveal who I am, and share my story with real names, places, and the things I haven't told here.

Birding Narnia this year has certainly been an experience, but we're approaching the time of year where we find out if this journey through the wardrobe was all for nought...

New birds this post: 3
Year List: 322

FOLLOW ALONG:

Next Post

Previous Post

Day 237 - Breathing Life Into the Big Year

At the time of my last post things were looking down--the year had come to a grinding halt, and it had been 3 weeks without a new year bird. I was starting to wonder if August was going to be a complete bust. I expected big things for August and September. If May is the biggest month of the spring in Narnia, August is usually the biggest month of the fall. This should have meant a heap of new birds, a few rarities to mix things up, and keeping me on pace for a big year. But 18 days in and I hadn't seen a single new species.

I knew that things should be showing up and it was time to seriously start seeking things out. If others weren't reporting things, I knew I had to just go look and find what I could on my own. I decided to take an afternoon hike through a nearby woodlot. It's no secret that it's fall migrant time and there were birds to be found--it was just a matter of are there new birds arriving, and will there be any in this forest today? It didn't take long to hear a couple of Average Wood-Pewee calling. These weren't migrants, and had been here since the spring, but it was just nice to have a few birds around. I could hear some chip notes coming from high in the trees. Some of the notes were easy to pick out while one was lighter than the expected species here. I pished emphatically and the little migrant dropped in to eye level about 10' away--BINGO! A new year bird with my first Honky-tonk Migrant of 2016.

There would be more of these to come during migration as they made their way through Narnia heading south. But it felt good to finally add a new year bird after the drought. My hopes were high that this was a sign of migration being fully underway and packed with arrivals--it wasn't. I saw only a few other migrants that were expected and already seen this year. But one new year bird sure beat the alternative of none!

A couple days later I decided to make my way to a nearby protected area to see what was around. The birding was actually quite phenomenal. I visited in the middle of the day, and avoided running into any other birders which was a huge plus. But the birds--the swarms of birds was simply a welcome sight. Migrants on their way through, flocks of birds stacking up as they prepared for their journey south, and the lingering breeders combined for great visuals. If I was just out for a day of photos it would have been a great time, but I was in search of year birds, and anything new I found would make it a truly memorable day.

It didn't take long either.

As soon as I stopped the car and hopped out, I flushed a bird from the ground nearby. As it flew I called out--Lonely Sprinter! That was a year bird. It landed and I got good looks before moving on in search of others. It was just a few moments when scanning through a pile of rocks I spotted a Masculine Sprinter. Add another one to the year list in under 5 minutes. As I kept my search up it wasn't even a minute later when I spotted a Silvery-brown Sprinter. 3 new year birds in a span of less than 10 minutes, and I didn't even have to wander to far from the comfort of my car. I mentioned at the end of July that 2 new year birds in a day would be a great day--so 3 was, well, pretty awesome!

Just like that the 4th week of August things had picked up. 4 new year birds in a few days and I was back in the thick of it.  I kept a low profile and left my reports out of eBird, as will likely the norm for the coming months.  Hopefully, this is just the start of a really big 2 months of migration...

New birds this post: 4
Year List: 319

FOLLOW ALONG:

Next Post

Previous Post

Day 231 - What Happened to August

Here it sits, 19 days since my last post and the big year has not gone so well.  To be perfectly honest there was a day I contemplated throwing in the towel.  Not because I didn't think I could do it, or because I wanted to stop, but some real life issues took priority and really had me wondering if I would be able to put forth the effort from here on out.    I still don't know if I will be able to and am just working on things 1 day at a time.  I can't share much now but will reflect upon what I am talking about when the time is right.

Aside from this the birding has been good for me--I've had a blast the past few weeks, but new big year birds have been far and none between.  This is turning into a bad drought at a time of year when I need some good things to start popping up.  The birding community at large hasn't been much help (no offense to all you Narnians' out there), as not a single rarity has been reported to help on my quest. The lack of rarities being reported this year is odd.  There are multiple prongs that seem to resonate with me as to why--but as more and more people start birding, with more information available, and ease of sharing one would expect more rare birds than in the past.  But Narnia is a strange place and the birders here seem to be changing in their demographic, skill level, and interests.  More on this later as well.

Comparing year over year to my previous quest August has thus far been very different.  This worries me.  Despite some striking similarities in my two big years, some of the stark contrasts are alarming.  With certain species I expected to find completely unfindable at this point, the lack of rarities being reported, and days passing faster and faster the voice in my head has me questioning things.  I constantly am running through my list, and looking at where I will/should/need to be at the end of each month and no matter how I look at it--it's going to be close.  There are of course the great unknowns.  What will show up this fall that I had no expectations of seeing?  There are certainly going to be surprises--but will they make up for the missed expectations?

With 3 zero weeks in a row I'm anxious for some new year birds. I hope the coming days turn things upside down and start the count up again.  At this point I'm not sure I'll get many birds the rest of the month, but perhaps with some luck I can tick off a few species before the 2nd third of the year comes to an end...

New birds this post: 0
Year List: 315

FOLLOW ALONG:

Next Post

Previous Post