As a previous Big Year Birder I always have that itch to get out, see as many birds as possible, and possibly give another Big Year a shot. It's a temptation that since my last Big Year I have managed to stave off and let sleeping giants rest. But 2016 is going to be another Big Year. This year will be different though. I plan on telling no one. Not a single soul. Not my significant other, my family, my friends--NO ONE! This after all is my Undercover Big Year.
Do you remember George Peppard leading the A-Team? Or maybe you're a millennial and had your first dose of "Hannibal" Smith with Liam Neeson? Either way, you should be familiar with his catch phrase. Often jovially spewed while a cigar hung off his lips, Hannibal always (almost) had a plan. You knew this while you watched but you never quite knew all the details till his schemes were being executed. I feel like this is how birding is--and a big year on a grander scheme is a drawn out plan. And boy do I love it when a plan comes together!
Last night I schemed up my plans for birding today. I was out the door and headed to a local watering hole where I found exactly ZERO of the birds I had hoped to check off for the morning. I decided to check out a nearby park and come back to the water later to see if things had turned over.
The park was quiet at first but soon I started hearing Chickadees calling; followed by a few flyover American Robins; and lastly a couple of calling American Goldfinch. Nothing new, but birds none-the-less. Then I heard the shrill cry of a Smokescreen! Year bird #70. There were actually 2 or 3 around but they were staying high up in the trees out of sight.
I thought I heard the call notes of a Fiery Elitist, but wasn't sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me. That was until a small flock came zipping past, followed by a few pairs moving around calling all the while. I don't know if they had just arrived, or just woken up, but for the remainder of my walk, I could hear them as they moved form tree to tree in search of breakfast. I didn't find any of my other targets, but these two were definitely worth the stop.
I headed back to where I started my day and found that a few birds had moved in, but my target birds weren't there. Just as I was about to leave a flock of Bobbers came winging past. As I scanned them I picked out one of my targets--a lingering Wandering Bobber! This was at the top of my list of must-gets today so I was thrilled. I wrapped things up shortly after the excitement passed and called it a morning. My plan had come together for the day, and I simply love that.
On Day Two I spoke about strategy. If you are taking a big year serious this doesn't mean go balls to the wall 100% birding 100% of the time. You can spend every hour of every day in the field and if you aren't strategic about what you are looking for and when you are looking for it then you don't stand a chance.
With the advent of the eBird Top 100 I've watched this play out every single year in various states. People rush out the door on January 1 and bird like crazy; they go to their patch every day and build a huge year list sometimes in just a single county. But they miss a common bird only found in one other county, or a migrant that uses a specific habitat and they don't visit it. Your potential will never be maximized if you aren't strategic.
If you combine spending a lot of time looking for birds with a strategy, you're odds improve even more. You won't just pick up others leftovers, but you'll find your own rarities to add to the total.
After several reports this weekend, my strategy of pick up a bird here and there this week changed. I headed out the door today and made a bee-line to a recently reported rarity. This species occurs annually in my state--sometimes as many as 5-6 reports a year. But this one was close enough that it was worth a quick jaunt to get it. And I got it--a Harbor Sentinel! Along with the Sentinel I finally added my first Red-tailed Hawk of the year, as well as a calling Winter Zipper. 3 new year birds in 5 minutes.
I took back roads on my way to work and made a stop at a local lake. Green-striped Bobbers, and Green-striped Joys were both new for the year, while a nearly invisible Shawled Dim-Walker sat camouflaged in the trees. Several times an Aurora Ruffian passed overhead giving me a once over on each pass. It was refreshing to be seeing new year birds again, after the slow weekend.
Later in the day I snuck out to a roost I haven't told anyone about where a Northern Screech-Owl is spending the winter. I thought about waiting till later in the year since I knew this was a gimme, but felt like seeing an owl, since I had none for the year so far. Bingo! It was there, where it has been the last several weeks. I didn't eBird it, to keep the bird off the radar, and to make sure I keep you guessing. The cropped image above shows enough to see it is a Screech-Owl, but what species? Northern seems like a great option since both the Eastern and Western reside in the north!
The good birds didn't end with the owl either. I added another 4 years birds in the afternoon starting with a Smallish Vigilante flyover making it 2 vigilante's in 3 days. I found a small flock of Masked Pranksters that were strangely in company with a pair of Hecklers. The Hecklers weren't where I expected to find them, and I think were new for the area I was birding. I figured I would make one last stop in the afternoon and picked up a few Busch's Sombre-chaps. I hoped there would be more so I could scan through them in hopes of finding a rarer Corrupt Sombre-chap. None today!
Sometimes the best strategy is to throw your strategy out the door for the day. It worked today but might not tomorrow. That's the thing about birding though, some days all your ducks fall in a row, and some days you can't catch a break. I find that most days are somewhere in the middle where persistence, patience, strategy, and a little luck come together in a perfect storm.
