robsbigyear2019.com

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I can’t believe it!!! You won’t believe it!!!! It’s unbelievable!!!! I won after all, I saw 573 species. Here’s the unbelievable but true story, and I can prove it all:

To recap – After I hit 500 species in September I needed a new goal. After I added New Hampshire to the schedule and looked at the list, I saw that 570 was possible. That in itself is not that interesting a number so I decided to try to top Roger Tory Peterson’s 1953 Big Year record of 572. As the days ticked down in 2019 I kept getting closer and closer. Finally it came down to New Mexico. I had 570 species on December 28 and if I could add the 3 rosy-finches at the top of Sandia Crest – which is normally a sure thing – I would have my 573. But the whims of weather prevented me from getting to the top so no rosy-finches and no victory. I was (Sandia) crest-fallen. But I took my lumps and congratulated myself on a great year. And it was. Now it just got better.

I’m now writing a book about my Big Year. Everyone else has so why not me. While working on it today, I got to the part about my first trip to Texas in April. My Blog post of April 17 says I went to Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park that evening and heard about 5 Common Pauraques. I clearly remember that. To see what species number that was for the year, I looked at my Word document list. But it’s not on the list! I forgot to add it to the list! See for yourself. If you look at the April 30 post you will see the list for that time period. Specifically, look at April 17 – no Pauraque. I was stunned. I missed one. I really saw 571 species, not 570. Still skeptical? Look at my post of November 9. On my second trip to Texas I saw and photographed a pauraque and published its picture on the blog. But so what, one species doesn’t change much.

But wait a minute, if I missed this one, what else did I miss? Maybe there are more. I carefully went through the ABA checklist that I printed out before the year began where I wrote down the date and place of each sighting. I compared that to my Word document kept in chronological order, the one I have published on my Blog. I put a check mark next to each species on both lists. Common Merganser! It’s on the ABA checklist but not on the Word list! Here’s why: Look at the post from January 29. In a Corrigenda, I mention that I saw this species at Parker Canyon Lake on January 22, 50 of them according to my eBird report. Notice the post of January 25 has the list but no Common Merganser for that date. So even though I realized I forget to add it to the list, I still never added it. I’m now at 572 – it’s a tie! I’m tied with The Greatest of All Time!!!!

But wait! I’m only up to waterfowl on the ABA checklist so I keep going. E-A-R-E-D G-R-E-B-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw Eared Grebe with Joy at Canoa Ranch on January 3 and did not write it down in my field notebook. I saw more at the Amado wastewater plant later that day, 3 in fact, it’s right there in my field notebook! I’m sure I saw a million more elsewhere too. 573!!!!!! I kept looking for more but after an hour of tediousness I looked up and thought – why keep looking? There might be 1 or 2 more I missed but it doesn’t matter now. I took the shortcut of manually counting all the birds I saw and entered a date and place for on the ABA checklist – 573 (plus 3 introduced species). I reached 573 after all!!!!! I won! I reached my goal!!!! All that heartache for nothing. I tried to make like it didn’t matter but it mattered. I hate losing, I hate not reaching a goal. Especially when it is broadcast on my Blog for all the world to see. There was no hiding from it. Everyone could see I came up 3 short, no matter that it was due to weather. I should have stayed in San Diego a few more days. I should have this, I should have that. All this second guessing.

Now it’s OK. I did exactly the right thing all year long. I went to just to the right number of places, found just the right number of birds, saw just the right number of bonus birds to make up for the misses. I saw five-hundred and seventy-three species in one year. I did it – I reached my goal. I don’t know how many people will see this all-important correction but I know about it. That’s all that matters. All is well in the world now.

Somehow I got out of New Mexico, my Land of Disenchantment, yesterday after spending 10 hours at the airport while flights got scheduled and rescheduled. I didn’t get home until after midnight, an ignominious ending to the year. So I end with 570 species. Remember, the original goal was 500 but as these projects are prone to do, it took on a life of its own and got a little out of hand. There are 3 more I need present in Arizona now, Tundra Swan, Cackling Goose, and Pacific Loon. If I leave now maybe I could catch up with them. After all the hyperbole I am naturally disappointed I didn’t reach 573 to top the Peterson record of 1953. If you add in the 3 introduced species I didn’t count – pigeon, starling, and House Sparrow – I win. But I say it’s hard to lose a Big Year, too much fun and excitement. Kenn Kaufman only “lost” by about 3 species in 1973, but it propelled him to a life of fame and fortune. I doubt I’ll be propelled to anything but you can’t help but be enriched by it. If I hit this number last year, I would have had the 3rd highest of all Big Year totals submitted to the ABA for 2018. (See the listing section at ABA.org) I highly recommend all birders do a Big Year, at any scale, and you will experience the thrill of the chase like never before, and learn identification and status and distribution, a worthwhile goal in itself.

When I compare my total to Peterson’s, I’m struck by all the advantages I enjoyed. More species, jet air travel (when they can get the engine started), interstate highways, bird-finding guides, pelagic trips, and most importantly, the internet, bringing me rare bird alerts, listserves, and Ebird. His total is all the more impressive when put it in this light. And to those who can get 600 and even upper 700’s, I stand in awe.

Highlights: The very first day, the thrill of seeing all birds in a new light, the most common bird takes on a new importance, including the Great Horned Owl heard at 6:32 am from my living room for bird 1/ the rush of the White-throated Thrush in Madera Canyon on Jan 10 for the year’s first rarity/ the Power Trip to Miami in March to break out of a slump and score Thick-billed Vireo and Western Spindalis/ 2 weeks in Texas (by train!) and Florida in April to add Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Groove-billed Ani, Masked Booby, and White-crowned Pigeon for a total of 130 new species/ summer in New England with Spruce Grouse, Little Egret, and Atlantic Puffin/ White-tailed Ptarmigan and Black Swift in Colorado in August/ a final pelagic trip on Monterey Bay with Debi Shearwater in Sept, adding Wrentit for #500 on 14 Sep/ Sooty Grouse in Washington followed by the best day of the year, and maybe ever for me, on the Westport pelagic with 10 new species for the day, 6 of which were world life birds, including the rare Short-tailed Albatross/ a special trip to California in Oct to get Island Scrub-Jay/ a fun festival in Texas in Nov where I got Morelet’s Seedeater, Aplomado Falcon, and Ringed Kingfisher/ the Big Finish in Dec, where I endured 7 flights, stayed in 4 hotels, and drove 3 different rentals, a final coast-to-coast sweep, giving it my best and last. I ended the year with 29 new species for my ABA area list, 20 of which are world lifers.

How much did it cost? Hard to say, some of these trips I would have taken anyways. But thousands, not tens of thousands. A record-setting Big Year costs tens of thousands and I could do lots of other things with that kind of dough.

The Blog worked out really well, it was fun keeping it up and I hope you had a good time following it. What a great way to tell the world about where you went and what you saw. I’ll miss Fan Mail and all those stacks and stacks of canvas bags marked “U.S. Mail” and all the “surprises” inside. How will you keep sharp without the Puzzler?

And now I’ve reached the end. As I write this, I am listening to a Great Horned Owl hooting just outside my front door. Maybe it’s the same one I heard for my first bird of the year on January 1, one unbelievably short year ago. The circle closes and the year ends. Now that it’s all over and I’ve come down from the mountain,what do I do with myself? Technically I still have until the clock strikes 12 tomorrow night, when all of this turns to pumpkins and mice. Then I go back to my kind of birding, where I do 90% of it within 20 miles from my front door. Back to the systematic study of local birds, forever searching for trends, patterns, and changes. I’ll still chase rarities and build my life list, here and abroad. But I satisfied a long-time dream of running a North American Big Year, a once in a life time event. It was all I thought it would be and more. I’m full. I especially thank all of you who pitched in, I couldn’t have done it without you. Maybe on New Years day I’ll go back to Denny’s where it all began for me this year, one exhilarating year ago, January 1, 2019. I’ll look around to see if there is a Big Year birder eating breakfast, looking out the window, starting his new year.

Here’s the mammal list:

And butterflies:

A bad day gets worse. I started out birding an open space park just outside Albuq since the Crest House doesn’t open until 10:00 am. Not finding a Sage Thrasher, I headed up the Sandia Crest road. Even at the bottom there was snow on the road but tires cleared it down to the pavement. But after 2 miles, there was no more pavement. The higher up I went the steadier the snowfall (it was only partly cloudy in town.) After just three miles I could see my Hyandai rental was not going to make it up the mountain so I turned around BEFORE I could get stuck. At the bottom of the hill I parked and waited. Sure enough, along came the snow plow! I followed him up but after a few miles I could see he was not plowing down to the pavement, there was still plenty of snow on the road. But I was going forward. After 7 miles of a 14 mile road, I reached a sign that stopped me in my tracks: “Chains required from this point.” That’s it, I’m done, I don’t have chains in my rental. On the way back down, I tried to think of where else I could go to get 2 or 3 more birds. First, I went back to the park to look for Sage Thrasher but after 2 hours none could be found. All of the above made up the good part of my day.

We boarded the 7 pm flight to Phoenix on time but could not leave right away until the plane was de-iced, thanks to a sudden snow squall at the last minute. Once that was completed we were ready to go. Until the pilot announced that Engine No. 1 would not start, probably attributable to the inept deicing crew, he said. Mechanics couldn’t start it so we had to abandon ship. Then the long line with the gate agent to rebook a flight and get a room. Supposedly I will be in Tucson tomorrow at 3 pm. That leaves 2 days to find 3 birds, but they have to be within walking distance of my house, my travelling days are over.

Over the next few days I’ll have plenty of wrap-up, mammal and butterfly lists, and Final Thoughts on what was, today not withstanding, an exhilarating year.

I said goodbye to San Diego at 9:30 this morning, and said hello to New Mexico at noon. I’m now cooling my heels in this hobo hotel. I don’t know how I find these places. To keep up the decor, I’m knocking back a quart can of Mickey’s malt liquor. My neighbors have nothing on me. This trip is wearing me down and I think I deserve this treat.

An hour and a half after leaving the West Coast I looked out the window and there it was, the end zone, this is Sandia Crest:

All ten thousand feet of it. I say the weather doesn’t look so bad up there. Here is where I make my final stand. The whole Big Year comes down to this. The Sandia Crest House, a cafeteria/gift shop, is only open on weekends. This is the last weekend of 2019. I can’t come back another time. I try tomorrow morning and leave tomorrow night. I have one shot at victory. I play for all the marbles. All the chips are down. It’s win or loose. You couldn’t have written a script for the ending of this Big Year any better. Either I get all three Rosy-Finches – Black, Gray-crowned, and Brown-capped – and enjoy the thrill of victory. Or I miss and suffer the agony of defeat. I think I can do it. I’ll try to do it. I know I can do it. I will do it. We’re on the 3 yard line, down by 5 points. It’s fourth down with 2 seconds on the clock. Only a touchdown wins it. I pass or hand off, either way, this ball goes over the goal line.

I was expecting steady rain all day but it let up by late morning. I didn’t leave my hotel in Westmoreland until 11 so that the drive was mostly rain and snow free. I came over on I-8 where there was 4-6 inches of snow above 3,000 feet. By the time I got to the coast, the sun was coming out.

First stop was my gnatcatcher site but the road in was closed due to flooding,I couldn’t get near it, so that was it for that bird. From there I went over to La Jolla to see what was around.

The place was packed with visitors and few parking spaces were available. Somehow I found one and walked around a little. I couldn’t add anything to the bird list but I did add Gray Whale to the mammal list, with an unaudited total of 59 so far, probably half are marine mammals. Heermann’s Gull is one of my favorites, so I took a shot:

So tomorrow I leave San Diego with the goal of six new species here met, despite leaving a few on the table. Tomorrow, after I land at noon, I have a shot at Sage Thrasher just outside Albuquerque off I-40. Then Saturday I climb up Sandia Crest, probably in another Kia Rio, and hope all is as I expect it will be.

Today I had to rearrange my schedule to accommodate another storm tomorrow. Instead of birding all day at the Salton Sea, I started at Unit 1 of the refuge looking for Ridgway’s Rail. I was going to look for White-headed Woodpecker tomorrow at the Idyllwild Nature Center but it will be all snow up there so today was the day for the woodpecker. But the nature center would be closed on Christmas Day so I went to my back up – the Palm Springs tram.

I tried looking for the rail until 8:00 am, without success, then I figured I could get to the tram parking lot by 9:30 and be the first in line for the 10 o’clock car. How dead wrong was I? See for yourself:

Before you get to this line, you wait 10 minutes for the bus that takes you to this line, the ticket line. One hour later you have your ticket. But the tickets they are selling at 10:30 are for the 12:10 car. I’m willing to suffer for the cause, it’s the woodpecker or nothing today. Then I caught a lucky break. Because I was a solo traveler, they had room for one more on the 10:50 ride, saving me an hour and a half wait. Maybe I’ll get down the mountain before nightfall after all. The signs warned there could be another 2 hour wait to go down. What ever it takes. In minutes I was whisked to the top at 8,000+ feet. As I opened the door to go outside, my heart sank.

The wind was howling full blast with low 20 degree temperatures. Not only do I not have sufficient clothes, but I don’t see how I can find a woodpecker. But I have to try so I keep walking, head down, into the wind. I don’t get far when I stop and see something white moving up the tree so it’s not blowing snow. Then I see it and I can’t believe my eyes – a black bird with a white head – White-headed Woodpecker (570)!

I fumble to remove my gloves, aim the camera, and fire off a few shots, at least one of which comes out well. What a lucky break! I could have spent two hours walking around there and still not found one. But in that weather that would have been a stretch. Instead, I got a gift on this Christmas Day. I immediately returned to the lift and rode the next car down to 60 degree temperatures. To celebrate this big win, I have composed a new Christmas carol. It goes something like this: “I won’t be home for Christmas, sorry my little dear,/ I won’t be home for Christmas, I’m working on my Big Year.”

I now have 570 species for the year so I met my goal for the first two legs of this trip. I need three more. The latest forecast for Sandia Crest calls for snow on Friday when I arrive, about 6 inches, but they should have that swept clean by Saturday morning, in time for me to snake up that windy little road all the way to the top.

Today started very poorly and left me very discouraged. First stop was the gnatcatcher site that I visited yesterday. I got to see the California Thrasher that I heard yesterday but the only gnatcatcher I could find was a Blue-gray. I decided to try my luck inside the Torrey Pines State Reserve. But I was told at the gate that the parking lot at the top and all the trails were closed! That’s C-L-O-S-E-D!! No gnatcatcher! From there I went up the coast to Oceanside for the Cackling Goose at a golf course pond. Sounds easy. But the pond was completely overgrown with tall vegetation blocking any view of anything swimming in it. You have to hope the goose drags itself up on to the fairway. That’s two birds missed. I continued on along Hwy 78, taking lunch at an olde soda shoppe in colorful Julian.

A little ways beyond that, down the other side of the mountains, I passed through Anza-Borrego State Park to a certain campground, namely Tamarisk Grove where Long-eared Owl has been reported here for decades. I pulled over on the road near where a photographer could be doing only one thing – photographing owls. In short order he pointed them out, here’s one:

Long-eared Owl (567), my 14th and final owl of the year. And just like that my luck changed from bad to good.

An hour later I was at the north end of Salton Sea to add an especially rare bird. Some say I should have gone for this bird a month ago as a separate and special trip for this one bird. But I held out, showed some poise, and waited until my own schedule took me here. This bird might disapear tomorrow but it was here today: Garganey (568)!

She may not look like much but to the Big Year birder, she is golden. Garganey is a rare visitor from Eurasia and this one is likely the only one in all of North America today. I’ve only seen one other, the one in Thomaston, Maine about 25 years ago. This is only my 5th Code 4 bird this year.

It’s now getting late but there is time for one more. I stopped in Corvina Beach to search for Bell’s Sparrow. I thought I had one but I had to run back to get my scope but by then it was mixed in with a large flock of White-crowned Sparrows. Along came the guys I just met back at the Garganey site. “What are you looking for?” he called out. When I told him he said “I thought so. We just had 4 right over there!” I immediately went “over there” and started chasing the sparrows. With patience I was able to get one in the scope showing its strong malar stripe, darker gray head and streakless back. Bell’s Sparrow (569). I could now make my way to my hotel in Westmoreland, arriving at 4:30 as it got dark. I treated myself to a taco plate at the Chevron station down the street. I confirmed they are open tomorrow assuring good eating for the holidays.

I really only need one more here to get to 570 and I can get the final three at Sandia Crest IF I CAN GET UP THE MOUNTAIN! That’s the big wild card right now. With all this rain here I’m afraid some will reach New Mexico in the form of snow. If I can’t get up the mountain I don’t reach 573, there is no back up plan. All I can do is try to get 4 more here but I don’t know if that’s possible. I can think of three maybe but 4 is tough. There is still plenty of drama left in this game!

I thought it would be reasonable to expect high and dry conditions here in Southern California but today was almost a complete wash out. I tried birding in the morning first thing but all I got was wet and cold. I started in a place known to have California Gnatcatcher, my primary target in San Diego. It’s near the intersection of Intertates 5 and 805 just east of Torrey Pines State Park. From there I went down to La Jolla but no Pacific Loon was around, nor at Mission Bay. By now the rain had stopped so I went back to the original gnatcatcher spot. I easily picked up Nuttall’s Woodpecker (565) and California Thrasher (566) but I don’t think I got the gnatcatcher, I’ll have to listen to call vocalizations, it wasn’t making the kitten call.

Anyway, I’m going back there tomorrow for one last look, then up to Oceanside for a good lead on Cackling Goose. From there I head over to Salton Sea for a few days but the forecast does not look good and there are a lot of dirt roads over there. Right now I’m discouraged, I only got 2 today but I only need 4 more in California. I have a good lead on a Long-eared Owl tomorrow, the Garganey is still present, and I think I can scrounge up a few more. As the game goes down to the wire, I can see there will be no long passes into the end zone, just lots of short yardage grind ’em out plays that push the ball slowly – oh so very slowly – toward the goal line.

Today was the day for a trip on the Eastman’s fishing boat out of Seabrook Harbor. This is no walk-in-the-park whale watch. It’s in the middle of the winter and the clientele is all different. These fishermen are hardened men, hungry for fishing action in the deep sea. We boarded the boat at 6:30 am and I went straight to the galley where there was heat. It was also crowded with fishermen, packed into a small space like sardines in a can. At the table of Polish fisherman, one of them drained a can of beer before we left the dock. A few miles out to sea and out came the bottle of vodka. On this boat, fishermen mean business.

Our crew of five birders held court on the upper deck. The first new bird for the list was Black-legged Kittiwake (562), which soon became abundant.

Next up was Dovekie (563), a very numerous bird out there; we would go on t count over 600. I needed three on this trip and I knew identifying rather than finding Razorbill would be the hard part. Do I count it if I see it but can’t tell if it is Common Murre but the photographs confirm it is Razorbill? Fortunately it did’t come down to that as there were several seen well enough without ambiguity to know what it was (564).

I was not cold for about five minutes at mid-day when the sun came out briefly. I was easily the most under-dressed passenger on board. But overall it was not too bad, the temperature rose from single digits at boarding time to upper 20’s if not the freezing mark. The trip list includes Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Northern Gannet, Northern Fulmar, and Iceland Gull.

Tomorrow I make my way to San Diego where I hope for sun and seventies. I will leave New Hampshire with 12 new species, exceeding my expectations by one. It was a fantastic albeit short trip and it was great to see all these birds again and old acquaintances. I am now one step closer to my goal of 573.