All Big Year birders must take inspiration from the many who have gone before. In fact, you might even want to emulate them. 1998 was the year of “The Big Year” when 3 birders set forth to break the North American Big Year record of 726 set in 1987. Like many momentous occasions, that Big Year spawned a book and even a movie. Here is the opening paragraph from the book, “The Big Year”:
“Sandy Komito was ready. It was an hour before sunrise, New Year’s day, and he sat alone in an all-night Denny’s in Nogales, Arizona. He ordered ham and eggs. He stared into the black outside the window.”
The first bird he saw was a pigeon.
Flash forward 21 years to January 1, 2019:
Rob Woodward was ready. It was well before sunrise, New Year’s day, and he sat alone in an all-night Denny’s in Sierra Vista, Arizona. He ordered a Grand Slam. He stared into the black outside the window.
Luckily my first bird was not a pigeon. At midnight last night I put on my shoes and walked outside. I was greeted by the dazzling flashes and loud booms of many fireworks displays. “Gee, all this for ME?!” They shouldn’t have gone to all that bother. I went back inside and slept until 5:30 am. At 6:32, while working a crossword puzzle, I heard an unexpected (it was raining) but hoped-for sound: “HOO, hoo-hoo.” Great Horned Owl! My first bird of the year. From the living room!
After that ritual breakfast at Denny’s, I ran my weekly bird survey at the San Pedro House. Plans for the Santa Cruz Valley were cancelled by bad weather. So I plodded along the trails at San Pedro House in the snow. I scrounged up 38 species. The Fox Sparrow saves me the trouble of searching for it in San Diego in December.
I ended the day at sunset in the fields south of Sierra Vista with a staked-out Short-eared Owl – an owl to start the day and an owl to finish the first day. I returned home in a driving snow squall. And so I end Day 1 with 53 species.
robsbigyear2019.com 