On Thursday, May 21st, 5 other young birders and I did big sits from our respective yards as team "Quaranteens" to raise money for Birds Cananda..
(our profile Here)
Before I write my post, I'll start with some facts about the day. I set my personal goal at 75 species, since I felt that was an easy enough goal to try for..The big sit was set to take place from 5am-10pm and for that time I basically stayed in the same spot (moved to avoid the boiling sun). For anyone who's curious about the habitat I'm in, I live in the middle of a large mixed forest and have a 1.5 acre clearing in front of my house.
~ The Big Sit I awoke at 04:50, quickly got dressed, grabbed my gear and headed out. As soon as I stepped outside I was greeted with my first bird of the day, an American Woodcock that was PEENTing nearby at the edge of the forest. It was a cool, clear morning and I could see my breath as I walked out to my big sit spot (the middle of my yard) and there was basically no wind, so earbirding was easy. In the distance I heard the telltale water-dropping sound of an American Bittern, which is uncommon in my yard so I was happy to start the day with it. Songbirds started singing a few minutes later and I quickly added 12 species to my growing list. By the time the first light hit the trees above me I was up to 28, not a bad start!
Normally I get most of my warblers in morning flight, and since I'd had a good morning the previous day & it was clear with S wind overnight..I had high hopes. But the time kept ticking by and at 6:30, I had seen no migrating songbirds overhead. By 6:45 I was getting worried, sure I had added a few birds, but this warbler sized gap in my list could be disastrous for my big sit. The bird gods smilied on me momentarily though, as just then a Northern Waterthrush flew overhead. That was followed by flyover Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Red-bellied Woodpecker (rare for the yard) and Scarlet Tanager. I told myself that maybe the flight was just late and I would soon get a flood of warblers.. however they never came and by 7:30 I was even more concerned. Luckily there were some warblers hanging around from the previous day and a foraging flock of songbirds that were flitting in nearby trees basically made up for the miserable morning flight. At 08:30 I was sitting at 64 species, not bad, but still there were still a lot of easy birds missing.
A Northern Rough-winged Swallow flew overhead, followed by a Bank Swallow a few minutes later. Both of those are rare in my yard, so I was thrilled to get them for the day list. Since it was late May and most raptors are on their breeding grounds, I was hoping to get two or maybe three species. But sometime around 10:30 I spotted a Bald Eagle circling in the distance, so I put my bins up and saw a distant raptor above the eagle.. a Peregrine Falcon! Another sweet add. Hoping they weren't alone, I scanned the rest of the sky for raptors. In the next half hour I added Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture and American Kestral.. Pretty good, since I wasn't even hoping for them! The biggest highlight of the day for me was probably Chimney Swift, which flew through my binocular view as I was watching raptors. Swifts are uncommon in North Bruce, especially away from towns, plus it was yardlifer.. even more awesome. Then came the heat of the day, 22°C and no wind for most of the afternoon, easily a mid summer day. I relocated my zero gravity chair to the shade of a tree, as I felt myself starting to bake.. 12:00 - 15:00 was quiet, not surprising really as the birds always seem to disappear on hot afternoons. My only adds were in that time period; Great Egret, Common Loon and Double-crested Cormorant. Those three, plus the raptors brought me up to 80, at least I surpassed my target! Somehow I was still missing Tree Swallow, the horror!
Things started to pick up after 16:00 and I added White-crowned Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo and Red-breasted Nuthatch.. 83. There was then another lull in activity until around 19:00, when the heat started to get more bearable and songbirds came out for some pre-dusk foraging. I added Philadelphia Vireo, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer and Sharp-shinned Hawk in quick succession. 87 species! 90 was within my sights and I decided I wasn't going inside until I reached it. Before I knew it the sun was setting and my day of birding was almost done. I was still at 87.. time was running out. Scanning my list again and found that I was STILL missing Tree Swallow, which I normally see every day in the yard. Luckily just as the last light was starting to fade I heard a familiar call.. and Looked up to see a Tree Swallow zip past! Phew.. now at 88 I was in dire need of some night birds. Luckily just after it got dark an Eastern Whip-poor-will sounded off.. 89!. It was now 21:30, I had half an hour to add one bird, how hard could it be? It was completely still again and the air was cooling off, perfect listening conditions. I was almost falling asleep at 21:50 when I heard a distant "hoo hooo... hoo hooo", Great Horned Owl! (#90) Just to add a cherry on top of that, an Eastern Screech-owl (#91) trilled nearby (my first one this year actually!). It ended up being a fun day and was thrilled to hit 90 in the yard for the first time! I'll have to do this again another year & try to hit 100!
Collectively our team, the "Quaranteens" saw 126 species and raised over $1000 for Birds Canada, not too shabby for not leaving our yards!
Thanks to everyone who donated to our team🙂. Full species list and pictures below
(Photo of me watching a Great Egret below. Standing on that table gave me a bit better view and gave me a bird I likely would have missed without it)
