~ Splitting this into 3 separate posts so it doesn't run on ~
Part 1.
As some of you know this is my gap year, so I figured I'd have some fun with it and try an Ontario big year (because that's what most teenagers do). Unlike my friend Ezra Campenelli who will be doing a big year in 2022, my intentions are very foggy. I'm not setting out to break the record, my goal is simply to have fun, explore Ontario and hopefully find some rare birds. If I get within reach of the record I may go like mad to break it, but if I don't I won't be upset. Obviously things will be different this year with Covid-19 being a factor. I'll be masking/social distancing/birding alone or with my household for the foreseeable future and will be taking all available precautions. I'm only taking day trips in the first part of the year, so no hotels required.
Anyway, before I go any farther I should explain the big year concept....
For those of you who aren't aware, a big year is when a birder attempts to spot as many species as possible during a calendar year (Jan 1 - Dec 31). There are many different varieties of the big year.. it could be a county, province/state, country, continent or even world. My big year will be confined to the province of Ontario, which is still a massive area!
Big years aren't all that common of a thing amongst the birding community, drawing out only the craziest (eh, I mean most adventurous..) birders. A "big" big year isn't something that happens every year either, and attempts at the record are even less common. What is the record you may ask?
A whopping 347 species, set in 2017 by Jeremy Bensette. For those interested, here's the history of big year records in Ontario;
1997 ~ 338, Glenn Coady
2012 ~ 343, Josh Vandermeulen
2017 ~ 347, Jeremy Bensette
I've always enjoyed keeping a "self-found" list, and my big year will be no exception. I originally was thinking of 300 as a self found goal, but decided to "lower" the bar to a seemingly more attainable 275. This will be quite hard to accomplish, but I'll do my best! As a secondary self found goal, I'd like to find at least 5 OBRC review species...
What will I count as self found? I'll basically follow Punk Birder's self found rules, check out the blog post for more info (Here)
Are there any rules for a big year? Well not official rules, but I'll be following the general "rules" that most other big year birders have.
- Taxonomic changes that happen in the future won't affect my total. So if say.. Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers are lumped in 2023, I won't go back and add another species to my list.
- I will count heard heard only birds, but only if I'm positive about the ID. So if I hear a Sora in a marsh I'll count it, but if I hear a Lucy's Warbler or sonething singing I won't count it. Hopefully there will not have many heard only birds on my big year, but there will likely be one or two..
- I will only count a bird if I have seen or heard it well enough to identify it myself. So if I show up at a rarity chase and someone points out a distant speck flying away and says it's a Cassin's Sparrow, I won't count it.
I'll also l try to photograph as many of the species that I see as possible.
I'll end the post with a nice Gyrfalcon photo.
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