Did you hear what I heard?

There will be a link to John's spreadsheet in the next blog.
You can contact me at beverlyhargrove@ymail.com

Before you start your big year-

Get thoroughly wired

If you don't hear about a bird, you won't see it. John signed up for NARBA alerts to go to his email. BUT he doesn't check his email. Last Saturday, when I signed into his email from my computer, I found the alert about the spindalis. It was morning so we had time to slog out to Key West and get it, with help. Robert, who was also doing a big year, got NARBA alerts on his Iphone. As soon as he got off the plane in New Jersey on Monday, he texted me about the Thick-Billed Vireo just found out on Key West. This time it was noon and we were not interested in doing the driving slog again. That bird might have been 690. Oh well.

Hone your birding skills

We had traveled the world, but not so much the US recently. John was rusty on ABA birds at the start.

Get connected to other birders

John is not naturally outgoing so that wasn't going to happen in his big year. But the more birders you know in more ABA places, the better. Before he started his big year in 2011, John Vanderpoel had been traveling the US filming birds and getting to know local birders. Of course, towards the end, it helped that he was getting close to the record. Lots of people stepped forward to help. He had an amazing year, one short of the record. Ouch!

Get healthy

John was fortunate not to twist an ankle or get a major bug during the year. He would get little sleep and forget to eat. Doing a big year is a strain on your body, especially at the pace you need to maintain to get over 700.

Chase, chase, chase

Hit the ground running. The first few months, John could have done a lot more pursuit of vagrants and sewn up more of the wintering birds. He needed extra time this winter to find some of them and ran out of time to find some of them.

Use your spring wisely

John tried to do this but the difficulty he had getting to the Dry Tortugas cut a couple of weeks out of the prime time. You need to pick and choose destinations. Sometimes, the payback is not worth the investment of time and energy. You only get one spring and those birds are not as easy to find outside of migration. Several warblers eluded him.

Update your equipment

We did not have a decent scope. At least, John had 18 power image stabilized binoculars. John is hard of hearing and choose not to get hearing aids. He never heard the Bell's Vireo, California Gnatcatcher or Gray Vireo. I had to get them to come out and pose. I did get him a recorder and earphones in June. He should have learned to use them before his big year started. He didn't use them much, too awkward.

Research

The more you know about birding hotspots and quirks of various target birds the better. Each new area and bird had a learning curve. John chased the Virginia's Warbler in seven states. He finally saw a wintering bird in November in West Los Angeles. We didn't get it until our second visit to the VA garden. It had been there last winter and he didn't bother looking for it then because he thought he would get it easily somewhere else. NOT!

Transportation

John likes the flexibility of driving but it takes up too much time. Flying from place to place and renting a  car is almost always better. Just don't rent a car in Chicago and drive it to California. Fly home! More experienced travelers know how to fly cheaper than us, I presume. Booking a last minute trip to Miami over New Year's got us two birds, but cost an arm and a leg. Amazingly, most hotels and car rentals were booked up. Who knew?

Bribe Lady Luck! You will need her on your side. Hiring experts helps too.

Have fun!

We were naive. John jumped into this with only two months preparation. He is blind in one eye and hard of hearing. By September, he was discouraged and close to quitting. 700 was no longer likely. Even though I tried to talk him out of his big year initially, I kept pushing him to complete the task and accompanied him on the last few months. Frustration alternated with elation. He knows a heck of a lot more about birds and birding now. How much did it cost? I'd rather not know. The experience was priceless!

Yes, Santa Claus, there IS a Virginia's!

Warbler, that is. John is now at 681 for his big year.

You may recall that last Saturday and Sunday we spent several hours at the Veteran's Gardens in West Los Angeles. I, and only I (drat), got a very brief glimpse of the warbler. Today, Sunday, December 9th, we returned armed with chairs and a cooler, sunny skies instead of drizzle. We arrived about 10:30 AM. The manager said that a gentleman had been there about 10 and watched the darling little bird flit back and forth from the tree to the ivy for about 5 minutes. ACK!

So we sat, and I listened to all the chips and chirps, jumping up when I heard a particularly short, sharp series. About 11:30 AM, an Allen's Hummingbird displayed at the top of the tree. John began to look up the display discussion in Sibley. I looked back up to the now empty tree top. A little grey bird popped out on the right, hung upside down and picked at leaves. JOHN! He dropped the book, got his binoculars on the bird and confirmed it was the Virginia's Warbler. Se fue, it left. Maybe, if he hadn't been looking up the hummingbird display in the book, he might have gotten a picture. But, maybe, if we hadn't looked at the hummingbird displaying at the top of the tree, I might not have glanced up again a minute later and seen the warbler.

Another birder showed up, spent a few hours with us, I got a few nibbles, but no more views, so John gave up on getting a picture of the warbler. He has identifiable pictures of about 622 bird species for the year. As we three left, about 1:30 PM, yet another birder walked in. I hope he got lucky. Man, that is one elusive bird. John has looked for it in seven states this year. In Arizona alone, he has looked in, probably, 10 different places, some multiple times.

Now, for why I haven't been blogging, and we haven't done much birding, this last week. First, when we returned from two months on the road, we found out our credit card had been compromised and cancelled, probably at one of those many truck stops on the road. That weekend, we got the Spotted Dove, I saw the warbler. Monday, I had a couple of doctor's appointments and John worked on moving money around. Tuesday, we got the car serviced. Wednesday, I stepped into a pool of water in our downstairs bath. So, late that afternoon, the Rotorooter guy came and reamed us out. The next few days were spent ripping up a small area of carpet, cutting out the wet padding and blowing everything dry with fans. Friday, the disposal was jammed. I couldn't find the allen wrench for it, so bought a new one. This time I taped the wrench to the disposal. Saturday, the garage door stopped working and a repairman came out for that. A tree trimmer stopped by and I arranged for him to come by Monday to trim our olive trees. Their roots are what stop up our main line, but, the trees are beautifully gnarly. Our replacement credit cards are still 'in the mail'.

We will start out sometime this week for the Pacific Northwest, if something else doesn't happen on the home front.

Spotted!

Home for a little bit! The clocks were still on Daylight Savings Time. I decided to get rid of some of the old Jeopardys. They went back to mid-June on my DVR! Lots of delete, are you sure? yes, delete!

Saturday, December 2nd, we decided to go after some local yokels. We wandered around West LA, our old stomping grounds (in 1965), looking for the Veteran's Garden. The Virginia's Warbler, John has looked for it in 7 states this year, has returned there for another winter. We spent a couple of hours and didn't see the little darling.

Then we drove to Huntington Park for a bird that used to be common in Southern California. We found the park, walked around a bit, then John spotted the Spotted Dove! Yea! 680 for his big year. We found only four of them. I wonder what happened to them? Now we have the Eurasian Collared-Dove expanding exponentially. I just looked up its name in a 1983 Golden Guide, not even in there.

Sunday morning, I persuaded John to try again for the warbler. This time when we got to the VA there was a holiday party for veterans, lots of traffic, but we got back to the Veteran's Garden finally. A lady birder was already there, good sign? She said the warbler had been seen yesterday at 3. Yesterday? We were there yesterday! Today we brought chairs. The big sit. About noon, a photographer who has 822 photos in the ABA showed up. He just needed a better picture of the warbler than he has to date. Misty and cloudy ain't great for photos. About 1 PM, John walked over to say goodbye to the other people. I saw movement in the ivy and heard the chip. John! I have a bird! They got over to me, I saw the bird's head sticking out with a white eye ring, it dove back into the ivy, chipped along the fence, maybe popped up on the other side of the pittosporum, where the photographer just missed a shot, and was gone. Nobody else saw it. The mist was getting heavier and we were getting hungrier. We left about 2. Home to a wood fire in the fireplace.

Where have all the (rare) birdies gone?

John drove up to Maine to chase the Pink-Footed Goose, I will put in the dates later. He found the field reported on Birdseye. It was lush and green and empty. He decided to leave, several geese flew in. Scan carefully, all Canada Geese. Then a larger flock, all Canada. Another large flock, all Canada. At least one more large flock, all Canada. Of course, the Pinkie could have been hiding in there somewhere, but John didn't see it.

Maine has Spruce Grouse. John checked a few spots, no luck.

Near Boston, Northern Lapwings had been seen a few days before. John and some other birders wandered the roads of a preserve and didn't find them.

Would you believe, John tried yet again for the Virginia's Warbler. It had been reported at Alley Pond on Long Island, probably pre-Sandy. Huge trees had been toppled in the storm. Sand was everywhere. That poor lost warbler was nowhere to be seen.

That makes John 0 for 4 on target birds in the northeast. If he had the flexibility and money, he would likely do better to fly directly to see a rare bird as soon as it was reported. Like the Common Cuckoo that we happened to be near, lost birds seem to quickly lose themselves again. John still teases me that this is just a practice year. If he values his life............

John stayed in Philadelphia, Thursday night, November 15th. Friday, he is driving to Lewes, Delaware for a pelagic with Paulagics early Saturday, November 17th. I hope he at least gets the gannet! He has been stuck on 672 a long time.

All blogged up!

Since last Wednesday, I have been unable to post. First, the blogosphere had a weird bug and then, while that was going on, the little filter creature who climbs around inside looking for violations decided my blog was a spam. Just today, I finally got through the Google gauntlet to real help. A human actually reviewed my case and reinstated my blog. Virtue triumphant.

It is late, Tuesday, September 25th, I will blog again in the morning. Tune in tomorrow for the Hawaiian Petrel, broken transmission and Virginia's Warbler (yes, we missed it). Good night and good Googling.