Planning a Big Year

Big Birding Years are a fun way to challenge yourself. Your skills will undoubtedly improve as you learn more about identification and attempt to anticipate where particular birds will turn up and when. Big Years can be done in large areas like BC, or you can do them in an area as small as your yard. It's a way of motivating yourself to get outdoors and visit areas that you might not otherwise know about. It adds another fun angle to an already enjoyable past-time, and can also bring fellow birders together in the spirit of friendly competition! And of course you can add a healthy-flavour to it by making it a non-motorized year!

Although many folks won't be interested in the more-or-less "high-octane" style of Big Year that I performed in 2010, a self-paced BC Big Year can be attractive to many and I would thoroughly recommend it. Just by visiting Vancouver Island, Vancouver, the Okanagan, and the Peace River regions, in one year (at appropriate times)... any birder could rack up close to 300 species-- That's a lot of birds!

For those interested, here are some strategic pointers and some personal stats:

#1 Rule: If you're serious about a big year, you need to chase rarities. You miss them half the time but in the long run it will be worth it!

Jan-Mar: Concentrate on winter specialties (e.g. Gulls, redpolls, gyrfalcon, Harris's Sparrow, etc.), woodpeckers, game-birds, and owls (I had 13 species of owls by March).

April-May: It's migration time. The two main places you want to be are #1 The Coast (for rarities and shorebirds), and #2 The Okanagan (for tough breeders like Grasshopper Sparrow, Flammulated Owl, and Williamson's Sapsucker). This is also the time you want to clean up on all passerine breeders if possible--everything from Black-throated Gray Warbler to Boreal Chickadee.

June: Best time to visit the Peace Region as all birds are back and singing away. I found that July was getting a little late for birdsong and May was slightly early for some species. If possible you can continue north-west up the Alaska Highway for more northerly breeders like ptarmigan and Arctic Tern etc., at least rarities tend to tail off around June-July.

July-October: Seabirds, shorebirds, and rarities. This is the CRUNCH TIME which will make or break your year. Basing yourself near the coast will be helpful but if your big year is centered around your home-turf, you can still find some goodies.

Nov-Dec: Winter clean-up and sporadic rarity-chasing. I only added 5 species in November and only 1 in December. Some years can be better than others. Good birds did show up but they were things I already had like Acorn Woodpecker, Palm Warbler, Iceland Gull, and Northern Mockingbird.

My 'PACE' Breakdown:

100 species by January 7th (i.e the first day I hit the coast)
200- March 26
300- May 26 (314 by end of May)
330- Aug 7
350- Aug 30
370- Nov 10 (373 at year's end)

2010: A Year in Review

Well it's over now. Time to reflect! I've checked the list a couple times and things seem to be in order. 373 species seen [355 self-found]including the American Black-Ducks of Yellow Point (which Mike Toochin also tallied), and the freshly split Winter/Pacific Wrens. I also counted Cackling Goose, Dusky Grouse, and Eurasian Collared-Dove which were not on the checklist when Mike and Sharon did their big year-- on the other hand, Crested Myna has disappeared since then.

In addition to the full species, I also attempted to rack up various subspecies that could possibly warrant splits in the future. These include:

-"Aleutian" Cackling Goose

-Both "Taiga" and "Franklin's" Spruce Grouse

-The laingi subspecies of Goshawk (Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island)

-"Harlan's" (Red-tailed) Hawk

-"Richardson's" Merlin (east of the Rockies)

-The southern wymani (nominate) race of Western Gull. A single adult was observed near Tofino that was distinctly darker than typical occidentalis Western Gulls. Photos were taken--hopefully we can follow up on this in due time.

-brooksi subspecies of Northern Saw-whet Owl (Haida Gwaii)

-picoideus subspecies of Hairy Woodpecker (Haida Gwaii)

-carlottae subspecies of Steller's Jay (Haida Gwaii)

-ruficapilla (Eastern) subspecies of Nashville Warbler (1 seen near Dawson Ck)

-Both "Myrtle" and "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers

-Red, Sooty, and Slate-coloured Fox Sparrows... and a few mixes!?

-carlottae subspecies of Pine Grosbeak (Haida Gwaii)

-at least 4 types of Red Crossbill

***And a couple key types that I missed:

-Common Teal (Eurasian form of Green-winged Teal, split by the BOU)
-"Eastern" White-breasted Nuthatch (Peace/Central Interior)
-"Timberline" Brewer's Sparrow

Some of you will notice that I have a "MISSED" page up (links for all pages are near the top of the main/Home page). By looking at those misses (plus a bunch of others since around 410 species were seen by all in BC in 2010), I think it would be possible to get 380 in a year. This would require absolute dedication, sound planning, and lots of luck. Finding a way to get further offshore (i.e. 100 nautical mile range) would also help!

Time to give thanks!

First, the THANK YOUS! This year was made truly special by all of you who got involved; Either by providing a couch to sleep on, offering a vehicle on a "twitch," sending messages of support, reading this blog, and just "going birding." I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am. Not only did I break the record, but I learned so much about the province and its birds and was able to share it with everyone... so many people took me out around their local patch and showed me the best nooks and crannies to find birds, and brave were those who volunteered to join me on crazy drives from the Okanagan to the Yukon or NWT and back... what a ride! Sorry but I feel the need to mention a few names (luckily there is no Oscar music to cut me off!). I'm sure I'm missing a few people but here we go---

Housing (key to my survival):

Ahren McIntee (New Westminster)
Arnold Skei (Sechelt)
Avery Bartels (Nelson)
Barb & Tony! (Vancouver)
Brendan Benson (Kelowna)
Cathy Antoniazzi (Prince George)
Captain Ron (Sandspit, Haida Gwaii)
Christine Rock & Paul Levesque (East Vancouver)
Christopher Coxson (Prince George)
C.C.G.S. Vector (Port Hardy to Prince Rupert!)
Cooper Beauchesne & Associates (Revelstoke)
Devin Mackenzie & Wyatt Seddon-Johnstone (East Vancouver)
Dad’s CR-V
The entire Easthope family (Williams Lake)
My car Franscesca (’93 Toyota Tercel)
Ilya Povalyaev (South Surrey)
Jared Hobbs (Victoria)
Jukka Jantunen (Comox)
Julia Cannings (Victoria)
Alexis Harrington (Sechelt)
Marc Wiebe & Vanessa Johnson (Victoria)
Mom’s Nissan Sentra (aka “Ben”)
Natalie Jacyna (Tofino)
Samantha Brett (and her tent, which unfortunately met its end thanks to a bear!)
Syd Cannings (Whitehorse)
And of course my PARENTS!!!

Special thanks also to:
[For tactical advice, bird alerts, and particularly road/boat buddies!]
Al McTavish
Art Ahier
Avery Bartels
Cameron Eckert
Christopher Coxson
Chris Charlesworth
Dave Smith
Doug Brown
Gabe David
Gary Breault
Guy Monty
Ian Cruickshank
Ilya Povalyaev
Kevin Easthope
Kevin Neill
Linda Van Damme
Phil Ranson
Rick Howie
Rick Toochin
Rob Lyske
Jeremy Gatten
Jack Bowling
Jared Hobbs
Jess Findlay
Joël Gillis
Jukka Jantunen
Marianne Secrest
Norma & Carlo Giovanella
Pete Davidson
Peter Hamel & Margo Hearn
Samantha Brett
Thor Manson
--AND MANY MORE

I also want to thank John Cooper, Suzanne Beauchesne, Harry van Oort and the entire CBA staff for being so flexible and understanding (whilst providing the main dollars behind this project!)... like letting me drive from Golden to Dunbar for a Costa's Hummingbird when I should have been doing data entry! Truly a fantastic company to be apart of!

"Big Ups" to Michael Force, Danny Tyson, Michael Bentley, Roger Foxall, and Mike & Sharon Toochin for setting the BC Big Year bar sooo high and lending support throughout the year. I have a feeling this record might already be in jeopardy?!

And last but most importantly, I need to thank my parents Dick Cannings and Margaret Holm... could NOT have done this without your support, whether it be strategic, emotional, financial, or otherwise, you were always there to kick me out of bed when I was being lazy, and give me "that look" when I felt like giving up.

Day 365

And now for peace...

Good birds on the Penticton Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday (Dec 19th) I went out on the Penticton CBC, and helped cover the Okanagan lakshore and a portion of the local Indian Reserve (the Locatee lands). Despite the constant snow we had some great birds including 4 MEW GULLS, 55 GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS (high number for the south Okanagan), 7 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS (all in the Locatee lands), 1 SWAMP SPARROW (Locatee), 1 PURPLE FINCH (my first ever for the Okanagan--also in Locatee), and this HERMIT THRUSH (my first winter-find of this species in the Okanagan... of course it was also in the Locatee property--what a spot!).

Today (Dec 20th), my Dad and I hiked back into Locatee and managed to re-find the PURPLE FINCH and as luck would have it... another 4 species I missed the day before! This would have brought the day list to close to 70 but ah well... The highlight was seeing 2 SNOW BUNTINGS flying over the West Bench on our walk home.

#373: HARRIS'S SPARROW

It took 11 months and 17 days, but finally I nailed a HARRIS'S SPARROW! I chased them high and low last winter but didn't fret, assuuuuming one would turn up in the Okanagan this winter. Well I was beginning to doubt myself but finally yesterday (Dec 17th), I was able to re-find an adult bird first discovered a few days earlier on the Lake Country Christmas Bird Count (Thanks Don+Don+Margaret!). This was my second try at the spot so it was quite disappointing to pull up and see no sparrows whatsoever. But once the ever-lucky Tanya Seebacher dropped in, I spotted it 100+m away in a hedge down the road... not just another LBJ!

It's impossible to know, but perhaps this will be my final bird for 2010, as time is running short, and there are few birds to add.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've been pretty sick, plus I had my computer stolen in Richmond last week. More on that later probably. I think I'll just do a big write-up at the end of the year and explain what I did to cap things off.

Merry X-mas all!

Russ

Texas Itinerary now available!

Hi all,

Check out the itinerary for my upcoming TX tour in April 2011. Can't wait! Be sure to book ASAP as we're trying to keep the group to an intimate size. My Dad and I birded Texas in April this year and saw over 300 species... it's different every time so who knows what the highlights will be next year?! Not just for the hardcore, this trip will be fun for all skill-levels!

http://www.avocettours.ca/tours/2011-texas-coast.php

Also, let me know if you're interested in hearing about my birding tour to India in October, 2011!