Worn Field Guide

Saw-Whet Owl Backyard Bird!

2013-03-26T12:07:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time (yeah you betchya this is going to be a good story if it starts with that), Ben decided to not wake me up when a Barred Owl was calling outside our window so that I could hear it for our old apartment yard list. Yes, that's right, I had Mississippi Kite and Black Vulture for our apartment yard list, but I didn't have a single owl. Needless to say, when Ben heard a Saw-Whet two nights ago, he was sure to wake me up.

Not much to say other than after finally dragging myself out of bed at 5am it was satisfactory to have my second owl for our new home (Great Horned was my first).

Now I've had Saw-Whet, Great Horned, and Screech as yard birds at various houses... yet for some reason Barred Owl still escapes any yard list I've ever had...

It's about time

2013-03-06T15:30:00.003-05:00

OK so a while back *coughoverayearcough* I said that there were some exciting changes coming to my blog soon. And I was sort of right. At least, I was right (I hope) about the exciting changes... not the soon. After posting that update, I decided to finally finish my Master's... and let's just say that took a lot of time and energy. Then with a new job underway I decided to focus on work. Now, life is a little more settled. So, I'm back. But not alone! I'd like to welcome my best birding buddy, best friend, and fiance, Ben Griffith to my blog.

Ben and his pelican friend

From now on, you won't just be hearing from me, but Ben as well! No, this isn't simply my way of giving Ben an avenue to share his insane birding thoughts with someone other than me. Although, it certainly doesn't hurt...

Ben is a long time birder and is honestly much more knowledgeable than me about birds... as I once said, when it comes to birds, he is the brains, I'm the personality and insanity.

Now engaged in real life and the blogger world...

Last day in the Valley

2011-01-08T08:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the last day in the valley so we spent the morning in Bentsen trying to get photos of the black-vented oriole and we were sucessful! Then we picked up Gray Flycatcher but struck out on Hook-billed Kite.

From there we traveled down to Brownsville and searched Sabal Palm but really didn't have much. A stop at the brownsville landfill provided our long searched for Raven and Aplomado Falcon.

We ended the bird-day by getting good looks at Cassin's Sparrow, Ferruginous Hawk, and Aplomado Falcon.

Then we drove up to Houston, which is where we are this fine morning. 60 degrees today... And it'll only be downhill from here :-( goodbye shorts weather... Hello long pants and soon hello sweatshirts and mittens.

Now its off to search for Brown-headed nuthatch and certain woodpecker that seems to have alluded me to this point...

500! And more

2011-01-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

Got my 500th this morning. We are back in the Mission-McAllen area and ready to tear it up!

Now off to explore quinta mazatlan...

Countable muscovey!!!

2011-01-04T19:22:00.000-05:00

Successful day and dinner

2011-01-04T19:07:00.000-05:00

Today I made it to 498 adding Audubon's + Hooded orioles, zone-tailed Hawk, and Scaled Quail.

We also had an excellent showing of 4 genuine Muscovey along the rio grande flying over at sunrise.

Dinner last night was potatoes and pulled pork sandwiches. Tonight is "mac n cheese" and hot dogs.

Yet nothing has compared to the pinguinos...

And for breakfast tomorrow horchata and oatmeal... Yaaay!!!

Mexico border

2011-01-04T09:07:00.000-05:00

The left is mexico, right is the US. This morning we are watching birds fly back and forth across the river.

Estero llano and more

2011-01-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

This morning we woke up and hit Laguna one more time (above) and got some pictures of Green Jay, Great Kiskadee, and White-tipped Dove before heading around the bay loop to see our first few life birds of the day including Tropical Kingbird (and California Gull + Greater Roadrunner for Jason).

Then we headed down to Estero llano to see a bunch of birds including: whistling ducks (both species), buff-bellied hummingbird, cinnamon teal, and my 500th life bird: White-throated Thrush.

We ended the night in McAllen looking at a gigantic roost of Green Parakeet and Bronzed Cowbird; jason's 400th life bird!

Tonight we have a comfy BED!!! Thanks to Ben's mom!!!

Tomorrow its off to Bentson for some more good birds!

Now a bit further south

2011-01-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

Safe and sound outside of Laguna Atascosa. Eating our delicious dinner. 20 lifers away from 500.

Today highlights included Olive Sparrow, Rufous-backed Robin, Great Kiskadee, black-necked stilt, green jay, and lots of other sweet birds.

We finally got our act together and got some good photos which is a relief, including Long-billed Thrasher, Long-billed Curlew, and Eastern Meadowlark (subspecies under debate).

We started our year off with 102 year birds. Not too shabby at all! We still need to figure out how many birds we ended up with in 2010 overall (nh lists are all accounted for).

Tomorrow we are headed back to Laguna Atascosa before heading a bit further west along the rio grande.

Whooping cranes etc

2010-12-31T19:42:00.001-05:00

So we arrived in Rockport safe and sound but discovered no cell service at the campground. And since I primarily drove from our stop outside of Austin on down, I was unable to blog en route.

Today we celebrated New Years eve in the presence of Whooping Cranes... I got a great shot on my slr but then realized my camera settings were messed up so it was shot at 4.5 megapixels. Grrrrr!!!! Hopefully it will still be OK though...

Posted here is my phone-bin'ed shot from the boat. I got a handful of lifers including long-billed Curlew, American Avocet, Neotropic Cormorant, and Least Grebe.

Now we're off to get some food supplies and cook some soup for dinner. Then its off to bed before another full day. Tomorrow night we'll be at south padre island. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to update from somewhere along the way.

Good morning from Troy, IL

2010-12-29T07:34:00.000-05:00

Good morning from troy... Doesn't our free hot breakfast look delicious?

We're off to see Eurasian Tree-Sparrow. Still dark here so we'll be in position for the morning light.

Life bird numero uno here we come!!!

Weather and plate list

2010-12-28T17:23:00.000-05:00

As birders we like lists... Here's a peak at our list of license plates thus far on the trip.

Also re my mothers question... It is 28 degrees here (4 degrees colder than it is in Rye, NH) but tomorrow temperatures will be around 50 before 70-80 in Texas on thursday. No snow falling but about 2 inches on the ground. Roads are clear and wind isn't too bad.

Tonight we will be staying in Troy IL. The plan is to wake up early to see Eurasian Tree-Sparrow before heading down to Tulsa for Sprague's Pipit, Prairie Chicken, and Smith's Longspur. Then we will pull our only drive through the night attempt and "wake up" in the Austin, TX area to look for Bushtits and Western-Scrub Jays.

After that its down to Goose Island SP and the TX coast!!!

For all you number keepers, here's a few tallies for you:

75 Red-tailed Hawks,
30+ state birds (depending on who),
10 American Kestrels,
7 States (NH, MA, CT, NY, PA, OH, IN)
5 cups of coffee,
4 Red-shouldered Hawks,
2 Coyote,
1 bag of Chocolate Chip Cookies,
0 Life Birds

LK
Somewhere near Indianapolis

Ben's turn to drive

2010-12-28T14:58:00.000-05:00

And we're still in Ohio....

Hello from PA

2010-12-28T07:34:00.001-05:00

Good morning from Ben, Jason, and myself ....we're currently in Scranton tallying Crows, Starlings, and Gulls from the highway... So far our best bird was Common Redpoll (aprox 10) from the Pease park-and-ride in NH.

We look forward to getting many state birds, a few life states (for everyone but me) and perhaps a few life birds (for Jason at least).

Papa roach is the music of choice this morning. Quite the pump me up for the ride.

Surprise! There's road construction in PA... Sarcasm there in case you didn't catch it. Penndot has construction projects paving 10 mile stretches of road that literally have lasted 40 years... Most projects last 5-10 in my experience... Makes the hampton bridge paving and wooden bridge reconstruction in NH look like childs play.

Ok. Back to tallying the birds.

On the road

2010-12-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

And as of 1:51 pm we are on rte 95 headed south!!!

We already have our first 2 quotes of the trip including "Just because there's snow doesn't mean there's no speed limit". See?! We're being safe... Goodbye new england blizzard!

Team Awesome Leaves for TX... soon!

2010-12-26T20:30:00.002-05:00

Jason, Ben, and I (left to right) are scheduled to leave for TX tomorrow... weather depending... I'm going to attempt to blog from the road a bit while gone and will also be keeping twitter updated with our progress: http://twitter.com/LAKRAS feel free to keep track on either one and leave us comments as we go...

Tonight I'm finishing up packing... laundry is finished and there are some fresh baked cookies coming out of the oven as I type this (thanks to ben...)

We'll miss you all but will certainly be enjoying some good birds *we hope*.

Thats it for now... see y'all later.

Wrapping My Year List Up

2010-12-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

Since I'm headed to TX soon I figured I'd send a quick blurb out there summing up my 2010 year... it was pretty damn good: 296 species in NH... more than anyone other than me has summed in a year in the state... my list can be seen HERE. More on highlights...etc when I get back...

CBC season almost here

2010-12-13T12:08:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow starts the CBC season... and in many ways the CBCs have really rekindled my Christmas spirit. As a kid Christmas was always an exciting time of the year ... but as I got older I lost much of the Holiday Cheer... and tried a variety of things to "experience" Christmas and the joy that is supposed to be associated with it.

Now I'm a bit of a Holiday fanatic enjoying all kinds of Chrismukkah celebrations but the one thing that really is the highlight of the season for me are the CBC's (or Christmas Bird Counts). Its an all out effort to count everything that you can see in one day; where every robin and starling matter. The compilation sessions are always fun and each count has it's own personality much like each house/family I visit for a Christmas dinner has it's own traditions and personality.

My first CBC isn't til Saturday, but as of Wednesday "count week" birds begin to matter for the Coastal CBC.... and before you know it I'll be up in the most northerly NH CBCs on Tuesday and Wednesday before trekking down to PA for some homemade pumpkin pie....well we might not have pumpkin pie but Christmas songs suggest that we should...

CBCs have made the holidays an even better time o the year... and I can't wait for my first bird of the count on Saturday morning... guaranteed it will be more exciting than opening socks on Christmas day.... (unless they are smartwool socks... in which case it depends on the bird).

I Like Birds

2010-12-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

It's Been a While

2010-12-06T12:24:00.002-05:00

So it's been a while since I wrote here but I'm going to attempt to pick it up again since I've found myself with greater need to procrastinate.

This semester was a lot more work than I had hoped for and a lot less free time than I desired. I found myself teaching 3 sections of Freshman Biology Lab... and oh the stories that exist now!

Currently, I find myself in-between lab sections trying to tie some loose ends up on a presentation that I'm giving on Wednesday at the Seacoast Chapter Meeting. Here's the blurb about it that was posted online:

This Wednesday, December 8th, Lauren Kras, UNH graduate student and current record holder for finding the most species of birds in NH in a calendar year, will describe her graduate research project which looks at the current status of 5 species of threatened, and endangered tidal plants--and also her 2009 Big Year.  All are welcome to attend the program which will be held at the Seacoast Science Center, Odiorne Point State Park, 570 Ocean Boulevard, Rye. Refreshments are at 7:00 pm. Meetings begin at 7:30 pm.  Hope to see you there!

Maybe some of you will make it... it should be interesting... I hope.

In other news, I recently became president of the Seacoast Chapter. I'm pretty optimistic about the changes/growth that can be made but its frustrating that I get this opportunity at the same time that I NEED to finish my M.S. Thesis... oh well.

I also, turned down an opportunity, which is a big step in fulfilling my need to "manage" my volunteer opportunities and not be over-extended for fear of returning to the over-burdened ways of junior and senior year of college. It's a tough balance but I'm working on it.

Finally, I've become obsessed with two things lately: (1) taking pictures, and (2) looking for banded gulls...

If you didn't already know, my pictures can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkras/

And there are even some of banded gulls like this guy right here:

Plum Island 7/31

2010-07-31T16:30:00.002-05:00

Today I spent some time on Plum Island. Instead of looking for all the rarities that have been seen there lately, I decided I'd look at some of the common things in a little more detail.

Every fall there are lots of Tree Swallows that Stage on Plum Island. I've never seen it before since last fall I was obsessed with chasing down every rarity in NH. Today, I was absolutely blown away with how the swallows filled the sky. And it's not even to its peak yet!!! Here are some of the birds taking off today.

Not only do they fill the sky but the fill the road too! I wonder how many birders zipped through not bothering to stop and appreciate how cool this was on their way to chase down a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Royal Tern, etc.

One of the other neat things I got to see there was this Semipalmated Sandpiper which was actually tagged!!! I like how you can see the reflection and the habitat in the photo instead of a full frame shot. It may not be field-guide worthy, but I didn't have to flush any birds and it shows a different side of the birds that is often overlooked in my opinion.

Finally, I ended the day taking photos of terns and appreciating all the diversity in looks amongst terns this time of the year. You get adults, juveniles, and some making some neat transitions and there is also individual variation! And when you consider that there are 3-4 species around this diversity is quickly multiplied!!!

I didn't get any spectacular shots but I did manage to pull this shot off which shows a Tern diving from the underside... Kind of neat ... but not perfect!!!

Seal Island NWR 6/27

2010-07-07T10:43:00.001-05:00

So a while ago I went to Seal Island NWR and had a fantastic day. I saw tons of alcids and lots of other neat birds. One of the most memorable things for me had to be a fight I saw between two Razorbills:

Razorbills are closely related to Puffins which also were present on the Island:

I had never seen a Puffin prior to this trip so needless to say I was very excited about it!!! Puffins actually breed on the island and were one of my primary targets for the trip. The number 1 target was a Red-tailed Tropicbird that's been seen on the island over the past few summers.

Unfortunately we struck out with the Tropicbird. But that happens from time to time! You just don't get to see everything.

We did get to see lots of other birds though including Arctic Terns which are not very common in NH. In fact only 6 pairs breed in NH and I've never had such knee-buckling views as I did near Seal Island in Maine:

All in all I had a great time and got to see tons of Puffins, Razorbills, and other Alcids like the Common Murre on the left 1/3 of the photo below. Yes, those are puffins on the rocks to the right!!!

Sometimes its nice to get away and just enjoy something new and different. I've never seen anything like a breeding colony of alcids before and... it was definitely worth the trip. Hopefully one day I'll see a puffin in NH, but if I don't... At least I had the awesome experience of seeing them on their nests!

A Little Help From My Friends

2010-06-26T10:45:00.003-05:00

Hey all! I'm here looking for a little bit of help and no matter who you are you can lend a hand. As many of you may know I'm a pretty avid birder in New Hampshire. I'm also a graduate student so I'm therefore pretty poor. However, I absolutely love going on whale watches to look for birds. It's come to my attention lately that a lot of people cannot make it on long pelagic trips, are unwilling to go offshore for that long, or aren't comfortable going on whale watches themselves. However, there aren't any cheap guides or ways to learn your birds offshore as naturalists must focus on whales not birds.

Finding a mixed flock of shearwaters is very exciting! Yet it can also be overwhelming - particularly when you're trying to pick out the Cory's, Manx, etc. or get a good count on the number of birds in a group.

So I hatched this idea: Trade bird ID help on a whale watch (help people learn birds, identify them for them, help them spot them, etc.) in exchange for them paying for my whale watch. In this way, I get to go offshore and they get to actually learn the birds out there and/or feel confident in their identification.

Jaegers are a great example of confusing birds - can you figure out which species these birds are?

However, there's a few problems - and thats where you come in. I need to know the following things:

1. Would people be interested in this? Most all day pelagics cost between 80-100$ Half day trips aren't run. A whale watch tends to be about 30$ - so it would be about 60$ for a one on one type trip but if a group of people got together it would be substantially less.

2. Is there some sort of tax implication for myself? I wouldn't be receiving money, the person who wanted my help would pay the whale watch company directly and I'd just get on board with them...

3. Is there some sort of liability issue for myself?

Naturally being a poor grad student I can't really pay for legal advise so if anyone knows anyone I can talk to for free I'd be appreciative. If anyone has any insight or ideas I'm also completely game!

Appledore Island Gulls

2010-06-22T17:55:00.004-05:00

Today I spent my day on Appledore Island to get a feel for the island as I will be TA'ing a class there this August.

Fortunately, I had lots of time to bird and check out the island. There were many highlights including helping to attempt to catch and band the female Herring Gull which has mated with the male Lesser Black-backed Gull on the island. Unfortunately, she never made it into the cage so I was not able to witness this happening.

Female Herring Gull inspecting the nest and the cage trap

This is the 4th year that this Lesser Black-backed has come to Appledore to breed. He was banded along with his mate in 2008 and they both returned in 2009. They raised two chicks one of which has been seen both in Provincetown, MA and in Brevard County, Florida. This year he is with a new mate - hence the need to band her. Dr. Julie Ellis heads up the gull research on the island and has been banding birds on the island since 2004 (with the help of students and volunteers). She also keeps a blog where you can follow the Lesser Black-backed Gull and other gulls: http://gullsofappledore.wordpress.com/

Male Lesser Black-backed Gull: first documented bird to breed in the US

For those of you who don't know... Gull babies are extraordinarily cute. The island is currently overflowing with them. This means their parents are in a very vicious stage! Here's a photo of Great Black-backed Gull Chicks:

Finally, here's a slide show of pictures from the day... all photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkras/sets/72157624211302151/

June Big Day - 165 Species

2010-06-07T20:01:00.008-05:00

On Sunday (6/6) Mike Harvey, Jason Lambert, Ben Griffith, and I attempted to break the June Big Day Record of 151 species which was set in on June 4th 1996 by Pam Hunt and others. We started at Pondicherry at midnight, worked north to Pittsburg and then down to Pawtuckaway, Exeter, and the coast before heading inland to finish up in Durham and Newmarket. We stood at 165 species at 8:30 PM when we gave up all hope of finding nocturnal species as the winds were so strong that we could barely hear each other. Our biggest misses other came from two “groups” of birds: nocturnal species and raptors due to winds at night and the near-constant rain during the day. In fact we missed all of the following: Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Sora, Common Nighthawk, American Woodcock, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Mississippi Kite. While we wouldn’t expect to get ALL of those we felt as if we should have been able to scrape a few more of these if there had been better weather. Our highlights included a singing Northern Saw-whet Owl, a flock of 11 White-rumped Sandpipers, and 2 species of Shearwater (Sooty and Greater) from shore. A long full day summary is below for those interested.

Our entire species list can be seen at:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AsqHpuIn-sf7dG56d0d2bGlfaTYzV0hFN1FVRi0yQkE&hl=en&single=true&gid=0&output=html

This team photo and other photos can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lauren.kras/BigDay?feat=directlink--

Full rundown of the day:

At 12:00:01 AM Mike Harvey, Jason Lambert, Ben Griffith and I (Lauren Kras) stood on railroad tracks in Whitefield, NH listening intently for American Bittern. We heard frogs, the wind, the low hum of a nearby mill… but no Bittern. We had driven up to Whitefield the afternoon before and had a Bittern calling from a distance so we were disappointed. Trying not to waste too much time we decided to cut our losses and walked down the tracks to the Airport Marsh where we picked up our first bird of the day: Pied-billed Grebe. While listening we also picked up our first Swamp Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat. We then went off to Whipple Rd. and were rewarded with a Northern Saw-whet Owl which sang incessantly and a Whip-poor-will which responded to tape and called once (Seen by L. Kras and heard by L. Kras and B. Griffith). At 1:05 AM we took off for Pittsburg, NH. 8 Moose, 7 Fox and 1.5 Jumping Mice later we had arrived (apparently one of the mice didn’t jump far enough to count, and there’s some debate whether one was a leaf or not). We stopped at a few spots to listen for Long-eared Owl but only heard Killdeer and Wilson’s Snipe. Unfortunately the gate into East Inlet was still closed so we began our trek in. We arrived at the Spruce Grouse Track for Sunrise. We didn’t have any Spruce Grouse but we had plenty of Boreal Chickadees, Kinglets, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. There was heavy cloud cover and a constant mist as we walked back to the gate. We found a few Bay-breasted Warblers, Tennessee Warblers, and Gray Jays. Mike picked out our first of few raptors for the day: a Merlin perched up which was causing commotion amongst the robins. Once back to the car we headed towards Scott Bog and found a Wilson’s Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Black-backed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher on the way. Near the bog we picked up Philadelphia Vireo, Spotted Sandpiper, and Common Merganser. We headed down to Magalloway Rd. for Mourning Warbler and had a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on the way. We then drove down to Tabor Rd. and were giddy over a Green Heron which flew over. At Tabor Rd. Ben spotted a Bittern flying over the field while we were there. We all got on it just in time and then zipped down to pick up the Cliff Swallows that nest there.

From there we headed back to Whitefield Airport and spotted Wild Turkey on the way. At the airport Jason picked out a Northern Harrier. Everyone got on it quickly except me. I ran as fast as my short little legs could carry and finally got up high enough that I was able to see over the mound ahead of me and got on the Harrier. We also nabbed Eastern Meadowlark and Bank Swallow.

We then headed down 93 making stops for gas, bathrooms, and a $1.99 chocolate chip whoopee pie for Jason. Jason and Mike spotted an Indigo Bunting at an Irving and Dunkin Donuts provided an Eastern Kingbird. As we started driving we realized that I had left off Indigo Bunting on our checklist (despite including 2 species of phalarope, Jaeger sp., and all 4 shearwaters). Bonus bird behind us we were rejuvenated despite the fact that the rain and clouds took away any chance to spot raptors for most of the drive. Fortunately, when we hit Concord the rain began to clear so we headed directly to Pawtuckaway rather than birding in Concord hoping to get as many southern woodland birds as quickly as possible. The clearing of the rain provided our first looks at Turkey Vulture in Concord and despite his best efforts Mike finally saw a Pigeon.

When we arrived at Pawtuckaway we zipped to the powerline cut and got the usual birds while playing tape and taking a bathroom break simultaneously. We also had a Wood Duck flying over the powerline that Ben first spotted and our first Blue Jay of the day which got everyone excited. We skipped the Cerulean Warbler stop in order to maximize time to search for the other species. The powerline provided the usual birds as did the wooded areas. We got most of the birds we needed quickly including Black-capped Chickadee (cough cough), Pine Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-throated Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Veery, and Scarlet Tanager. Just as we had finished our run the rain started pounding on us so we left in favor of Exeter and the Coast. The weather passed and a brief stop at the treatment plant provided us with a Downy Woodpecker (which we couldn’t bear to miss), Warbling Vireo, and Marsh Wren. We then realized that we were about to get pounded with rain again so we headed to the coast in fear that the weather would decrease visibility fast. There weren’t many birds in the harbor but we were able to get Roseate and Common Terns, and Bonaparte’s Gulls. Shorebirds were limited so we ran over to Seabrook Beach to pick up Piping Plover, make a scan, and then come back to the harbor when the tide was a little higher. There we picked up Wilson’s Storm-petrel and Mike spotted our first of at least 3 Sooty Shearwaters. There were clouds of gannets offshore and it was tempting just to scan but we headed back towards the car and harbor. We arrived at the at the public parking area at Seabrook harbor just in time to pick up a few shorebirds including Short-billed Dowitcher and a flock of what we assumed were Dunlin. None of us saw dark bellies so we repositioned ourselves to get them in a scope from the fishing pier. As we pulled in the downpour began. Mike remarked “can’t imagine a better place to be right now” and I took this to mean “we better get out there and scan”. Before I drowned Mike tapped on the car window at me and I saw how hard they were laughing and dove back into the car. I thought they still looked fine for Dunlin but that I couldn’t really see much of anything given the weather. It passed quickly and we were able to get a scope on the birds and proceeded to change the identification multiple times before realizing that they were a flock of White-rumped Sandpipers! Meanwhile Jason spotted a Laughing Gull and the tide continued to rise.

We then ran up to Hampton Beach SP and scanned the Jetty for any Dunlin or Ruddy Turnstones with no luck. Suddenly out of the fog came a boat with tons of gulls following it; I started scanning them when I saw a Greater Shearwater in the midst of them. Unfortunately no one was able to get on it as it flew back into the fog. (I knew there was a reason to keep shearwaters on our checklist!!!) We kept going north up the coast and picked up White-winged Scoter on North Beach, a female Long-tailed Duck at Bicentennial, and Mute Swan at Eel Pond. The weather cleared and we hopped out at Odiorne for Orchard Oriole and Black-crowned Night-Heron without luck but did pick up Nelson’s Sparrow in the marsh. We then headed to Pease one bird from tying the record of 151. At 5:42pm we stopped at a light and saw a crow on a wire and rolled down our windows hoping it was a Fish Crow since we hadn't had one yet. No luck but as the light turned green I heard “peter-peter-peter”… TUFTED TITMOUSE – I hollered and everyone confirmed and we realized we had tied the record.

At Pease we added Upland Sandpiper, Eastern Bluebird, Vesper Sparrow, Horned Lark, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Savannah Sparrow. A trip to Durham helped us add Blue-winged Warbler, Wood Thrush, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Belted Kingfisher. We then zipped down to Newmarket where the blue skies brought about a Raptor flying over Dame Rd. From a distance we all thought MISSISSIPPI KITE so we pulled over and flew out after it only to realize it was an Osprey. A quick trip to Gonet Rd. provided no Yellow-billed Cuckoo but a Red-bellied Woodpecker made up for it. In Newmarket we were able to add Northern Rough-winged Swallow but we struck out with Carolina Wren. We felt as if we were on the edge of being able to make a run for 170 and were debating how to go about it when the wind picked up. We headed down to Lovering Rd. to try for Great Horned Owl and Virginia Rail. The winds were so loud that we could barely hear each other but we did have a Virginia Rail grunting. We hoped that the wind would die down and went to listen for Screech-owls but were disappointed as the winds had only worsened. At which point we decided since three of us had to work the next day and that the other had to pack for a flight that we should cut the night short since we had achieved what we wanted and had learned a lot. We drove back to Concord where we had left cars and all headed our respective ways.

Anecdotal Comments:

The northern route provided for a hilarious opportunity to not see common birds until later in the day (such as Tufted Titmouse). In fact our first...

Jay was a Gray Jay
Woodpecker was a Black-backed Woodpecker
Raptor was a Merlin
Chickadee was a Boreal Chickadee
Nuthatch was a Red-breasted Nuthatch
Finch was a White-winged Crossbill
Corvid was a Common Raven
Thrush was a Swainson’s Thrush

This big day included almost no scouting and planning. The idea to do a big day occurred to me on Wednesday Evening while Jason and I were birding together on Plum Island. We were going to do it together when Ben decided to join and then we asked Mike who jumped right on board. Our planning consisted of a few discussions on ideas during the drive up north to Woodstock. Scouting consisted of one trip to Whitefield between our early dinner and crashing at Mike’s father’s cabin.

Fun Facts:

- Our trip consisted of 490 miles (575 from when I left home until when I returned)
- Over 15 caffeinated beverages were drank in my car

- It was 65 degrees F when we started the day at midnight, it didn't hit 65 again until we were in Rye at 4pm

- This was both Jason and my first "real" big day starting at midnight... he's done the superbowl twice and I've done it once

- This is the most number of species Jason or I have seen in a day

- There are 3 big days with higher totals to my knowledge: 170 on May 27th 1997 (state record), 168 on May 28th 2006, and 167 on May 27th 2004 (unpublished)

FINALLY, I want to say a little bit about the "environmental impact" of our big day. I (and the others) are very aware that driving all over the place is not exactly the greatest thing for the environment. It is even more apparent now as we look at the oil spill in the gulf. While its truly great that people are coming together to try to fund clean up efforts and bird care efforts but I believe that we should all remember that as long as we drive, heat our homes, and consume oil it is likely that oil spills will keep occurring. So every rare bird we chase, every big day we attempt, every bird tour we go on in other countries promotes oil companies to keep drilling - and no matter where they drill it will negatively impact birds. Therefore, as a team we decided to offset the carbon emissions from our big day. While offsetting doesn't take away what emissions we created and doesn't prevent the need for oil, we do think it is better than nothing. We've chosen an organization that does offsetting which focuses on helping non-profits and other such places in converting to 100% green energy in order to help us relieve some of the oil dependence in this country. For those interested in carbon offsets and carbon offset options a helpful link is: http://www.grist.org/article/gies2/.