May our eye for nature improve a touch as the world spins a little slower.
As you can hear in the video commentary below, this bird surprised me so much! Everything about him and his display is so different than anything I’d ever seen before. We heard him first, while walking on the snowy Spirit Trail at the top of the Sea to Sky gondola in Squamish, and then saw him whoop and strut.
What a treat!
-Blair
We are glad to be moving on from 2021. But we will miss our Big Year. The birds offered us hope and joy and a great deal of local adventures at a time when we were most vulnerable to binge on Netflix. “An exercise in awareness,” as our dear friend Ron would say.
While the competition has now concluded, we are reminded that 2021 was just a year. There will be another. And birds are literally everywhere. So here’s to an even bigger year for everyone in 2022!
Congratulations to Dean and Lynn for sighting a whopping 239 of our feathered friends. In recognition for their accomplishment, Dean and Lynn will be receiving a bottle of Songbird wine and a handcrafted birdhouse from their nephew-in-law Isaac in Wyoming, MN.
We welcome our readers to journey with our champions from start to finish of their Big Year.
Second place was a tie between Blair/Peter and Alison/David with 164 each. In total, our teams made 862 entries, sighting ____ unique species (please let us know if you have patience enough to count them using the spreadsheet).
Our Big Year spirit will live on via @deansbirds @llpawson @blairryan @agentnero @drcubes…
Good birding, everyone!
-Peter
We didn’t win the competition, but when I reflect on our Big Year I am proud. These are the days when I find it hard to be mindful outside of work. I ruin pots when distracted I leave them unattended on the stove. Yesterday, I found the jar of jelly in the spice cabinet two days after I used it. Too often I put the cheese away in the pantry or leave it on the counter and by the end of the day it’s crystalline. I return to the driveway moments after pulling out because I forgot a towel for swimming. I’ll open an app I have no need for and stare at it unsure why I’m there.
But,
I learned to tell a Phoebe from any other bird by how it perches and forages. I practiced this on both coasts. I can identify a Kestrel by silhouette, both on a perch and in the sky. I know the differences among all the Grebes. I know where to find Burrowing Owls in the Salton Sea area. I learned that Cactus Wrens croak and aren’t shy. I know that the most colorful Kingfishers are female and I saw them in three states. I know a Northern Flicker when I see one. On day 366 I learned how to tell a Cassin’s Kingbird from a Western – the tip of its tail feathers. I eavesdropped on the Phainopeplas’ love song. I don’t have to look to know if it’s a Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher, Blue Grosbeak, California Thrasher, Scrub Jay, Acorn Woodpecker, or a Spotted Towhee talking around me on the trail. I’m irrationally devoted to House and Bewick’s Wrens even though they move carelessly around Orlando in the yard. I cried when our resident House Finch chick died and also because I didn’t get to see its siblings leave the nest while we were away.
The 2021 birds reminded me that my brain still works. I’m alive. Birding is a practice in awareness and feeling. I am human, not a computer zombie.
Before our trail race in May, Alison wished us well:
I wasn’t in the best shape and there was a spot during the race where I needed to walk. The moment I started running again, I heard cheep cheep cheep tik tik tiiiik from the bushes. As if a couple of birds were ecstatic about my new pace. The clanging of little bells. The sweetest sound I’d ever heard. Alison and David were there with me.
There are so many to choose from, but these two photos represent my 2021 Big Year.
The sparrow my Dad saw on the course during that race:
And the awe of birding and sharing it with friends:
Thank you all for helping me find focus during a time of information overload. I’m in disbelief of all that I was able to learn with your help, and all that there is still to know.
Good birding,
Blair
When picking a favorite bird of the year, it is hard for all those beautiful feathered creatures who deserve consideration to compete with one that:
1- is utterly beautiful, to my eye at least (what made it evolve like this?)
2- is seen in only a small range within our country, and it’s not our hometown
3- you hope to see on a specific hike, and that’s your only chance
4- you studied for, and plotted the course to find it
5- received info on your hike/search that lowered expectations
6- appears out of nowhere as you stop and look up
7- actually seems to be as interested in you as you are in it
As Lynn noted in her post, for us that would be the Elegant Trogon we saw on the Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon, southeast Arizona during our December trip. Here is some more detail. We hope you enjoy it.
With the family Big Year 2021 competition approaching the final month and heating up other teams were making quantum leaps in sightings and identifications. We knew we could not rest on established sightings and needed to push into new territories before year’s end. A road trip to White Sands National Park in New Mexico would be a beautiful addition to our park portfolio, and passing through southeastern Arizona (there and back) with its reputation for good birding sites seemed like just the ticket.
Pre-trip reading brought the Elegant Trogon to our attention. A visually spectacular bird whose range per Sibley (West) barely enters the U.S., only in a small region we were including in the itinerary, Madera Canyon, Arizona. Wouldn’t that be something to see in the wild?!
Early in our first hike in Madera Canyon (Proctor Trail) we met one person who felt the trail was not meeting their expectations for birds. Our experience turned out to be the opposite. As we stood in a single spot we saw many birds and added some 2021 birds and lifers (i.e. Mexican Jay, Red-naped Sapsucker). We met another person who asked us if we had seen a trogon yet. When we responded no, she added that she was involved in trogon counts, and noticed there seemed to be fewer this year, perhaps due to a long lasting drought in the area.
Undeterred, the next day we headed to the trailhead in Madera Canyon that Lynn had read contained the two best trails for seeing trogons. If we saw only one bird all day, and it was an elegant trogon, we would deem the day a success. We selected the Carrie Nation Trail, whose first mile was noted as historically promising. One half-mile into the hike the trail widened slightly. I passed right by, but Lynn stopped, scanned around and saw a large multi-colored bird on a tree branch overhanging the dry creek bed. She knew immediately what she was looking at, the backside of a male elegant trogon. It was about 50 feet away. Lynn whispered for me to return and verbally directed me while keeping her binoculars locked on the bird. Fortunately for me it stayed in the tree. I finally saw it, and quickly started taking photos. Strangely, haste turned out not to be required as the bird seemed to notice us, but didn’t seem concerned. It began to shift locations from one side of the creek bed to the other, but never added too much distance at one time. At last it disappeared up the rocky creek bed out of sight.
With smiles that would not leave us all day, we moved 100 yards up the trail. There we diverted from the main trail a few yards to a spot where we could look back down the creek bed hoping we might catch a view of the bird again. At first nothing. Then suddenly, up popped the trogon onto a large tree branch that had fallen into the creek bed about 50 feet away. We had a completely unobstructed view of the front side of this beautiful foot-long bird. As before it stayed in place for quite a long time, scanning its surrounding with smooth slow circles of it head, tilting it back and forth as if in a daze. It moved positions a little but stayed in view for several minutes until I shifted my feet, crunched some dry leaves, and it darted out of sight. Dang it.
The bird had gone between the creek and the trail, so deciding to push our good luck to the fullest we moved back down the trail about half way to the original sighting point. As we looked into the thicket there it was again, maybe 80 feet away. We watched with increasing amazement as it flew in zigzag steps, not away from us, but to perches closer and closer. It seemed interested in us! It was perched about 30 feet away when it flew right at us, swerving at the last moment to touch a tree no more than 8 feet behind Lynn, seemingly thought more about that, and immediately turned 180 degrees, flying back in front of us to perch on a low branch 12 feet away. Full-frontal view, calm and collected. It did its slow motion scanning for many minutes. We stood as calm as possible while I took as many frames as I could. There would be no need to crop these photos, it was so close.
Our encounter lasted more than half and hour, and unbelievably we were the ones who decided to leave the scene first and continue our hike. It was hard leaving this amazing bird there in the thicket. We headed up the trail, our hearts full of joy and wonder. We didn’t see another trogon nor many birds of any description on the rest of that hike. Just one bird for the day. Total success.
Thank you everyone involved in the Family Big Year 2021. No matter the “count”, you all had an impact on our year and the happiness this project brought to our household.
Dean
Thank you, Blair, for joining us all together, adding such joy to every adventure in nature throughout 2021. Thank you to all our FamilyBigYear contributors for the friendly competition and sharing your curiosity. I have loved hiking in beautiful wilderness and near wilderness locations for a long time, enjoying the journey one step at a time relishing every destination. Adding birding, with first sightings of the year and often first lifetime sightings, brought an extra layer of joy and mindfulness to the present. Sharing all my birding outings with Dean was pretty damn great. Sharing birding outings with Blair, Peter, Alison, David, Shane, Holly, Cindy, Bill, Sue and Terry – what could be better? I loved being outside and spotting the birds but it is thanks to Dean’s photography and his patience scouring those photographs that Team Lynn and Dean have accomplished the identification of 239.
I have put together my top 15 birds from those 239. I intended to make a top 10 list but alas I couldn’t stop at 10. Some make the list because of the bird itself, some because of the journey to see it and some because of the company and events at the time of sighting. These are not in any order of preference except #1- the Elegant Trogon.
Happy Continued Birding Everyone, Lynn
Back in March, we had wonderful success sighting Burrowing Owls near the Sonny Bono Complex of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, and also near the complex on the side of the two lane highway!
Stay safe owls!
-Blair
Peter was writing papers and I wanted to get outside and log some sightings, so I called our friends who live in a tiny home out in Ramona and are new to birding. We went back to the Ramona Grasslands Preserve and were looking for anything, but especially the Golden Eagle that nests in the area.
We were so excited when we saw this big brown bird and I wrote home about it.
For a week we celebrated our sighting. But, there was still some doubt if Dad wasn’t sure. I went back to the area of the preserve that required permits. I’d been waiting to use mine since April. This Area 97 borders the public Ramona Grasslands and is only open 3 months a year when the Eagles aren’t nesting and only 50 people can go in per day.
A Ranger checked me in and let me know that three Golden Eagles had just flown over. They were now behind the clouds where he pointed. Hope!
I hiked out toward the nesting sites and passed some horseback riders. One cowboy pointed to the sky and told me those were Eagles. I saw the birds and took a few photos, but wasn’t going to be tricked by hawks – again. I kept going. A group of hikers complimented my camera and told me there was a big bird up on the rock ridge around the corner. “Can’t tell what it is without binoculars.”
Thank you 400mm – there was the Golden Eagle!
I called Dad to let him know that this time I was looking at the right thing.
The best part was being able to share my photos with some hikers who could see the bird in the distance and were thrilled to have the details confirmed by the camera.
As I headed out I saw the smallest species out there:
Biggest and littlest. Mission accomplished. What do y’all think about the first bird? Do Erica and Arthur also get a Golden Eagle for their list? Or is that the dark variation Red-Tailed Hawk? “Sibleys 106.” 😉
-Blair
We tallied our wood duck while with Shane, Holly and Denver in Davis California earlier in the year at the UC Davis arboretum. There we saw some female wood ducks with ducklings. Fast forward to our recent trip to Canada, more specifically to Mud Lake in Ottawa, Ontario, and we were treated to many wood ducks, including males in all their colorful glory. Seeing them drift across the water surface that was painted with reflections of autumn tree colors was truly spectacular. Oh Canada! Thank you for this Canadian Thanksgiving.
Just a few of the wonderful sights during this long awaited trip to be reunited with family and friends.
Dean
The Swedes miss the lutefisk dinners, but it’s nice to see the birds are still well fed.
We collected 21 total species in the Scandia area this trip (August)!
| Bald Eagle |
| Common Loon |
| Ring-Necked Pheasant |
| Downy Woodpecker |
| Pileated Woodpecker |
| Chipping Sparrow |
| American Goldfinch |
| Swallow, Barn |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Willow Fliycatcher |
| Scarlet Tanager |
| Barred Owl (sound only) |
| Sand Hill Crane |
| Eastern Wood Pewee |
| Red-Breasted Nuthatch |
| Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak |
| Ruby-Throated, Hummingbird |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Blue Jay (Male and Female) |
| Gray Catbird |
| Brown Headed Cowbird (female) |
-Blair and Peter
On July 19th while in Harmon Canyon I heard some ongoing screeching. Sure enough it was some raptors. I recognized two juvenile red-tailed hawks and an adult red-tailed hawk flying in and out of a large tree. There seemed to be a territorial contest going on, with the adult finally occupying the tree while the two juveniles circled around continuing the noise. I walked on. Not long after, in relative quiet, the adult red-tailed appeared ahead of me, flying low across the hillside almost straight towards me. As it got close and began screeching I pressed the shutter for a burst of frames. During those couple of seconds a bird I had not noticed darted from its location on the ground near me across my field of view. It turns out the adult hawk’s target was another hawk, one of the juveniles that was involved with the adult before. Shortly after I saw the adult perched royally in the big tree with the two juveniles now screeching at each other, sparring over a roost on a utility pole. Was this a lesson from an adult to an offspring or a full-fledged encounter?
Moving ahead to August 30th, I was again on a Harmon Canyon hike/walk when I noticed an adult red-tailed hawk soaring over the canyon hillside. As I looked through my camera I could see another raptor, smaller and more lightly colored, fluttering on hover-mode high above this hawk. I thought, “I’ll grab a few frames of this closer bird and then get some of the one higher up”. Click, click, click. I shifted my lens up to the upper bird just in time to see it bank over and dive straight down at tremendous speed at the hawk below, catching it totally by surprise. They remained engaged as they flew out of sight over the hill’s ridge. Upon later review of the images, I am quite sure the “smaller” bird was a juvenile red-tailed hawk.
Could there have been a connection? Either way, thank you Harmon Canyon for the constant surprises, lessons and entertainment.
Dean
The Big Year 2021 