Although I did not find the sapsucker along West End Road yesterday, I decided to return to this area early this morning. I figured I would bird this area before heading to some additional areas in the middle and later parts of the day. Today was very foggy and damp, and the birding along West End Road was slower this morning than yesterday. There wasn't much more I could do than slowly ride the quiet country road and hope that a sapsucker either flew across my path or called from near it. The problem is that Red-breasted sapsuckers are very quiet at this time of year. This makes finding them potentially problematic. Near the end of the outbound leg of my ride, I heard something that sounded sapsucker-like. I looked around for 10 minutes but heard or saw nothing else. I continued down the road ~2 miles to my turnaround point. As I passed back through the area where I thought I had heard the bird on the outbound leg, I stopped to listen for a few additional minutes. As soon as I stopped, I saw a woodpecker fly across the road into a dead snag. A quick binocular view confirmed it to be the sapsucker for #550! I started to get the camera out, but the bird flew away before I could grab a photo. It soon resurfaced on another tree down the street where I was able to get a record shot of it. There was some enthusiastic grunting and fist-pumping by me in the street after this victory. I think at least on passing motorist saw this and thought I was crazy! It was really good to nail this guy down today. Now to sort out Purple finch.......
Red-breasted sapsucker for #550!
Finding this bird was awesome! I had looked for and missed it on a number of previous occasions, so it was nice to be redeemed today. It also meant I now had a free afternoon to do some casual birding around Arcata and Eureka. I did another pass through the Arcata Marsh before riding the short distance down to Eureka. The birding at the marsh was very similar to yesterday except I was able to find a number of Long-billed curlews, two harriers, and a lone Lesser scaup. I actually shut the birding down a bit early today since Sonia and I were to meet one of her high school friends, who now lives in Aracta, for drinks. We were also joined by local birder and guide Rob Fowler of Arcata/Eureka-based Fowlerope Birding Tours. Rob was really helpful in providing me with bird finding advice. I also want to publicly thank Ken Burton, Jude Power, and David Fix for help during my time in the area. There is some dynamite birding around here and these folks are leading the charge!
I spent some time today thinking about the readers of this blog. I have been very fortunate to meet some of you during this year, but the majority of you are still unknown to me. This creates a really interesting dynamic where you know quite a bit about me (and some about Sonia), but I know nothing about many of you! I wonder who you are, where you live, how much birding you do, and what other passions you have. I am curious how regularly everyone reads the blog and what particularly keeps you coming back entry after entry. I think about how diverse the audience could potentially be and what advice each of you might offer me about my adventure and my life beyond it. This is how a blog necessarily works though; The information flow is generally unidirectional from me to you. I am hoping this will change either in the near or distant future as I have the opportunity to meet more of you. I can only hope and think that "Oh, I read your blog a few years back" will be the opening line to many new friendships moving forward.........
Another ~30 today!
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ReplyDeleteHi Dorian !!
ReplyDeleteI'm following you from "La belle province" and you have quite a few birder interested in your adventure here in Quebec. I'm reading your blog pretty much every day and I love your adventure !! It is really nice to see how birding as no frontier and how reading a blog can make you travel.
If you want to know who is following you, you can take a look at my blog (http://ericwilmot.blogspot.ca/). I'm doing an informal big year. Let's just say that i'm trying to beat my own personal record here in Qc. It's in french but I have a few "click" from the States...bonne lecture !!!
Hope to see you next year here in QC doing a conference about your big year. It would be nice to make it happen, maybe we can arrange something !! ;)
I keep reading the blog to hear stories of sweet victory with fist pumping. Haha, I could totally picture it. Cheers, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteRead this EVERY day. Learning a great deal and enjoying your adventures. Thank you for sharing this with us. I can't imagine the fortitude it must take to ride your bike all day, figure out what to do for food and lodging, plan your next route, research where the birds are, keep in touch with your contacts, and then find the creative energy to write a blog entry and find the band width to upload it. Truly remarkable. 550 birds - 15 weeks to go!
ReplyDeleteHey Dorian,
ReplyDeleteI started following you about your second week in January. I followed Neil Hayward last year and enjoyed the day-by-day adventures that unfolded. Like with your big year, there's no skipping to the end of the book to find out how it ends. I live in Camarillo with my wife and 2 boys. She dislikes birding because "birds are dumb" and it takes away from time with the family, so I do some at lunch, or on the way home from work. I try and sneak in a couple hours here and there. I chase the rarities, enjoy looking for my own patches, and still have a hell of a time IDing shore birds. I got into birding 3 years ago after seeing some amazing owl photos. As a photographer I thought it would be fun to go get some photos of owls swooping down at me. So I told my wife I was going to head out for a few hours to do that. 3+ years later I've yet to get that photo, but while researching owls, I fell in love with the treasure-hunt aspect of birding, predicting where they might be, struggling over IDs, learning behavior and calls and meeting others along the way. I'm an amateur at best but still love all aspects of it. Keep in touch as you make your way down the Cali coast this and next month and I'll be sure you have a place to stay for a night or two while in Ventura County.
Congratulations on the sapsucker! That's such wonderful news. Glad to know you accomplished that while here in Arcata. I only started reading your blog two weeks ago, when a fellow blogger alerted us to your adventure. I'll be checking in daily now, and cheering you on your Big Year!
ReplyDeleteWill meet you hopefully when you take your tour on the road (lecture circuit). Good way to make a few bucks also.
ReplyDeleteHey, Dorian - I read your blog first thing in the morning just about every day. Love the vicarious birding experience while I'm home in Maryland. Keep up the great work! Thanks! Nancy Magnusson
ReplyDeleteI follow your blog every day not so much from the birding aspect but from the cycling side. I commend you for the spirit and positive attitude you have as you get up everyday get on that machine and just do it no matter what the conditions are.As you have already found out cycling takes a lot of energy and mental aptitude. I can only tell you that some day after this journey is completed you will look back and relive this adventure over and over again with all the wonderful memories that you are left with. I for one have been contributing $25 for every quarter of a year that you have kept up this pace and only wish that I could contribute more The end of September will mark the third quarter of your epic journey and at which time I will contribute another $25. I prey your health and strength continues. YOU ALMOST HOME!!!
ReplyDeleteRead this blog near daily from London, UK as it satisfies my weekday birding urges and a bit of escapism through travel. Just wish I had the balls to stop the everyday drudgery and cut loose.
ReplyDeleteMet you in TX at Sabine Wood and Anahuac earlier this year. All the best!
what a wonderful sighting...good birding karma
ReplyDeleteI heard about your big year plans last December. I'm a novice birder who enjoys biking to local birding destinations, so I was intrigued and have been faithfully reading the blog daily ever since. You inspired me to improve my birding skills, ramp up my riding and add the Conservation Fund to my list of supported organizations. I continue to be amazed at your endurance, your birding skills, and your environmental consciousness. Sorry I missed you when you passed by National Airport last January. Best of luck for the remainder of your journey.
ReplyDeleteI started following early in the year, but got more into it once you hit the west coast. Now I check every morning to read the newest post. I enjoy hearing about new birds, and the random adventures you go on.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of random, after you posted about having lunch with me, a birder that I hadn't heard from in years who also is following this blog found me on facebook after realizing he knew me (even though my last name has changed). That's a fun connection that your blog inspired.
Dorian - I read almost daily. Partly to admire the Awesomeness of your exploits, partly to bask in Bird Envy. (Nice score with the sapsucker! I love woodpeckers, yet in my few trips to the western U.S. they have all eluded me, except Acorn + the red Flickers. Heck, I was very happy this weekend when a female Pileated came right out into the open.) My dad (age 80) does not bird, but he does bike a lot, and is very impressed with your trek. I live in CT, so perhaps when you return to New England, we might meet in non cyber ways.
ReplyDelete-Jonah