I'm not sure how many people have been reading this blog,
but in case you're wondering where I've been the past three months, and
how my Prince Edward County big year is going, here's the answer.
Back in December I set a goal of seeing 170 species in Prince Edward County during 2014. I thought this was a decent goal since it was about 14 more species than I'd seen in any previous year, but by May I'd realized that my goal was too low. On 21 May I reached 172 species when I found a pair of Dickcissels in western Prince Edward County – goal achieved, with more than half the year remaining.
By this time spring migration was mostly over and I was looking forward to a summer of travel as well as other things that would take a good bit of my time. Taking a cue from U.S. football, I decided that June and July would be halftime, and that I would lay aside the big year until August. That's what I did, and as for where I've been, since the first of June I've taken separate multi-day trips to southern Ohio, Italy, Atlanta, and, most recently, Ecuador.
Only the last of these was entirely a birding trip, though I did at least a little birding on all of them. I also completed a couple of online classes and have been busy with other things such as church, visiting family, going caving, and more that have taken me away from what can be (I admit) some rather tedious summer birding in central Virginia. (How many tick bites have I avoided?)
Since I've already passed my initial goal of 170 species I've been thinking about whether to set a new one. I decided not to, at least not numerically. Instead, the new goal for the rest of the year is simply to have fun and see a few more birds for the list. I don't know what “a few more” will mean, but there's some obvious potential. I didn't find some common migrants during the spring (e.g. Cape May Warbler) that should be easy to add to the list. I haven't seen many shorebirds yet, so finding a few of those in the next six weeks or so seems reasonable. We could always have a hurricane to make things exciting! But if I do or don't make it to some other number – 190 or 200 or whatever it might be – I don't care too much.
So, halftime is over. Yesterday I visited Sandy River Reservoir and a few ponds looking for shorebirds but didn't see much. School resumes (for me) on Monday, and my commute usually provides opportunities for quick birding stops, so it's back to the routine just in time for fall migration. Common Nighthawks should be heading through soon, then the influx of first-year warblers, and so on. Here we go....
Back in December I set a goal of seeing 170 species in Prince Edward County during 2014. I thought this was a decent goal since it was about 14 more species than I'd seen in any previous year, but by May I'd realized that my goal was too low. On 21 May I reached 172 species when I found a pair of Dickcissels in western Prince Edward County – goal achieved, with more than half the year remaining.
By this time spring migration was mostly over and I was looking forward to a summer of travel as well as other things that would take a good bit of my time. Taking a cue from U.S. football, I decided that June and July would be halftime, and that I would lay aside the big year until August. That's what I did, and as for where I've been, since the first of June I've taken separate multi-day trips to southern Ohio, Italy, Atlanta, and, most recently, Ecuador.
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| Chestnut-breasted Coronet, one of 45 species of hummingbird I saw in Ecuador. |
Only the last of these was entirely a birding trip, though I did at least a little birding on all of them. I also completed a couple of online classes and have been busy with other things such as church, visiting family, going caving, and more that have taken me away from what can be (I admit) some rather tedious summer birding in central Virginia. (How many tick bites have I avoided?)
Since I've already passed my initial goal of 170 species I've been thinking about whether to set a new one. I decided not to, at least not numerically. Instead, the new goal for the rest of the year is simply to have fun and see a few more birds for the list. I don't know what “a few more” will mean, but there's some obvious potential. I didn't find some common migrants during the spring (e.g. Cape May Warbler) that should be easy to add to the list. I haven't seen many shorebirds yet, so finding a few of those in the next six weeks or so seems reasonable. We could always have a hurricane to make things exciting! But if I do or don't make it to some other number – 190 or 200 or whatever it might be – I don't care too much.
So, halftime is over. Yesterday I visited Sandy River Reservoir and a few ponds looking for shorebirds but didn't see much. School resumes (for me) on Monday, and my commute usually provides opportunities for quick birding stops, so it's back to the routine just in time for fall migration. Common Nighthawks should be heading through soon, then the influx of first-year warblers, and so on. Here we go....
