Don’t forget to submit your green big day results. We’d love to hear your stories and feel free to post responses to the blog. This friendly annual event ends May 31!
Epic stories of records broken and marathon biking birding are coming soon, well, right after I post my students’ biology grades…:)
May 8: I’m presenting a talk entitled, “Cuckoos & Carbon” at Watsonville Wetlands Watch, 6:30pm, recounting the story of the epic first state record of Common Cuckoo in Watsonville Slough and the hundreds of birders who descended upon the region from across the US those 5 days.
May 9: Mark Kudrav & Josiah Clark are presenting a greenbirding talk about their carbon free big years at Sequoia Audubon’s monthly meeting, 7pm at San Mateo Garden Center.
It’s tough enough to see over 150 species in a day by car, but unbelievably, two teams from California and Texas have both broken the US carbon-free record this spring and are now tied at 181!
I’ll have more details soon on these and other amazing efforts this spring…don’t forget to submit your lists.
By the way, most of us don’t have to bike 100 miles to set a greenbirding record in our home counties, so go for it, and then share your experience with the birding community.
OK, the window is open, April 1-May 31. Take a hike, ride a bike, paddle a kayak, and go enjoy the avian diversity of your region. I look forward to hearing some great stories from around the world!
Rumor has it that the 170 species mark was broken in March by a biking team in the Bay Area…more on that soon.
Want to come out and play? GBD 2013 will run from April 1 to May 31, so get out those bikes or hiking boots and plan out a good route!
I encourage all birders to give a walking or biking big day a try this spring in your region. You may be setting a record on your first try…
Let us know where you are in the world, and post a sightings list on this website as a comment or by clicking on the results tab and sending in a form.
Since the world indeed persisted beyond Dec 21, it’s time to start making those big year plans for 2013. How many bird species will you be able to identify in your home county or state next year? We birders love January, because our year lists reset to 0, and every early year outing adds to the fun obsession of Big Year birding.
Here are two challenges for you to consider for 2013:
1. Try a BIGBY next year. A “Big Green Birding Year” can only include birds that you observe by foot or bike or boat from your place of residence or work. Driving your vehicle to chase birds cannot add to your BIGBY record totals. Imagine making good on resolutions involving exercise, while discovering great birds within walking distance of your home! Check out www.greenbirding.ca for more info, to submit regional records, and to connect with the greenbirding community.
2. Do a Big Year that is “carbon-neutral.” I imagine that the majority of birders, myself included, will drive vehicles to go see birds at some point next year. What if we tracked our mileage for each jaunt and using online calculators, figured out creative ways to offset our birding related emissions?
Stay tuned…
Wow, talk about long distance overshoot! Birders know you have to go to SE Arizona to see the Gray Hawk in the US. If accepted, this will be a first CA state record. It’s being seen on both sides of Hwy 101, which basically means thousands of cars are driving by this incredibly rare bird every day. So much for keeping my eyes on the road…
So, if you drive to go see this bird, and I know many of us birders will, don’t forget to carpool and drop a carbon offset donation to a local non-profit in the Santa Barbara area!
Ok, here we go, mega-rarity has turned up in the Watsonville Wetlands at Ford St in Watsonville, just south of Santa Cruz, CA!
If you are from CA and you chase this bird, use one of my carbon calculator links to figure out how much carbon your vehicle will release on the trip AND how much the offset donation will be (divided by your carpool birder friends).
Then, send that donation to Watsonville Wetlands Watch, since they are active in plant restoration in the very sloughs that the cuckoo is lurking this very moment!
For those of you who live in the SF Bay Area, I will be leading a greenbirding field trip for the Monterey Bay Birding Festival on Saturday morning, Sept 15. Check out http://www.montereybaybirding.org/trip_details.html for more info or to register for the event. Love to see you out there!
Birders,
If you are an American Birding Association member, you have the July 2012 Birding magazine with the full text of my greenbirding article. If not, you can check out the follow-up ABA blog post at http://blog.aba.org/2012/07/greenbirding.html.
Thank you to those of you who participated in the GBD the last two years and sent results in to this website. I’ll send out an email invite and reactivate this blog for the next Green Big Day event, spring 2013!
