This post is a bit long but it summarizes my OC big year for 2013. I am back home in the northeast (2014 has started out much colder for me), and so this report is somewhat delayed.
The preliminary count for my OC big year is 322 NIB 328 ABA, which ties Pike's old record of 322NIB and also includes the recently added Nutmeg Mannikin. I had a nice rush of birds in late December that was made up of an American Redstart, Varied Thrush, Brown Booby, Lapland Longspur, and a Tundra Swan.
December 31st was spent looking for some recent rarities reported on the inland CBC (Mtn Blubird, Orchard Oriole) but my best bird of the day was the continuing ZONE-TAILED HAWK along the Puma Ridge trail at Irvine Regional Park (this seems to be the best spot to see this bird in the county from ~10am-3pm). An afternoon pelagic trip out of Long Beach ended up going in the wrong direction (towards Palos Verdes) but produced some nice views of 7 Grey Whales and 2 Fin Whales (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77523243@N00/11700564044/) and a memorable last sunset of the year (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77523243@N00/11700434583/in/photostream/).
Special thanks to the OC birding community as a whole for their support and advice throughout the year. There are so many people to thank, but Tom Benson was particularly helpful and I wouldn't have found nearly as many species had he not also decided to do a big year (from San Bernardino nonetheless!). This year list wouldn't have been possible without the help of many other birders as well and there are too many to name individually but everything helped; all the way from Phyllis Anderson showing me a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in her backyard (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77523243@N00/8956399680/in/photostream/), to spotting both whales and birds on near weekly Dana Point Ocean Institute Pelagic Trips. It's been a great year!
Here is my final checklist (which also includes 10 non-countable birds; Egyptian Goose, Mute Swan, Mandarin Goose, Indian Peafowl, Harris’s Hawk, Mitred Parakeet, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Pin-tailed Whydah, & Orange Bishop) which can be downloaded from dropbox;
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16554933/ebird_US-OCBigYear2013_TAF_list_Final.xls
I saw ~95% of the birds seen in OC this year and reported them all in ebird, so I thought I'd instead list some of the notable misses this year (**seen by Benson);
Manx Shearwater**
Evening Grosbeak
Sage Thrasher**
Black Scoter**
Red-eyed Vireo
Cassin’s Finch**Masked Booby
PyrrhuloxiaPrairie Falcon
Baird’s SandpiperMagnolia Warbler
Painted RedstartScissor-tailed Flycatcher
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Mountain Bluebird
Someone who had more time of their hands (i.e. retired) could probably find more birds in a year, but I probably won't be doing another big year any time soon! It's interesting how much the county has changed since Pike's last attempt but how loss of habitat has been made up for by advances in technology (internet-enabled phones, ebird, birding apps, instantaneous alerts, etc.) and greater coverage from more birders. An excellent year in pelagic birding (Red-billed Tropicbird, Craveri's Murrelet, Blue-footed Booby, Brown Booby) and an influx of montane species (Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, etc.) were critical in getting such a high year list.
Best of luck to the next Big Year seeker!
Tom Ford-Hutchinson
Irvine, CA
|