World Series of Birding....sound familiar?

Oh my....it's apparently been a whole year since I've updated this blog. I have no good excuse. Let's just say this blog is, and probably will continue to be, updated very sporadically.

Anyhow, I had a fantastic time at the World Series of Birding on Saturday, May 15th! (hmm...strange how the last post was on a similar topic.....) Our team, the NYS Young Birders Club Razorbills, consisted of Benjamin Van Doren, Greg Lawrence, Erich Lehner, and me.

Vesper Hill at the Wantage/Unionville Grasslands

My mom and I headed down on Thursday morning, picking up Benjamin en route. The next day and a half was spent scouting our route's northern portion—trying to stake out various species and making sure we wouldn't get lost on Big Day. The highlight was seeing my lifer Ruff, a spectacular (though distant) male in full breeding plumage near the northern grasslands. Though not a bird, another highlight was seeing a bear with THREE cubs. The cubs were quite small—perhaps 15 inches long. One attempted to climb a tree, but fell backwards and bounced a few times. So cool.

Not a bird: Painted Turtle

On Friday afternoon, we checked into our hotel in Morristown and put the final touches on our route before crashing for a few hours of "sleep." By 11:15, we were headed to our starting location: Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....MIDNIGHT. "Peent." Woodcock! Our first bird. A few other marsh birds and a Barred Owl soon joined their voices, and by 1:30 we were headed westward (advised by our GPS unit to "drive 0.9 miles then navigate off-road"). In the remaining pre-dawn hours, we visited other marshes and swamps, picking up Virginia Rail, Pied-billed Grebe, and other night calling birds.

When dawn rolled around, the pace immediately picked up. Despite the gusting wind challenging our listening ability, we added a few assorted grassland species before heading on to High Point State Park: THE location for northern woodland breeding birds. Several stops gradually yielded the species we needed. A short sprint for a Winter Wren, a quick stop for a Northern Waterthrush, and a 1-minute detour for Purple Finch boosted our checklist as we continued south.

Left to right: Benjamin, Erich, Greg, me

Big Days are quite different from normal birding. Typically, I could entertain myself for hours at a single location, observing and appreciating each bird while looking for more unusual species. Not so during the World Series, when "birding" should more accurately be called "Big Daying." Stops are planned to the minute, with no time to spare for actual "bird watching." The clock goes on ticking.... (Insert one of our day's theme songs: "Tik Tok")

Departing the northern portion of our route, we embarked on a 3-hour drive to the southern coastal area. Having left the north with only 100 species (our goal was 130+), and completely lacking scouting information for the south, we were quite nervous about our prospects. After a few hours' sleep and some route readjustment, however, we were ready to hit the south with full effort.

At the Gull Tower at Brigantine

Our first stop was Dividing Creek, an area of interesting oak habitat and our main location for southern passerines. We cruised through with windows down and sunroof fully utilized, picking up Belted Kingfisher (finally!!), Summer Tanager, Yellow-throated Warbler, and other needed passerines.

Our list continued to grow as we headed along the coast towards Cape May. A visit to Higbee Beach yielded a few new species, including Yellow-breasted Chat. Some of you may remember our chat story from last year, when we pulled into Higbee in the fading daylight, desperately hoping for any last birds. In a probable fit of boredom, one of our team members launched into a ridiculous rendition of a chat song: "Chat, chat, chat. De-dunk, de-dunk. WEEE! WEEE! *snort* *snort* *snort*." Much to our astonishment, a chat called back! This story has since become legendary within the young birders club. Anyhow, with that background information, we pulled into Higbee again this year. A few half-hearted joking imitations of Yellow-breasted Chat yielded nothing. Just as we were leaving, Erich went into a full blown chat "imitation": "CHAT CHAT CHAT WEEEEEE!!!!" You guessed it—a chat immediately popped up and sat atop a bush. That bird is definitely one of my all-time favorites.

The no-see-ums at Brig were pretty killer...at one point we could hardly see out the sunroof because there were so many.

Continuing around Cape May bolstered our checklist one-by-one. A group of seven Cattle Egrets in somebody's yard was a nice surprise—especially as many teams missed this species altogether. Other locations yielded Piping Plover, Surf Scoter, Peregrine Falcon, and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

As daylight was fading, we found a few new species at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge wildlife drive, more conveniently known as "Brig." One stop yielded all three species of nightjars (Chuck-will's-widow, Whip-poor-will, and Common Nighthawk) in a 5-minute period; the Chuck-will's-widow flew and perched only 10 feet from us!

Brigantine (Brig) at sunset

A trip to Turkey Point yielded no new species, though hearing 15+ Virginia Rails erupting in a cacophony of grunt calls was quite enjoyable. On our way out, we thought we heard something so we quietly stopped to listen. The people in the yard across the road realized what we were doing, and apparently didn't like it. The lady commented in a loud, husky voice, "STUPID #%$!@* BIRD WATCHERS." We could hardly contain our laughter, but decided it was probably in our best interest to leave.

The team at Turkey Point

We stumbled exhaustedly to the finish line at around 11:40, filled out a final version of the checklist, and turned it in. The day was over, but it had been a blast. We ended with 161 species, placing us third for the youth division and 16th overall. It was a challenging day for everybody; many teams tallied about 20 species less than other years. Stories and good times were just as abundant as other years, though, and teams enjoyed sharing their adventures with each other at the finish line.

Thanks again to those who supported our team! Because of you, we raised at least $2000 for the NYS Young Birders Club scholarship program and for conservation efforts.