Big Sit Results

Despite the cold, wet weather, 12 of us participated in the Birding on Broadmeade Big Sit yesterday. I was surprised and happy that so many folks showed up throughout the day. We had at least 1 person recording birds in our 17 foot diameter circle most of the time from 6:10 AM until 5:20 PM. The birds were less active in the intermittent rain, heavy mist, and light north wind than they would have been in good weather, so they were harder to see and hear. It was also hard to keep the lenses of our binoculars and spotting scopes clear of the rain. But despite these difficult and uncomfortable conditions we recorded 45 species of birds from our circle! I was originally hoping we would get at least 50 species, but in yesterday's weather 45 was a great total. Here are some highlights. (Thanks Gracen Duffield, for taking the above picture and posting it so quickly!)

• When Moria Darnell and I arrived at the end of Saddlebrook Trail at about 6:30 AM, we heard a Great Horned Owl hoot once as soon as we got out of our cars. I ran out to the circle because you have to hear or see a bird from inside the circle to be able to count it. I was pleasantly surprised to find Henry Kight already there, sitting in the dark! He heard the owl too, and we never heard it again. Thanks to Henry we could count the owl!
• Shortly after dawn we heard some distant sounds that soon became the honking of geese. We were thrilled to watch about 50 Greater White-fronted Geese fly right over our heads in V formation. This was a new bird for my neighborhood list, now at 196 species!
• We had 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks fly over us during the day, and we watched one dive at something behind the trees.
• It has been too long since I've watched a day start from 1 hour before dawn until mid-morning in one spot. Watching the sky gradually brighten and hearing and seeing the birds become active was quite a treat.
• The One that Got Away: While leaving the circle to verify that I was hearing a Black-crested Titmouse, I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler. Unfortunately, I was never able to see that warbler from back inside the circle, so it was not included in the count!

Thanks so much to all who came out on this wet and miserable day: Moria Darnell, Henry Kight, Sukumar Veena, Steven McDonald, Roy Reinarz, Barry Noret, Susan Andres, Ken Williams, Gracen Duffield, Julia Heskett, Laura Lefler.

Here are some great photos taken by Henry Kight:

And here is our species list!

1. Greater White-fronted Goose
2. Double-crested Cormorant
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Great Egret
5. Snowy Egret
6. Cattle Egret
7. Black Vulture
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Sharp-shinned Hawk
10. Cooper's Hawk
11. Red-tailed Hawk
12. Killdeer
13. Spotted Sandpiper
14. White-winged Dove
15. Mourning Dove
16. Great Horned Owl
17. Chimney Swift
18. Belted Kingfisher
19. Red-bellied Woodpecker
20. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
21. Downy Woodpecker
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
24. White-eyed Vireo
25. Blue Jay
26. American Crow
27. Cave Swallow
28. Barn Swallow
29. Carolina Chickadee
30. Black-crested Titmouse
31. Carolina Wren
32. House Wren
33. American Robin
34. Northern Mockingbird
35. European Starling
36. Orange-crowned Warbler
37. Nashville Warbler
38. Lark Sparrow
39. Northern Cardinal
40. Indigo Bunting
41. Red-winged Blackbird
42. Common Grackle
43. Great-tailed Grackle
44. House Finch
45. Lesser Goldfinch

Check out how we compared against the other Big Sit circles around the world!