Birding into history

I've signed up to transcribe data for the USGS Bird Phenology Program (http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/index.cfm). Here's the project summary from the website:

"The North American Bird Phenology Program houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America. These handwritten cards contain almost all of what was known of bird status from the Second World War back to the later part of the 19th century. The bulk of the records are the result of a network of observers who recorded migration arrival dates in the spring and fall that, in its heyday, involved 3000 participants.

Today, those records are being processed and placed into a modern database for analysis. This information will be used, along with recently collected arrival times of migrant birds, in conjunction with historical weather data to show how migration is affected by climate change. The information from this analysis will provide critical information on bird distribution, migration timing and migration pathways and how they are changing. There is no other program that has the depth of information that can help us understand the effect that global climate change has on bird populations across the country."

Essentially, you enter in data from scanned observation cards dating all the way back to the 1880s. You can come across some really interesting observations, too. Today I transcribed a card that was documenting a Great Grey Owl specimen taken in NW Indiana in 1897, for example. It's also neat to see the old names for birds, such as Long-billed Marsh Wren (today just the Marsh Wren), and it's easy to start feeling a connection to these long-ago birders.

One big advantage for me in doing this is that I feel that I am doing some form of birding at this point in my life where birding on a regular basis isn't really an option, so that helps cut back the birding fever. Hopefully by the time spring migration is in full blast, I'll have less problems getting back into the field, but for now, it's the lab!

Checking in

Well, no new bird news to report on the home front - mainly because I'm the father of a baby boy!
Ian Michael Sewell was born January 30, 2009 at 2:41 in the afternoon. His first bird was a starling!

I don't foresee myself getting out to bird this month, as we're still settling in with Ian and trying to get caught up with errands and chores, since he decided to come a week early. I think I will be able to get out more in the coming months, though, and even go on a few Avids trips, which will be all the more fun since I won't be going on as many of them. My work on the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas will probably come to a standstill this year, though. I just don't think I'll have the time and energy for concentrated survey work.

Anyhow, I'm still alive, and looking at the neighborhood birds, and thinking of spring!

Starting off a little slow but steady

So far I have been birding twice this month, once for the Kingston Christmas Bird Count and then again last Sunday. I've seen 51 species, highlights being White-winged Crossbill, Barn Owl, Black-legged Kittiwake, Dickcissel, and Greater White-fronted Goose. My birding is going to be taking a back seat pretty quickly here, as my baby will be arriving very soon. My posts will probably be more sporadic for at least the part of the year. I think the theme this year will be "Birding with Baby!"

2008: My Best Birding Year Ever (Yet?)

Well, 2008 was a heck of a year for everyone - stock markets going nuts, gas prices up and down, and a historical presidential election. For me, it was also quite active - learning I was going to be a dad was the most momentous part for me. But this is a birding blog, so 2008 was big for birding in my life. Lots of milestones - first trip to Florida for birding, first experiences in Southeast Arizona, ABA milestones of 400 and 450, and finally hitting my major goal for the year - making it to 300 on my Ohio state life list. So let's start with that.

I posted back in February, after seeing the Hoary Redpoll, that I had 14 species left before hitting 300 in Ohio, and speculated what those species most likely would be. Here's the original list:

1. Least Flycatcher
2. Marsh Wren
3. Cattle Egret
4. Franklin's Gull
5. Eurasian Collared Dove
6. Golden Eagle
7. Little Gull
8. Connecticut Warbler
9. Clay Colored Sparrow
10. Least Bittern
    
11. Chuck-wills-widow
12. Marbled Godwit
13. Golden-winged Warbler
14. Pomarine Jaegar

And here's the list of what I actually saw:

1. Golden Eagle, March 16
2. Red-necked Grebe, March 22
3. Least Flycatcher, May 6
4. Chuck-will's-widow, June 7
5. Black Rail, June 9
6. Common Raven, July 12
   
7. Upland Sandpiper, July 12
8. Western Meadowlark, July 19
9. Clay-colored Sparrow, July 19
10. Marsh Wren, July 19
11. Marbled Godwit, August 25
12. Wood Stork, August 27
13. Franklin's Gull, October 18
14. White-winged Crossbill, December 13

I only saw half of the birds I thought I would see. Four of the birds are really rare for Ohio: Black Rail, White-winged Crossbill, Wood Stork, and Common Raven.

I also added a ton of birds to my life list - 135 ABA area birds and 137 in total (two exotic birds are state countable but were not on the ABA list when I saw them). My year list for the ABA region was the best ever - 412. My Ohio list was not as good as last year, since I never made it up to the Lake Erie marshes for spring migration, but still a respectable 255 (I also had 155 species in Florida and 131 in Arizona!).

My big challenge for next year is to balance fatherhood with birding. I suspect I won't hit 255 birds in Ohio next year, but having hit the magic number of 300, I don't feel I have to get out all the time either. I think my theme for this next year is to just see what I can see, birding serendipitously as I am out and about with a new baby. I will probably have some good opportunities to sneak off now and then when we take the baby on family visits, so we'll see what happens!

I Did It!!!!

May I present Ohio Bird 300:


White-winged Crossbill! After three unsuccessful tries at this species, I finally found this stunning male bird at Oak Hill Cemetery, located south of Upper Sandusky. We waited for about an hour before it showed up, calling as it flew. Once it started foraging in the hemlock, however, it clammed up, emitting not a sound. We speculated that if there were other crossbills around, it would be calling. Hitting 300 in Ohio was my goal for the year. Next week, I will post an end of year roundup on what has been the best birding year of my life (so far!).

Crossing fingers for 300

I'm going birding on Saturday with the Avids. Our big goal is to get to experience the White-winged Crossbill irruption that is going on across Ohio right now. If we are successful, then I'll hit 300 birds for Ohio. Depending on where else we go, there's a decent chance to go over 300 birds, since there are still reports of Pomarine Jaegers and Black-headed Gulls, and there's always a chance for Little Gull. The Harlequin Duck that was up in Cleveland was unfortunately shot by a hunter, though.

We'll see what happens, and I'll report back.

Jaegers and horrible weather

Went up to Lake Erie today with Bill and Brad to look for rare gulls and jaegers. We got lucky with good looks at what I think may have been three different Parasitic Jaegers, including one I tried to turn into a Pomarine Jaeger (and Ohio Bird Number 300), but it was not to be.

Oddly, no out of the ordinary gulls were present. We did have some late shorebirds, including a Ruddy Turnstone at Lorain Harbor and a juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher at the Cedar Point Chausee.

The weather got progressively worse during the day, and we left the lake early, just ahead of another cold front that turned the driving rain to snow. Another good day of birding!