Time to start thinking Big Day
Spring took its sweet time getting here this year, yet it feels like it snuck up on us at the same time. Just when it seemed winter wouldn't end, all of a sudden we're enjoying sun and 70 degrees in Connecticut. It's already mid-April...how did that happen?
After a winter during which I felt surprisingly little motivation to bird locally, this spring weather has me excited for the next six weeks of action. Trees are finally budding and the first reports of returning neotropical migrants are trickling in. These southerly winds should bring a few southern overshoots to the region over the next day or two.
This week I had my first real Big Day conversation with friend and teammate Dave Tripp. Got the adrenaline going a little bit. It's not really too early to start scouting raptor nests, for example. We won't really get going in high gear until early-mid May, but the process starts now.
In 2011 we finally broke the long-standing CT record of 186 with a total of 192 species. Last year we hit 186, which was a nice total (was the old record for many years) but felt disappointing since we had hit 192 just two years prior. Hopefully 2014 will bring a new record.
Starting May 10th I will be able to begin scouting in earnest right up to whenever it is we decide to go. At the very least it'll get me out in the field a bunch, and maybe I'll have something to blog about for a change!
- Nick
After a winter during which I felt surprisingly little motivation to bird locally, this spring weather has me excited for the next six weeks of action. Trees are finally budding and the first reports of returning neotropical migrants are trickling in. These southerly winds should bring a few southern overshoots to the region over the next day or two.
This week I had my first real Big Day conversation with friend and teammate Dave Tripp. Got the adrenaline going a little bit. It's not really too early to start scouting raptor nests, for example. We won't really get going in high gear until early-mid May, but the process starts now.
In 2011 we finally broke the long-standing CT record of 186 with a total of 192 species. Last year we hit 186, which was a nice total (was the old record for many years) but felt disappointing since we had hit 192 just two years prior. Hopefully 2014 will bring a new record.
Starting May 10th I will be able to begin scouting in earnest right up to whenever it is we decide to go. At the very least it'll get me out in the field a bunch, and maybe I'll have something to blog about for a change!
- Nick
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