• Rules of Play
• Register your circle
• Submit your results
• View Big Sit! Results
• The Golden Bird
• Fun Big Sit Articles
• The Big Sit!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 65 degrees, partly cloudy, winds from the west

Location: Lake Erie lakefront,Sims Park, Euclid Ohio

Time At Location: 6:00am- 5:30pm

Large number of golden-crowned kinglets, and turkey vultures were surprising. Open water species were scant though C. Goldeneye, C.Loon, and White-winged Scoter were interesting finds this early. No warbler or other migrant fallouts resulted in a low count this year.

Anecdotes:

This is our third Sit. Thanks to the genius who gave us this reason to chuck the chores for a day and spend the hours outside on a beautiful fall day!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly cloudy, upper 80's, VERY windy from the south

Location: Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Austin, TX

Time At Location: 6:40a.m. to 5:00p.m.

Most of our birds were recorded before 10:00a.m. We recorded 8 species after 10:00. The winds out of the south hurt our migratory bird chances. Our best bird of the day was the Yellow-headed Blackbird.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, sunny, cool during the night (45 F as low) warmed to near 80 F during the day.

Location: Dyar Pasture Conservation Area, Greene Co. Georgia

Time At Location: 5:30am-4pm

Most of our birds were noted between 5:30am-9am. We were on a dike off of the Oconee River leading into Lake Oconee. The area is flooded for waterfowl when the weather gets cooler, but for now the water is really low. A few fisherman and boaters hit the water, but mostly things were quiet. We also heard coyotes during the night and saw a lot of cows!

Anecdotes:

Since there wasn't much to see at night, our group enjoyed stargazing and using cool instruments like the Sky Scout, Night vision binoculars and a sonic ear. We also had interesting encounters with lots of cows. Our birding area is part of a cow pasture, and many of the cows wandered to where we were. Many a time, we were excited to hear rustling in the bushes to find out it was a herd of cows.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Rain rain rain snow rain rain rain

Location: Roof of our house

Time At Location: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The menu had more entries than the bird list. Our most entertaining observation: an Osprey that flew around the pond (down the hill) and plummeted into the pond to catch a small oval (sun?)fish. The weather -- not Colorado's usual bright blue October day. Most of the birds sneaked around. If The Big Sit! allowed, like Christmas counts, reports for three days before and after, we would increase the species count by 50% and the individuals by 4000%: on Thursday at least 5000 Sandhill Cranes flew by our house!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Temp: 34-64, Wind SW 0-5, AM Clear, PM Cloudy and drizzle

Location: Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Grefe Tower

Time At Location: 24 hrs!!!

An article written for the Friends of Shiawassee NWR newslatter (Refuge Reporter) by Steve Kahl Shiawassee Refuge participated in its first year of The Big Sit! on October 14, 2007. Bird Watcher’s Digest organizes this global bird count described as "birding's most sedentary event." The object is to find as many bird species as possible during the calendar day from within a 17-foot diameter circle. I was joined throughout the day by refuge volunteers Steve Gasser, Jeff and Quinn Sommer, Bob Grefe, Larry Abraham, Carolyn Szaroletta, and Tom Horbe participated. I planned to spend the entire 24 hour period at the top of the refuge’s Grefe Tower participating in the count. We were shooting for 72 species because the highest Big Sit total in Michigan was 71. Breaking the record would further reinforce the refuge’s stature as one of the best places for birds in the state. We at least hoped to give the Metro Munchers, Washtenaw Wingnuts, Erie Rockers, Chippewa Chirpers, and all the other Michigan teams some competition for state bragging rights. My diary of the memorable day is below. 12AM – The sky was full of stars as the day began. The temperature was a crisp 45° and there was no wind. I sat in the darkness at the top of the tower overlooking thousands of acres of marsh, open water, grassland, forest and cropland. Thousands of Canada geese were honking on our impoundments for the first bird of the day. Only 24 hours to go! 1AM – Six species thus far. I could make out the shapes of several great blue herons as I scanned across our pools. I interpreted the cackling of two ring-necked pheasants as an indication of some sort of roost site squabble. The din of the geese made it difficult to pick out the calls of other waterfowl, but I managed to hear mallards and gadwall. 4AM – Only two species added to the list in the last three hours! I could hear a small flock of northern shovelers close by discussing things. Fortunately, a cooperative pair of eastern screech-owls quickly responded to my whistles. Unfortunately, the weather was poor for songbird migration. I hoped that I would hear the nocturnal flight calls of species like Swainson’s and gray-cheeked thrush. However, the lack of cloud cover and light southwest winds yielded no migration overhead. Still, I soaked in the experience. A single coyote called nearby, which elicited a wild chorus from a pack in the distance. Throughout the night, I could hear three different pairs of great horned owls calling back and forth. A flock of about a dozen Canada geese flew in and landed in the pool in front of me. Where did they come from at this time of night? 7AM – No new species and the temperature had dropped to 34°. Frost began to appear on the tower, but as light started to appear in the sky, bird activity starting picking up. Sandhill cranes started calling – one of my favorite sounds. I heard a vocal group of American wigeon zip past but never saw them. As the sun rose I could see that three bald eagles were perched in trees nearby. Unbeknownst to me they were roosting less than 100 yards away while I stood on the tower. I would have five to ten bald eagles in sight the rest of the day. A flock of shorebirds flew in to a patch of mud near the tower, but veered away at the last second. They never called and I couldn’t see any field marks in the fog and dim light. I think they were pectoral sandpipers, but never got another chance at identifying them. Rats! 9AM – Forty-seven species on the list! I never tire of dawn near the marsh. Flock after flock of Canadas streamed past to feed in nearby fields. Ruby-crowned kinglets and yellow-rumped warblers foraged along the nearby forest edge. A very late sedge wren gave a ragged version of its song from out in the grassland. A few song sparrows picked at seeds and grit on the dike top, but no fancy sparrows in with them. 1PM – Sixty-five species on the list and 72 looks attainable. The sky is clear and the temperature reached 64°. A cooperative indigo bunting flew in and landed next to the tower; another species found beyond its typical departure date. Turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks began rising on thermals along the horizon. 5PM – Only three species added, including a distant Wilson’s snipe that zipped into my field of view as I scanned the marsh. A northern rough-winged swallow revealed itself among a large flock of tree swallows. The sky became overcast and a slow steady drizzle has started. A small flock of American pipits foraged on the mudflat near the tower. 8PM – No new species added. The rain has not yet stopped. Still dusk was beautiful. Six northern harriers came in to roost in the grasslands nearby. I was amazed at seeing thousands upon thousands of ducks leaving the refuge after sunset. It was barely light enough to see them at all. 12AM – The first Shiawassee Refuge Big Sit! is in the books! No new species added since 5PM and the grand total stands at 68. Not enough for a new record, but it is the third highest total found on a Michigan Big Sit! ever. Pretty respectable for the first year! The list of surprise misses for the count was long, including pied-billed grebe, American coot, Cooper's hawk, no falcons, belted kingfisher, northern flicker, and brown-headed cowbird. I heard dark-eyed juncos when I walked down to the restroom, but they never showed around the tower. Larry found a solitary sandpiper around the bend and Bob had turkeys along the road - both out of sight from the tower. There were six brown-headed cowbirds at the headquarters feeder the next morning and I saw a Cooper's hawk when I drove in to work. It was a great day and I am already planning for next year. However, I don't think I'll do 24 hours next year. Maybe 18?

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Heavy rain, high winds, and fog. 50 degrees

Location: Clear Lake, Clear Lake Iowa

Time At Location: nine hours

This years Big Sit was short on birds due to the fact the weather conditions hampered our viewing.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 35-38 F, Winds WNW 5-15 MPH, Overcast, Cloud ceiling 3,500 feet, snow squalls on the Presidential Range.

Location: Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson, NH at the Tudor Richards Viewing Platform.

Time At Location: 0600-1600

We had the Pemi Chapter of NH Audubon visit us in the morning and they spent a few hours looking for birds from the platform. We also had many visitors that we enjoyed meeting and we showed them several of the birds we were watching. The bird of the day was the Rusty Blackbird.

Anecdotes:

Two days after the Big Sit I revisited the site and almost immediately picked up 9 new species that we did not see on Sunday. They included Bohemian Waxwing.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, pleasant weather. AM temp. 41, Max temp. 76

Location: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Oceanville, NJ

Time At Location: 14 hours

Strong morning hours, slowing down in mid-afternoon with a late pick-up. Fantastic sunrise and sunset. Also seen on break, but not within circle were Eastern Phoebe and Wild Turkey. Many folks stopped briefly to review posted results. Last bird of the day was a Bald eagle. First bird was Great horned owl. All involved are already planning for next year. Ed Bristow

Anecdotes:

Our Bald eagle was expected during the day as there good thermals inviting raptors to soar. At 5:55 PM, I announced that the 6:00 PM eagle should be arriving momentarily. However, traffic was backed up as usual, and actual arrival time was 6:30 PM.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Beautiful, sunny and 75 degrees

Location: Fresno California Woodward Park

Time At Location: 6:30am to 5:30pm

We had a great time. Everyone saw at least one lifer. Mine was a Black-throated Gray Warbler. A friends was a Green Heron and a Brown Creeper. Most action happened in the early morning as usual but the Warblers, Bushtits and Kinglets picked up teir activity around lunchtime. There wa a cheater though, he flew over in a Hot Air Balloon trying to get a leg up on us seeing the birds from the sky. All those in the park took notice of our circle and some started to report their bird sightings to us in other parts of the park, we kindly said thank you and invited them on future walks. Again we had a great time, Thank You! Michael Ruffino

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: morning frost, breezy with a mix of sun and clouds

Location: 179 Main Street, Sterling CT

Time At Location: 12 hours

Tied previous Big Sit high of 47 species. Northern Harrier was new for the yard (#154), and new for the Sit (#79).

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: temp H85/L64, wind 30mph, very humid, evening showers

Location: Aransas NWR 'tower'

Time At Location: 7a.m. to 6 p.m.

The 'top of the tower' was a very good choice and participants were able to observe over a great area(bay, marshland, trees, skyline). Due to the consistent breezy condition we were unable to hear any birds underneath the tower. The tide was very high decreasing the shorebird observations. I think our most memorable sighting was the 19 Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring right overhead slowly and hanging like giant kites in the sky.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather:

Location: Tonto National Forest beside Granite Reef Reservoir

Time At Location:

Anecdotes:

All six of us (Herb Fibel, Sit! site leader; Pete Moulton, Cynthia Donald, Adam and Phyllis Martin, and Deb Sparrow) were at the site and up and running, when the predawn hours informed us that this was to be a near perfect day weatherwise. An earlier scouting trip revealed to us that the area was particularly "birdy" this fall, even after what had been a record hot and dry summer.

By daylight we had about 20 species already noted, even though the cattails growing at the water's edge now obscured our view of the upper portion of the reservoir. After a hearty lunch and a nap, no one wanted the added calories of the traditional piece of Baclava. By 2:00 p.m. we had tied our previous record of 61 species (no Turkey Vultures), but we hungered to break the record by at least one and if possible, two, more species sightings. That happenstance came to pass when an Inca Dove was spotted nearby in the mesquite bosque (#62). As we were loading up our stuff in preparation to calling it a day, Herb spotted a Northern Harrier (#63) coming around the side of Red Mountain, being harassed by a handful of Red-winged Blackbirds.

How then did we end up with 67 for the day, you ask? A review of our list that evening revealed that we had neglected to write down four additional species sighted during our Sit!

New species sighted this year were Greater Roadrunner, Prairie Falcon and Savannah Sparrow, bringing our twelve year total up to 124. Seen for only the second time in twelve years were: Peregrine Falcon, Vaux's Swift, White-throated Swift, Gilded Flicker, and Tree Swallow

We were able to raise over $1,300 for Maricopa Audubon Society for its environmental advocacy and conservation education programs.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Frosty morning!!! Later mild, calm and sunny. Even later windy and cloudy.

Location: Segerstads fyr, Island Öland off SE Sweden. Lighthous in lighthouse garden by the Baltic sea.

Time At Location: 06–19

Five White-tailed Eagles! Peregrine chasing Merlin! Pomarine Skua! Grey Wagtail! Parrot Crossbill! And 82 more...

Anecdotes:

See www.segerstadsfyr.se and click on "Stor dagbok". Full info and loads of pic's! In English. Just scroll down from the latest info in Swedish to 14.10 2007. Many rarities! White-tailed Eagle caught a Brent Goose just off the lighthouse! Later the police had to come to get illegal hunters. Sic.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear skies, temperature 52-86 F, winds ESE 0-10 mph

Location: Wheeler NWR near Decatur, Alabama - White Springs Dike

Time At Location: 13 hours, 5:00 am - 6:00 pm

A beautiful, sunny day, though a bit warm in the afternoon. Moderate thrush migration during the early morning hours (before sunrise) with three thrush species recorded by flight calls. Surprised by an American Woodcock's twittering before sunrise. Impressive Blue Jay migration throughout the day with over 250 recorded streaming south. The most memorable events were the intense bird activity before and one hour after sunrise and the flock of 60 American White Pelicans soaring leisurely above the site for over 30 minutes, as they took advantage of the first thermal of the morning. Wetlands adjacent to the site were significantly reduced in size due to the continuing extreme drought. Only five new species recorded after noon.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Temp in the 70's. Skies overcast (80-100% cloud cover). Brief light rain

Location: Sanford FL

Time At Location: Dawn - noon

Although we enjoyed pleasant temperatures during our morning count, the sun did not shine long enough for bugs to become active and attract any of the warblers we know are in the area. It was not a great birding moring, but we sure did enjoy the company, coffee, quiche, and cake.

Anecdotes:

In addition birds, our morning count included: 5- female deer 1- giant swallowtail 1- tiger swallowtail 1- gulf fritillary 2- zebra longwing 1- cloudless sulphur

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Overcast with temperature in upper 70s

Location: Geneva FL

Time At Location: 7:00am - 12:00 pm

In addition to competing with other Big Sit Teams, we were in competition with another Seminole Audubon Society team (Seminole Stilt-porch Sitters). The pressure was crushing. We creamed them with number of individuals (216 to their 81), but they beat us by a feather on the number of species (26 to our 25). We are already planning (the menu) for next year when we are confident the Long Shadow Birder will fly ahead of those porch sitters.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Cold, windy, alternating between overcast and partly sunny

Location: Brownfield Bog (near parking area), Brownfield, ME

Time At Location: 4:45AM - 7:00PM

Some of our big misses included a lack of waterfowl (including a Ring-necked Duck that was there last week!), Northern Harrier, Belted Kingfisher, and any Nuthatch. Our highlight was most likely the Northern Pintail female that winged in with some mallards and black ducks to become species number 31. Lots and lots of Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Two Eastern Phoebes kept us company all day as they hawked insects about 50 feet from us.

Anecdotes:

Three birders undertook a cold, blustery Big Sit in the Brownfield Bog on Sunday. I kicked it off at 4:45AM decked in many layers and a blanket, straining my ears in the dark hoping for a return of the Great Horned Owl I had heard the previous evening while setting up the 17-ft. circle. At 5:10AM, perhaps starting to nod off a bit in my Adirondack chair, I was jolted by a beaver tail-slap not 20 feet from where I was seated. Later I could hear him out in a clump of alder chewing on what I can only imagine was some tasty cambium. At 5:30 the wind that would be a companion most of the day kicked up, making owling a bit more difficult. Finally at 5:53AM the Great Horned Owl began asking me if I also was awake (barely). The call was initially so soft that I had to step out of the circle a little ways to make sure it wasn’t a distant dog. Within a few minutes though, he had moved closer. From then until 9:30, I rarely went 15 minutes without adding another species. By 12:30PM we would have 32 species, by 7PM, 33. I was thankfully accompanied in the circle for most of the daylight hours by Tony Federer and Jeremy Bean. This Big Sit thing is much more fun as a social enterprise. On the mammal front, we had beaver, red squirrel, chipmunk, and gray squirrel. And shortly after dawn a short-tailed weasel ran thorough the circle about two feet in front of my toes. A great event! Next year we may even put a second circle somewhere else in the bog to see how the diversity compares.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear skies, upper 70's, breezy, beautiful!

Location: Tellico Dam Reecreation Area

Time At Location: 6:00

After today, the search for the perfect Big Sit! circle continues...right next to my chosen Big Sit! circle spot, a bass tournament and a 5K race was taking place....Rats! Too bad we were not counting curse words. Nonetheless, we tallied 37 species, the hightlight being witness to the red-breasted nuthatch irruption we have going on here. Thanks to all of by birding friends for stopping by, helping me out, and keeping me company.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, cool 60's to 70's, NW light, no precip

Location: Pea Island NWR, Observation tower at SW corner of North Pond

Time At Location: 6:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Morning low of 50; Mid-day high of 71; Moderate (~5 mph) north wind most of the day; High blue sky, bright sun with few clouds

Location: Alligator River NWR, Manteo, North Carolina

Time At Location: 6:00 AM - 6:45 PM

This Sunday was perhaps the best weather day for birding in eastern North Carolina since early summer. The north-facing observation platform (back of a platform truck) was positioned at the ecotone between a mixed species forest and wildlife-managed fields expanding in the north-west-east directions as far as one could observe with a spotting scope. As expected, the most notable observations were the owls (Great Horned, Barred, and Eastern Screech) and raptors (Northern Harrier, Red-tailed, American Kestrel, Cooper's, Red-shouldered, and Sharped-shinned). Future Big Sits at Alligator River NWR should document more species as the absence of rain this summer (deficit > 14 inches) has left many fields and drainage ditches well below normal water levels. The count of 40 species from a fixed location at Alligator River NWR is consistent with expectations.

Anecdotes:

Perhaps the most notable is the observation of (i) eight black bears, three of which were within 60 feet of the observation platform and (ii) one eastern bobcat.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Temps. 40's and 50's Cldy. and Fog all day. Scattered rain AM, steady light rain until 4 PM Winds were light from the east

Location: Horicon Marsh, Horicon WI Observation Deck located on the southeast corner of the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area.

Time At Location: 4:00 AM to 5:30 PM

Well, bad weather was bound to happen during one of our “Big Sits” and this was the year. What began as a cool, foggy and cloudy morning, turned into a steady rain and fog for most of the day. It was the fog that I believe held our count numbers down, as it made long range viewing impossible and was not conductive to identifying birds in flight even at mid-range distances. Temperatures started in the 40’s and never got out of the 50’s. The few early rising “Old Coots”, (count started at 4 AM) were greeted by the calls of our resident Screech and Great Horned Owls. These were the only two species that were not heard or seen during the daylight hours. With that being known, I heard a few comments from our “sleepy heads” about sleep being more important that birding during the dark. However for those diehard birders it was a fun time and without them, there would have been no owls added to our bird list. The Horicon Marsh Bird Club sponsors our Big Sit and with each passing year, their participation grows. Even with the wet weather we hit an all time high with the number of birders who helped during the day. It was a good thing that they staggered their participation because if they had all been there at one time; we might not have had enough room within the circle, at least not enough for all to look through their binoculars at the same time. Our Bird Club President, Jeff Bahls treated our hungry clan of “Coots” to a warm breakfast right off the cook stove. I think I heard the words, bacon, eggs and pancakes being called out and for an hour or so we had missing birders every now and then who, when they returned, literally had “egg on their face”. With a constant flow of donuts, cookies, coffee and soda, no one went hungry during the count. I know the Big Sit Captain had an easy time reaching his calorie intake for the day. A big thanks goes out to those who provided the food, snacks and drinks. As an added attraction or maybe distraction, our dedicated Green Bay Packer Fans could watch the game with one eye while watching for “new” birds with the other. More than once a shout or groan about the game was misinterpreted and had more than one birder looking in the direction of the TV in hopes of seeing what they hoped was a new bird species for the day. Our Big Sit location was chosen for not only for its advantageous view of Horicon Marsh but also for ease of access, adequate parking and public restrooms. With that said we always get a steady stream of “Non-Old Coots” who are out and about enjoying the Fall Season of great colors and migrating Canada Geese, Sandhill Cranes and the like. Most if not all are amazed when they look at the list of birds that have so far been seen and with that, conversations are started with most. We explain the who, what and why of doing this Big Sit and usually end up giving them directions to the many other local “hot spots” for bird watching. We even have repeat customers so to speak, who know that the Big Sit is taking place and just want to find out what we have seen and how it compares to other years. Many want to tell us what they have seen so far in their day’s travel. We have increased our Bird Club membership by a few families because of this public exposure at the peak the tourist season for Horicon Marsh. Our total of 62 bird species was a little below our average, but it included three new Big Sit birds. Sedge Wren, Chipping Sparrow and Ruby-crowned Kinglet were added to the list, increasing our 5-year total to 95 species. Not bad considering that the Big Sit date is well past our major passerine migration and on the early side of the waterfowl migration. I know the “Old Coots” will be one year older in 2008, but plans have already been talked about and I think I even heard of a faction of birders who might break away to start a new Big Sit count in hopes of unseating us as the Number One count circle (we are the only count) on Horicon Marsh. All I can say is: Do you feel lucky? and if so Go ahead make my day. A great big Thank You goes out to all the “Old Coots” who took time out from their busy schedules to participate in this year’s “Big Sit”.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: beautiful!

Location: Huntington Beach State Park, S.C.

Time At Location: 12 hrs (6 am - 6 pm)

We had beautiful weather all day (unlike last year when it poured rain most of the time) and racked up a total count of 50 species from our circle on the causeway at Huntington Beach State Park. Jack Peachey opened the count at approximately 6:30 in the morning and quickly recorded his first bird - a black crowned night heron followed closely by clapper rails and as the sun came up the first of several bald eagles seen that day. Jack recorded a total of 43 species before I arrived for the afternoon shift at 12:30. During the afternoon most of the same birds were seen again and 7 new species added: culminating with ring-billed gulls at 4:30 PM. No further new birds were seen until we packed in in at about 6 PM.

Anecdotes:

Again this year the most spectacular birds seen were the 70-odd wood storks that spent most of the day roosting in tree nearly above our heads, prompting one person who dropped by to see what we were doing to ask “who is watching who?”

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: The weather was beautiful--clear and sunny-temp 50-65F

Location: my back deck of the house-large wooded backyard with feeders

Time At Location: started at 4:00am-no owls!! off and on until 7:00pm

This was my first time--it was great fun but next time I will get a group together and relocate where there are more species of birds. Count me in for next year.

Anecdotes:

Although my species number was lower than I anticipated, seeing a yellow billed cucko and a hermit thrush was well worth the time spent.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 50s-70s, clear skies, bright day

Location: Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, MD, overlooking field, with woods on one side and ponds in the distance

Time At Location: 7:30am to 2:30pm

We placed this circle within a few hundred yards of the other circle (the “Herons”) at the Patuxent Research Refuge. Ours was in a “birdier” location, but we didn’t have many more species than the Visitor Center circle. Fortunately, we had a number of parents with their kids visit us, sometimes people who were “sent” to us by the participants at the other circle. Many of these visiting kids already knew a lot about birds!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear skies. Cool morning (51); sunny & mid-70s by late afternoon

Location: Tanglewood Park, Clemmons, NC - Wildlife Viewing Platform

Time At Location: 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The severe drought turned our marsh viewing area into more of an overgrown lawn. Considering that several "normal" species were out of the question (Wood Ducks and Red-winged Blackbirds, for example)we had a good number of species.

Anecdotes:

The platform borders a trail that many people use for walking and biking. We had several folks stop and spend quite a while talking about birds and nature in general, including David & Candis who are birders from New York state; and Jamie who later brought his little dog by to meet us. So, it was a nice "outreach" day even if we didn't reach the hoped-for goal of breaking 40 species.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 50s-70s, clear skies, bright day

Location: Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, MD, behind Visitors Center, on patio, overlooking pond, with woods on opposite side

Time At Location: 8:00am to 2:00pm

This “circle” didn’t have the best view, since it was at the edge of the Visitors Center, with part of our view obscured by the building at our back. But the patio had a fine view of feeders and a nearby pond. Being by the Visitor Center also provided access to curious visitors, just passing through. We spoke to as many of these folks as possible. We were within a few hundred yards of the other circle (the “Chickadees”) at the Patuxent Research Refuge, and we had a number of our participants change position. (We also directed visitors to the other circle for a different experience.) Visiting parents came along with their kids, and some of the kids could already ID the birds at a distance! Thanks must be extended to the gracious refuge staff for their help!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 55 deg - 88 deg, clear, sunny, calm slight breeze to 5 mph

Location: Kino Springs, Nogales, AZ

Time At Location: 05:00 am to 17:30 pm

What seemed to start out as a normal, very birdy sit; was interrupted during peak time of day for birding(9am)when two Border Patrol vehicles came up the road fast and with a mission, stopping at the gravel creek wash across the pond from where I sat. Four guys jumped out of the cars and started running down the wash. An added bonus for me, as they kicked up many birds from hiding, I was able to add the Greater Roadrunner, Inca Dove, and Northern Mockingbird to my list. The guys caught one illegal immigrant or drug runner (not sure which) and continued chasing three others about the hillsides. I thought they were coming back in my direction. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of bandits running from guys with AK-47's, so I temporarilly broke down the circle grabbing my scope and headed for my vehicle. About 20 minutes later when the activity ceased, I went back to my circle and resumed the count. For many people who do not live along the Mexican border, this type of event may seem rather exciting and scary. I have lived and birded the Arizona-Mexican border for many years now. It is a reality which the birding community learns to adapt to and be cautious of. A day in the life of an Arizona birder. Just plan ahead and always have an exit strategy.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Weather Conditions were sunny with marginal cloud cover, 51-70 degrees

Location: John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge

Time At Location: The circle was occupied form 5:30am till 9:00pm

Anecdotes:

We listened to the Eagles game while we sat and they won!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Cloudy, Rain, Wind Temp in the 50s

Location: DeSoto Lake Overlook on the Missouri Meander Trail

Time At Location: 6:00 AM 6:30 PM

Weather challenged our observers as it was raining and windy throughout the day. We observed 34 species and overall had a good day despite the weather. This was the first BIG SIT for DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. We will plan on participating in the future.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Cloudy / Mild

Location: Cullman, Alabama

Time At Location: 6.5 HRS

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Most clear and warm. Some clouds in the afternoon. 43 degrees F at dawn. Up to 70F in afternoon

Location: Birding Tower at Indigo Hill, Whipple, OH

Time At Location: 18.5 hours

We tied our all-time high Big Sit count of 65 species. Great day of birding. Low on warblers, as usual. Some surprises, including a calling northern saw-whet owl. Some surprising misses, including osprey, killdeer, chimney swift, eastern phoebe.

Anecdotes:

Good food including pumpkin bread and goat cheese, Texcinnati chili and beef stew, apple pie, apple cake, and the traditional junk foods ending in the letters 'os.' A swamp sparrow was heard chipping but the identity of the chipper was not known until the day after the Sit.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Mild pre-dawn, cooler and foggy in morning, warming and sunny in afternoon, wind picked up in late afternoon

Location: Bayfront Park, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, San Francisco

Time At Location: 5:30 am to 5:30 pm

Best bird of the day was the Vesper Sparrow, that appeared when Jeff and I were alone on the hill. We saw it coming north over the adjacent valley, and were surprised when it landed in a small rock cairn a few yards from us. We presumed it would be a Savannah Sparrow, but as it posed for us, we realized we had something rare. The pictures will attest we had a Vesper Sparrow - only the second ever recorded for this park, and the first in a decade. Only a half dozen or fewer are seen every year in the county. The Golden Eagle was also an excellent county bird. The Lesser Yellowlegs obligingly foraged alongside a Greater Yellowlegs. The Burrowing Owl is a specialty of the park, but they generally only winter here. Rich, who is a major advocate for this park in local birding circles, and I were surprised to here the small rasping call of the Owl just before first light. Rich was unable to locate the bird at a burrow in daylight. One bird that the system would not let us record was the Cackling Goose we saw at the front of a large flock of Canada Geese.

Anecdotes:

We were often joined by Ray, the friendly birding ranger. He brought his signed copy of Roger Tory Peterson's Western guide. A frequent park jogger was worried when she saw us looking over the salt ponds with our scopes: she feared we were from some development corporation! We reassured her that we, too, want this park to remain forever open space! The chair of the Friends of the Park, Chris MacIntosh, also a fine birder, joined us at various times. The group consumed all the snack food, but left the raisins untouched! The goal of having the Big SIT! at this location was to bring greater awareness to birders locally and throughout the state, about the birding wonders of this park. We think this was accomplished admirably. Easy misses included Marbled Godwit and Willet, Brown-headed Cowbird, California Towhee, American Wigeon, and Black-crowned Night-heron.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 40-53F, <10 mph winds, mostly cloudy

Location: Arrowwood NWR near Pingree and Kensal, ND.

Time At Location: 7 am to 7:45 pm

Most activity before 11am. No big surprises, but lots of misses. Most interesting was the Merlin that made an appearance at least 3 times. I did get an opportunity to work on my fall songs and calls.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny T 38-63

Location: West Chester, PA

Time At Location: 0630-1830

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, breezy, 60's

Location: Small lot, near small stand of trees, near shoreline.

Time At Location: 9 hours

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Gorgeous! Beautiful Fall day!

Location: Big Oak Tree State Park, MO

Time At Location: 00:00 to 19:30

Coyotes singing at night! Butterflies observed: Common Checkered-Skipper, Fiery Skipper, Cloudless Sulphur, Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, Pearl Crescent, Question Mark, Mourning Cloak, Red Admiral, Common Buckeye, and Monarch Dragonflies observed: Halloween Pennant (1).

Anecdotes:

Our sit site at Big Oak Tree State Park was chosen to allow views of a small, manmade lake, an oak hickory woodland, and a deep cypress swamp. The site was situated on top of the lake’s levee, near early sucessional trees on the southeastern portion of Big Oak Lake. In this position, the sun remained at our backs for views of the lake, which turned out to be advantageous. The small team was named ‘Mosquito Fodder,’ a rather apt choice considering the thriving mosquito community which surrounded us. Setting up the circle in the dark, just before midnight, promised great listening opportunities. At stroke of midnight, however, all grew quiet. Twenty minutes later, a Great Blue Heron squawk. By 1:40 am, we chalked up two birds: the heron and a sole, distant barred owl. When the birding is that slow, it is hard to stay awake. By sunrise, Chris Barrigar joined the circle. Immediately, the list of birds began to grow. We were treated in the early morning hours to excellent views of 2 Cooper’s Hawks, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and 2 Pileated Woodpeckers interacted among the aging bald cypress trees in the center of Big Oak Lake. Chris digiscoped one of the Cooper’s hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk resting on the same branch! Local birder Bill Brennan arrived for the mid-day lull in birding. Unusual visitors to the park, a group of Black Vultures circled the lake in the early afternoon. The afternoon crew punched in waited for the evening bird activity. By 4 pm, a Merlin came in to hunt over the lake. He perched for several minutes in a cypress tree and patrolled the mudflats. Shortly after sunset, we successfully called in both a Great Horned and an Eastern Screech Owl. All of the resident owls of the park had been heard, and subsequently checked off the list. What next? What bird could possibly arrive that we hadn’t seen yet. Always the chance for a rare sighting of a yellow-crowned night heron, we realized that since they had not been recorded as every occurring at the park, the answer to the question was: “go home.” In the course of 20 hours with 7 participants, lots of cool birds were seen and heard. Next year promises to be even better. We hope to see and sit with you next year!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: cloudy, 60's

Location: Pokagon State Park, northeast Indiana

Time At Location: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

With the help of the Pokagon naturalist staff, we logged the birds seen from the observation window at the Nature Center.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Cloudy, a few showers, cold morning

Location: Birds at Vermont Museum, Huntington, Vermont

Time At Location: 6am - 6pm

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Mostly sunny; 50-60°F

Location: Seltzer Park, Seaside, OR

Time At Location: 6 hours (07:00 to 13:00)

Mammal List: Harbor Seal Harbor Porpoise Racoon Townsend's Chipmunk

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, 50 to 57 degrees F, Wind WNW to NW 0-12 mph, rising through day.

Location: West end of Tubby Cove Boardwalk, Eastern Neck NWR, Rock Hall, Kent County, MD

Time At Location: 6:40 AM to 2:00 PM

Although the weather was beautiful, if a little breezy, a profound lack of songbirds or a serious hawk flight consigned this year's Big Sit at Eastern Neck NWR to mediocrity as we tallied 56 species (the average tally is now 57.5 for six years). It was a pleasant mediocrity nonetheless. Our best bird was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE that spent the early morning with Canada Geese in Calfpasture Cove to our south. It left for the fields at Ingleside at 8:05 AM and was not seen again, although it could have hidden amongst the returning Canadas as the light went against us. We also had two CACKLING GEESE in the flock, a gander and a goose. Other good birds were Wilson's Snipe (a quick flyby), 5 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, 2 Gadwall, 2 American Wigeon, and a very confiding Red-breasted Nuthatch (reflecting the big flight here on the Eastern Shore this fall). Although they are "routine" on our Big Sits it was also a pleasure to have the regular presence through the day of at least 16 Bald Eagles, 4 Northern Harriers (hunting close to the platform), 8 Royal Terns, and 16 Caspian Terns. Thanks to everyone who came by to help count, to Cindy Heffley from the Refuge who helped publicize the event, and to all of the visitors who dropped by to ask what the heck we were up to.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear and slight breeze at 6 am start, but low fog came in at 10:30 am, and in the afternoon it became a higher fog

Location: Elfin Forest,Los Osos, California

Time At Location: 6:00 am - 7:00 pm

We had 111 species by 10:30 am and it seemed that we were well on the way to beating our prior best count of 122 species. And then the fog bank (seen offshore earlier) rolled in. We could no longer see the bay below our overlook. The birds in the coastal scrub at our level were quiet and much less active. The birding ground to a halt. An hour or two went by with no new species. The day had started off beautifully - with a slight offshore breeze and clear skies. The incoming tide pushed the shorebirds by our vantage point, as the morning became light enough to clearly see them in our arsenal of spotting scopes. Rails were calling on the near shore. Thrashers and sparrows were calling around us from the bush lupine and low oaks. Birds road the warming air overhead. A swallow took our binoculared eyes into a mixed flock of swallows and swifts. A Snow Goose lumbered by the quick little swallows and surveyed the bay before heading north to the harbor mouth where an Osprey flapped into view. We were racking up the species, including a Pectoral Sandpiper and Red Knots among the shore birds and ducks in the mudflats and channels of water in the rising tide. A careful scoping of the ducks yielded a rufous morph female Eurasian Wigeon and a Lesser Scaup among the numerous American Wigeon, pintail, and Green-winged Teal. Clouds of synchronized shorebirds and more scattered flocks of ducks gave away the hunting Peregrines. At least 3 took turns terrorizing their potential prey. Despite the name Big Sit we were all on our feet, scopes facing all directions so we would not miss anything from the different habitats. We were even making an effort to find birds we normally shunned, like cowbirds, starlings, House Sparrows, and collared-doves (to add them to our count). A Black-throated Gray Warbler flew low over our heads; a new bird for the count. As quickly as the species appeared around us, they vanished into the gathering mist. After noon the fog did rise off the ground to become a high overcast, but the overhead movement of passerines did not resume and we went hours with no new birds for the day. Fortunately we had the good company of most of the county's best birders along with crackers and couscous, Danish pastries, organic apples, homemade peanut butter cookies and other good food and drink brought by many of the participants. Just as counters were feeling useless, a Golden Eagle soared by in the mid afternoon. Two hours later, a Glaucous-winged Gull stopped briefly to visit the other gulls in the estuary. Next, a Sharp-shinned Hawk blasted by; looking for the same birds we were missing. A Hermit Thrush called later in the afternoon. The counted ended at 115 species; a respectable number for our count, but we had to wonder what total we would have had if the fog had stayed offshore.

Anecdotes:

During one of the dullest stretches of our count, one of the participants exclaimed that we needed an eagle to fly by to liven thing up a bit. As if on cue, a Golden Eagle flew right overhead. Unfortunately, subsequent wishes for Blue-winged Warblers and other rarities were not likewise answered. We had a non-human partner in our count as a coyote was roaming an open field to our east, flushing birds up including a Northern Harrier.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Started out cold, warmed up nicely. Sunny.

Location: Burnt Chimney, VA

Time At Location: All day

Anecdotes:

Everybody wanted to know where all the warblers, tanagers and cuckoos were that we'd been seeing in our yard for the previous two or three weeks! Sure would be nice if this count was done a couple of weeks earlier. Aren't most of the migrants gone from the northern half of the country by now?

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear and chilly (low 40's),winds very light WSW predawn, mid 50's Breezy NWN winds and mostly cloudy with front until noon.

Location: Litchfield, CT at the south end of Little Pond on Sutton's Bridge (crosses over the Bantam River).

Time At Location: 0430 to 1230hrs

Had the four expected owls with a total of 9 species before 6:00AM. Thrushes (many Hermits, 1 Wood and 1 Swainson's) and other night migrants mostly sparrows and a couple of warblers (no cuckoos) began dropping down at 6:20AM. Total by 7:00 jumped to 32sp., 8:00-55sp., 9:00-62sp., 10:00-72sp., 12:30-79sp. Only one evening shift person showed up to hit the 80 mark! Missed G-w Teal, Carolina Wren and a couple of other possibilities. All in all, an awesome day of birding.

Anecdotes:

We were in cell phone contact with the state leaders, Milford Surf Scopers, constantly to see where their totals were. When we called at 9:00, they guessed we were at the mid 40's, we had 62. They were at 73. I was hoping to call them back with the 70 milestone within ten minutes to make them sweat a little. We banged out a bunch right away then couldn't buy a specie for a while. Of course they pulled away and smashed their old record which is also the state record!! Good job. Come to find out, our total was better than half of their previous years' totals.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Very light southwest wind, mostly clear sky, 45 - 60 degrees F

Location: Porch of residence at 909 Bullhead Rd., Sparta, NC

Time At Location: 6.5 hours (6:30 - 1 pm EDT)

Since site looks out on ridge where Mahogany Rock Hawk Count is conducted, some of same birds usually observed on the hawk count are countable for the Big Sit from this location including a Merlin and adult Bald Eagle this year. Because of traveling to a high school reunion, the time for counting on the Big Sit was limited to half a day this year.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Fine fall day as always. Temp. 47-80ºF. Little wind.

Location: Lake Mendocino, near Ukiah, California

Time At Location: 05:45-18:50

When we arrived it was a clear, cool night with Venus and Saturn close in the east and Sirius and Orion reflected in the lake. Before sunrise a high fog bank developed over the lake, but it never engulfed us or restricted the view much. This is the 9th year that we have "sat" here - long enough to see branches grow up to obscure the view and other trees disappear. We have always drawn a beautiful fall day. We got two owl species right off the bat, but after that, the whole day seemed a bit slow birdwise. By sunup we only had 42 species. We ended the day with 71 species - tying our all-time low. The lake level was fairly low - usually this means good conditions for shorebirds and dabbling ducks - but that did not bear our this year. The big miss of the day, inconceivable really, was Western Scrub-Jay! The last new bird of the day was a Northern Pygmy-Owl which spoke up just as I was preparing to leave. Maybe this was the Golden Bird from 2003 or one of its descendants.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: thick fog am, some drizzle about 0.1" of rain, clearing toward sundown

Location: Rapid City, Pennington Co., South Dakota

Time At Location: 6 hours

Early ID difficult due to pea soup fog, no field marks visible. Temperatures ranging from 42-47 all day. Migrants have all gone except 1 juvenile white crowned sparrow.

Anecdotes:

Weather not much fun, but did have 3 varieties of dark eyed juncos...slate colored, Oregon and white winged variety indigenous to Black Hills of South Dakota. They are daily feeder visitors all winter, glad to see them back. Hoping for sandhill cranes to pass over, but they preferred to be elsewhere. Caroline Stafford

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, no clouds, 6 -> 16 degrees Celcius

Location: Zuidplaatje, the Dordtse Biesbosch, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Time At Location: 00:00 till 19:30

Total of 8517 migrating birds. Good numbers of Chaffinch, Skylark and Blue tit. Rarities as Cettis Warbler, Common Crane, Red Kite and Yellow-browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel and a late Common tern. A great day!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Temp: 35 - 65, Mostly sunny , light wind. Beautiful day.

Location: Boardwalk at Shavers Creek Env. Center

Time At Location: 12 hours

The (first annual??) Shaver's Creek Big Sit was conducted Sunday October 14. Weather was excellent - temps started in the 30s but rose to the 60s. Mostly blue sky. Occasional light wind. The count was conducted from the boardwalk at the upper (north) end of Lake Perez. Our participants in order of appearance: Doug Wentzel, Jon Kauffman, Greg Grove, Deb Grove, Ron Crandall, Chad Kauffman. Total time was approximately 12 hours including some post mid-night owling by Doug. Day-time period was approx 700-600 DST. Species total - a very respectable 42 species (all but one tallied by 100 in the afternoon). Species highlights - Saw-whet owls (calling), Rusty Blackbird, Red-shouldered Hawk (calling)

Anecdotes:

Non-birding highlight: A squirrel swimming across the lake, about 30 yards

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear in the AM, cloudy and windy in the PM

Location: Overlook at the former Great Blue Heron Rockery

Time At Location: 19 hours; midnight -7pm

About 100 people either participated or visited the site. The highlight was a curious juvenile Bald Eagle, one of 3 we saw, that flew very low(20 feet or less) over all the birders to great excitement. There were raptors flying at all times but the site was not as good for songbirds or warblers. A great time was had by all.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: clear, with stiff breeze at times, mid-40s

Location: our backyard, Spring Milld, PA

Time At Location: 2hrs

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Mostly overcast, Cold in AM, No rain, High 62, Low 37

Location: Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio. In front of the Baily Bicentennial Barn, across from the Malabar Inn Restaurant.

Time At Location: 00:00 till 18:43 first bird heard at 00:55, last bird seen at 17:25.

It was clear and cold most of the night, overcast and cold in the AM, overcast with a little sun in the PM and a little warmer. Only had 46 species, with 17 participants. Think everyone had a good time, this was our third year at this same location, with 47, 51, and 46 species seen. Hope to be at the same location next year.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Blue skies with few clouds, Temps 11C-15C, W-NW winds

Location: Stone Mountain Hawkwatch platform, Huntingdon/Mifflin Counties

Time At Location: 9AM-5PM

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Warm with clouds early then sun, little wind

Location: North end of lake at Buck Creek State Park

Time At Location: 6:40 AM to 7:10 PM

We had a great look at a Merlin sitting in a dead tree. We also got a good look at a Virginia Rail that came out of the cattails.

Anecdotes:

It was a really pleasant day. It was warm and sunny much of the day.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly cloudy, strong south wind

Location: Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, San Antonio, Texas

Time At Location: 7:00-18:00

We arrived at dawn to an incredible spectacle of thousands of herons, egrets and pelicans. Mitchell Lake normally has good shorebird habitat, but this year the water is very high due to good summer rains. Despite the lack of habitat we were able to log 14 species of shorebirds, including a fly over Long-billed Curlew. Winds were from the south and fierce, keeping passerines to a minimum. We had hoped for a good passage of raptors, but were rather disappointed. We did have a good selection of species, but very few individuals. Large numbers of swallows passed by all day.

Anecdotes:

A couple of the funnier moments involved birds that were blocked by shrubs or the pump structure by our circle. A far off Roseate Spoonbill could be seen across the lake from just outside the circle. We got a step ladder and Martin stood on top of it while I held up his scope. He got the bird! Then Dodge pulled his SUV into the circle and climbed up on top to try to view a distant Belted Kingfisher. Unfortunately the bird flew while he was climbing up. Luckily it did a fly by later in the day.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny; low: 46 high: 78

Location: Table Rock State Park, Pickens County, SC

Time At Location: 2 hours, 15 minutes: (between 6:20am and approximately 1:35pm)

The highlight bird was the red-breasted nuthatch which are not often seen here during the fall. This year has a good number of them in the area. No downy woodpecker was a surprise.

Anecdotes:

The total of 34 species is the second highest count for a Big Sit at this location. The highest count was 38 in 2004. This year 22 species were counted before 8am and 32 by 9:20am. Turkey and Black vultures were added after 1pm when more thermals were present.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly cloudy and moderate wind. High of 84; low of 53.

Location: Red Slough WMA near Haworth, McCurtain County, Oklahoma

Time At Location: Midnight to 7 p.m.

Our location was a wildlife observation platform (tower) located next to a reservoir that contained a large heron rookery/roost. We also had shallow wetlands, bottomland hardwoods, and shrub/scrub habitats around us. Three of our team slept on the platform and got a start at midnight and logging 3 owl species by daybreak. At daybreak we had rails calling in the marsh and numerous species of waders leaving the rookery/roost. We had a bit of a hawk migration going on but passerines were scarce. We logged 60 species by 10:15 a.m. Then the wind picked up and it was extremely slow birding until around 6 p.m. when things started to come alive again. We watched the waders come back to the roost and as we were packing up to leave the platform a King Rail started calling. A great end to a great day!

Anecdotes:

We observed nine species of dragonflies from the count circle. Also saw or heard the following herps: Red-eared Slider, Spiny Softshell, Yellow-bellied Watersnake, Broad-banded Watersnake, Southern Leopard Frog, and Bullfrog.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Steady mix of sun and clouds, strong south wind all day with occasional lulls, pleasant temps from mid 60's to mid 80's.

Location: Village Creek Drying Beds, Arlington, TX

Time At Location: 4:30am to 7:10pm

It was a very birdy day in the marsh. Bird activity remained high all day. 9 duck species, 9 raptor species, and 11 shorebirds. Multiple looks at Soras. Lots of quality birds; A Merlin, two Ospreys, multiple harriers, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, American Bittern and so forth. The highlight was definitely a Virginia Rail that seemed to reappear everytime somebody new stopped by and wanted to see the bird. The "roosting" show at dusk was nothing short of amazing. Thousands of birds everywhere. Had two Great Horned Owls (not counted) by vehicle as we were leaving the facility shortly after dusk.

Anecdotes:

This was our first "official" Big Sit! by members of Fort Worth Audubon. We took a chance by positioning ourselves in the middle of the marsh, quite far from anything that could be considered a tree, but we had several sharp-eyed snipers who managed to pick off distant perched passerines throughout the day including 4 woodpecker species. The strong wind surely hurt us for sparrows and small marshy passerines. But herons, ibis, ducks, shorebirds and other water birds were abundant throughout the day. This was so much fun it was sick, it was supposed to be a big sit, but many of us stood for most of the day. Since the circle captain is from Philadelphia, we made hoagies out in the marsh. I told some birders that if they came back next year, we'd find a way to make cheesesteaks in the circle.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, temps in the 70's to 80's, calm

Location: C. Bickham Dickson Park, Shreveport, LA

Time At Location: 13 hours

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, West/NorthWest Wind 47 - 65 degrees

Location: Lenoir Preserve

Time At Location: 6:50 - 3:30

Merlin eating on wing and a Kestrel hunting grasshoppers in the field in front of us.

Anecdotes:

Surprise birds were fly by Snow Buntings and an American Pipit. We missed other birds that were right in the area including Common Yellow-throat, Northern Parula, Carolina Wren, Swamp Sparrow. We did not see or hear a White-throated Sparrow anywhere.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Rainy, cool

Location: Sheboygan, WI

Time At Location: 11 hours - 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

The 17-Foot School Joseph E. Devereaux, Enderis Park Bird Watching Club What could be more fun than watching birds for 11 hours? The answer is; standing on slick treated wood boardwalk, in a rainy, cold and windy marsh for 11 hours, watching (for) birds. I began my vigil in the pre-dawn light at the Black River Marsh located in Terry Kohler-Andrae State Park, Sheboygan, WI. As a part of a world-wide (13th annual) “Big Sit” event, (joint sponsored by Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine and New Haven (CT) Bird Club), the Enderis Park Bird Watching Club drew its 17 foot circle and sat down for the day. I drove 55 miles up highway 43 north from Milwaukee, WI in my 1999 white Dodge Dakota loaded with what I figured to be “the essentials” to last the entire day. I had packed the small gas grill for the noon picnic lunch, the cushions from our old lawn furniture to provide creature comforts while sitting on the boardwalk, camcorder, digital camera, tripod, small step ladder to look over the tall cattails at the Black River beyond, clipboard loaded with the names of the birds I was “likely” to see at the Park, large fiberglass tarp, field guides, binoculars, jar of Cajun-mix peanuts and a thermos full of coffee. The way the weather ultimately treated me (and the small contingent of loyal EPBWC members that visited that day) I was eternally grateful (and lucky) to have the hot coffee my wife prepared and the jar of Cajun-mix as my only sustenance for the long day of monitoring. The moment I dragged the first load of essential equipment from the truck to the end of the walk at 6:50 AM, I startled a Great Blue Heron and around 10 Mallards from the surface of the river. Fantastic! I thought what a good start to the list. I quietly set down my supplies and took a breather. The raucous rattle sound of Sandhill Cranes rose above the water and through the cattails accompanied by the duet “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?” of a pair of Barred Owls. “Better and better by the minute”, I remarked to no one. I picked up the clipboard and recorded the time for the 4 species and began setting up for the day. I snapped a quick timer-assisted digital photo of myself in our “circle” and recorded a snippet of video in which I outlined the purpose of the day’s Big Sit. By the time I had unscrewed the cap on the old aluminum thermos bottle for a sip of java, a stealthy little Marsh Wren began to wiggle and climb through the reeds at the end of the boardwalk. It was much too close for my 12X50 Bushnells so I just watched it (bare-eyed) enjoying its movements and occasional chitterings as it performed its early morning routine. The wind was non-existent and the air was cool but dry at 7:00 AM, so I unbagged and set up my canvas (soccer mom) lounge chair at the far reaches of the 17 foot circle just in case I needed a rest. The constant roar of the waves breaking on the shore of this section of Lake Michigan was audible as a white noise above the tall trees to the east. Red-winged Blackbirds by the score were tuning up for the morning with repeated calls of “konklaree!” along with a variety of whistles and popping noises. They seemed to all take off at once from their beds of cattails, taking to the air in large groups, flying southwest toward the woods beyond the marsh. By 7:20 AM they were mostly gone. The next spectacular sight were the hundreds of Ring-billed and Herring gulls that came from the shores of Lake Michigan to the east, flying high overhead, also to the southwest. The gray backdrop of clouds and early morning light filtering through it provided a nice contrast to the gulls as they silently winged away from the big lake to points unknown. Up to this point in my birding-life I had not participated in a similar event. Sure I had done the CBC (Christmas Bird Count) and participated in feeder-watch activities, but had yet to take on an entire day in one small spot. I had no way of knowing what the day would present, or what discoveries would be made. I was just “here” and glad to be so. Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, and American Crows would present themselves within range of my binoculars, singing (and croaking) their signature phrases. A Belted Kingfisher circled the marsh, clattering and clattering before settling down on a far-off standing deadfall that overlooked the river. Before the day was over I saw the kingfisher 3 separate times perform the same routine, several hours apart. Through my binoculars I could see its large beak and fluffy head in profile as it scanned the surface of the water for a meal. At 8:45 AM I climbed a few steps on the ladder to scan the river to the north. As I was looking along the west edge created by cattails I was treated to a small and secretive Sora quietly sneaking in and out of the reeds in search of a snack. What a treat to see! Song and Vesper Sparrows were singing and chirping in the marsh within binocular reach of my 17 foot world, as well as swift-flying Mourning Doves. Who knew that Downy and Hairy woodpeckers could be so noisy? When the rain began to fall steadily at 11:30 AM a Downy landed sideways grasping on a cattail next to the boardwalk. The slick shaft of the reed caused the woodpecker to slide down, down, down as I watched, like a kid climbing a greased pole. Four Brown-headed Cowbirds sat in a tree to the west, making a squeaking, squealing sound amongst themselves before flying off. Of course the rain had to intensify around noon, just prior to my first official visitor of the day. Tammy Bokern, EPBWC’s secretary walked up the soggy boardwalk with her supplies in tow and a smile on her face. By that time I covered the one small wooden bench on the walk with the tarp I had brought. I had shoved all my gear under it and offered the remaining space to her. We quickly decided to stow almost all of it back in her vehicle, as it could not possible all fit under the bench and stay dry. She presented me with a gift-beer bottle from her husband Bill’s freshly made supply. I put the beer in a special place of honor for later and apologized for the second time for the weather. I also explained that aside from a White-breasted nuthatch around 11:45 AM it was fairly quiet in the circle. She told me to think nothing of it as she was simply glad to be out here. I accepted her statement and offered to take her on a birding “tour” of the parking lot. I had seen several interesting birds as I walked back and forth from my vehicle to the circle, so I was sure they were still around. The Big Sit rules state that only birds viewed from the actual 17-foot circle can be counted in the day’s species count. With the rain, and foggy lenses I was dealing with I could not make out anything to the east of the boardwalk near the lot, but I still wanted to get a gook look at what was buzzing around. By the end of our “detour” walk, Tammy had picked up five new life-birds; Brown Creeper, White-crowned Sparrow, Swainson’s thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Song Sparrow. Too bad we could not count those birds. We also saw American Robins, from the lot, but could not see them from the circle. I turned on the Green Bay Packer game on a small battery-powered radio around 12:30 PM to see what I was missing. The Packers were in Green Bay playing the Washington Redskins, so I knew that the weather was not much better there than the 50 or so miles south, where I was located. I was right, as the score was 14-7 Washington. I turned it off almost immediately and went back on alert. Tammy was a good sport listening, watching, and wiping the rain from her binoculars and nose until around 2:30 PM when the next visitors arrived. Julie Ristow, Julie’s aunt, son Clayton and member Frank Dolence drove up to the lot as I was walking Tammy to her car. After an abbreviated greeting and parting, Tammy was on her way back to Wauwatosa with the heat on high, and 5 new birds to her credit. Julie and her group toured the imaginary circle and stood talking about (guess what) birds, for about a 45 minutes before they had to be on their way. I thanked them for their rain-shortened visitation efforts and walked them back to their vehicle. I was determined to stay (al least) until the sun (ha, what sun?) set for the day, so I slogged my way back down the boardwalk in my rubber pants for the grand finale. The temperature had dropped to the point of seeing my breath. I turned on the radio again in time to catch the last 10 minutes of the Packers-Redskins. Some how Green Bay pulled off a victory (17-14) with great defense so I celebrated by popping the top on Bill’s beer. The count was sitting at 24 and the daylight was waning. Suddenly, a small bird landed a few feet away. A tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitted around the boardwalk “circle” for about a minute. Yes, 25! The rain teased me with a few periods of cessation. I took the raincoat off, dried the binoculars off and took another mouthful of peanuts and a swig of coffee before it started up again. The Blue Jays kept me company in the tops of the trees in the western woods until I began to notice something flying erratically on the far bank of the river. It would zip into the cattails, zoom down to the lily pads on the surface of the river, and then repeat the cycle. I quickly dried the lenses of my binoculars enough to see what it was; a Yellow-rumped Warbler (or “butter-butt”) as my birding friends had taught me. The little bird actually landed for seconds at a time directly on the lily pads before silently flying off to another spot searching for insects. This one was an “Audubon’s” variety, as it had a bright yellow throat and on the top of its head, a bright yellow spot, to add to the yellow that is exposed on its lower back between its wings (or “butt”). This diminutive and colorful flyer spent about a half-hour in my view. I enjoyed watching its antics, which were serious eating techniques in its bird world. That treat made my count (which would turn out to be final) 26 species for the day. One more special thing occurred before I packed it up for the day. At around 5:10 PM I began to see flocks of birds approaching from the southwest. I trained the binoculars on one suck flock to see that it was full of Red-winged Blackbirds. I stood there in awe as sortie after sortie of between 5 and 40 birds returned, flying overhead and landing in the cattails of the marsh. One such group came so close to me on its rendezvous with the marsh that I heard the whoooosh of their 20-30 pairs of wings past my head. By the hundreds they came. Each group had a specific area of the marsh that must be home to it as they scattered in every corner of my view. The songs and chattering, whistles and calls began again as before and the sound grew to rival that of the pounding Lake Michigan surf. Just when I was feeling privileged and blessed, I heard the familiar sound once again of the Sandhill Cranes. It seemed as though the whole day had slowly reversed itself and all was as it should be. I had been to school for the day, and now it was time to go home.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, approx. 42F at 0430 to 75F at 1130

Location: Turkey Point, Cecil County, Maryland

Time At Location: 0430-1130

Anecdotes:

Greetings, As most of you know, yesterday was Birdwatcher’s Digest’s international BIG SIT! We, The Turkey Pointers, began our SIT at Turkey Point; Elk Neck State Park, Cecil County at around 0430. We stayed until 1130. Our early departure was the result of very few birds being around. There was little to no evident flight of passerines; particularly neotropics. We only had five warblers (listed below) and we totally missed all flycatchers and vireos! However, we did score some nice “boreal” species including 20 or so Purple Finches, 10+ Pine Siskin, and our best bird of the day, which came around 0600; Northern Saw-whet Owl! Other notables included Great Egret, Snow Goose, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Hermit Thrush (our only catharus), Red-headed Woodpecker, Merlin, Scarlet Tanager, Rusty Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Baltimore Oriole, and Common Loon. The latter was heard “singing” numerous times from out on the bay pre-dawn. Notable misses were: Phoebe, BH Vireo (here the day before), most warblers, Song Sparrow, Chimney Swift, and Red-tailed Hawk. Also we only had TWO Cardinals (heard only). Despite my seemingly dim notation previously, we had a rather nice morning with beautiful weather, a gorgeous sunrise, and a spectacular view of the cosmos; which included views of Saturn and Venus forming a triangle with Leo’s Regulus, meteors, Orion’s Blue Nebula, fly-by satellites, the Milky Way, and many constellations, all while being serenaded by at least 5 owls of 3 different species! Yes, we probably could have ticked a few more birds if we’d stayed longer but we were happy with the 77 species we attained. I have placed a few photos on my “flckr” photo album. If you would like to view them just follow this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9382390@N05/ Thanks go out to the following participants: Sean McCandless, Tom Raub, Pat Valdata, Harold Fogleman, and Parke John. Below is a complete list of the birds we saw or heard from our circle. If anyone would like numbers contact me directly, I will happily supply that information: Turkey Point, Cecil County, MDBIG SITOctober 14, 2007 0430-1130

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly cloudy, temps in the 60's and 70's

Location: Harvey's Knob Hawkwatch Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia milepost 95.5

Time At Location: 5:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Once again we conducted the Big Sit while also conducting the hawk watch. Spotting both species of eagles was a nice addition, as well as two species of owls. The Great Horned Owl was calling before daylight and the Barred Owl started hooting midafternoon.

Anecdotes:

At the overlook where we conduct the Big Sit we're at 2,424 ft. We have a great view of the Roanoke Valley below. I jokingly said that if we scanned the fields below we might spot turkeys. Well, it wasn't long until Tad was scoping the fields when suddenly he started laughing. He had spotted a flock of 14 Wild Turkeys hiking across a field in single file.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly cloudy, highs in the upper 60s.

Location: Provo Airport Dike - Utah Lake, Utah County, Utah

Time At Location: 6:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 12 hours

This was our 6th annual Big Sit. We had a record number of participants this year, a record amount of time spent at the circle and we had a record number of species seen. We ended the day with a total of 58 species. 3 more than our previous record. There were two probables we weren't confident enough to count, several species seen during the week leading up to the sit that we couldn't find on the day of, and a few misses including Ring-necked Pheasant which we have never missed on a big sit. 60 species is definitely possible and will be our goal next year. Most interesting sightings included a Barn Owl hunting very near our circle in morning (6:30 a.m.) and that flew by again in the evening (7:30). Hundreds of Long-billed Dowitchers spent the day on the mudflat. We had a Sora and Virginia Rail walking out along the front of the marsh. A Merlin hung out in the trees at the other end of the mudflat much of the morning. 3 Steller's Jays in some small trees way out in the middle of the marsh (far from their normal habitat). We had a good movement of raptors in the early afternoon with at least 15 Red-tailed Hawks making their way south. Two Cattle Egret flew by in the evening. Two or three Semipalmated Plovers way out on the far end of the mudflat. A large flock of Sandhill Cranes (hundreds) flew into the marshes out on the other side of Provo Bay at dusk (we also had 3 soaring with the raptors in the early afternoon). Plus lots of other birds. No rarities.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Overcast, temp in 40s, calm

Location: MN, Ely, Lakeshore

Time At Location: 9 hours - 6am to 3pm

Started the day with a red-necked grebe and ended the day with a red-necked grebe. Only gray jay seen was one that fellow off the grill of a truck at the boat access.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear

Location: Nature Park,SIndhrot,Dist:Vadodara,Gujarat,India

Time At Location: 12hrs.6:00AM to 6:00PM Local IST

We start our watching at Pond site of Nature park with woodpecker's voice and sighting followed by River turn Fly by over our head. Not any Specific or New bird record during day.all the bird we record can normally seen here at nature park. Only surprise is few common bird or resident bird were not seen during day like Black Drongo,and common myna,we are surprise with that don't know reason for not sighting the birds. Overall Good birding Day!!

Anecdotes:

This is our 3rd Bigsit and We record our highest no. of all 3 times this year, However We can DO up to 50 to 55 species at this place.Hope can achieve those figure next year.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 58-80 degrees F, windy (10-25 MPH), cloud cover = 70%

Location: Oklahoma, Town: Tishomingo, Habitat: wetlands, lake, riparian woods, ag fields

Time At Location: 9 hours and 10 minutes

Conservation Organization: Tishomingo Refuge Ecology and Education Society (TREES) – friends group of the Tishomingo NWR. Highlight was a Peregrine Falcon flying by after catching a peep.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: overcast and windy

Location: Bandon Marsh Wildlife Refuge

Time At Location: 9 hours

extreme high tide precluded our seeing numerous shore birds as we have in the past. high cold winds also seemed to reduce the number of birds we have seen before. conspicuously absent were raptors, especially a golden eagle we have seen every year at the big sit.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 7:30 a.m: 44 degrees, foggy, calm; Noon: sunny, 60 degrees

Location: Williamstown, WV, habitat: early old field

Time At Location: 7:30 a.m. through 6:15 p.m.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Horribly windy, 60's

Location: Sandy Hook, NJ

Time At Location: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Wind was extremely hard and blowing in our faces so we did the sit from the inside of the center which conveniently fit inside the 17' circle. Check http://hawkowl.blogspot.com for full results with pictures.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: perfect--48° to 74° no wind--clear and sunny all day

Location: front deck--7352 Toogoodoo rd, Yonges Island, SC

Time At Location: 8:00 am till 6:00 pm with a break in mid afternoon

The best thing was seeing red-breasted nuthatches for the first time ever in my yard--bringing my yard list to 170. Rose-breasted grosbeaks were a nice surprise. As was little blue heron, which is not common on my creek. I was disappointed not to see any sparrows or swallows.

Anecdotes:

Since I was all by myself there were any funny happenings.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 35 Degrees at sunrise, close to 55 by mid-afternoon, fog until 9am, then clear all day, winds calm

Location: Independence Lake, Washtenaw County, Michigan

Time At Location: 5:15am to 3:50pm

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy, light wind

Location: Cemetery of Sisters of Charity Motherhouse Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio

Time At Location: 8 a.m to 8:30 p.m.

We had a beautiful day. Very large flocks of Grackles and other black birds surrounded our watch area throughout the day. The surprise bird to end our count was one late Chimney Swift. Early morning and late evening provided hundreds of American Robins.

Anecdotes:

This was the first sit on the cemetery grounds and it was great having a number of people stop by as they were out walking and wondering what we were doing on the top of the hill. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed meeting many wonderful people. Thanks for the opportunity.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear; 68 - 80 degrees; light breeze in PM

Location: Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge, Dover, TN

Time At Location: 12 midnight - 8 PM

Our count was set up around the refuge visitor center where we have established a Visitor Center Feeder Station; Cross Creeks NWR being one of only five refuges in the FWS's Southeast Region selected for a pilot project to help educate the public about backyard bird feeding. During the day, observations could be made of lots of feeder birds flying to and fro the feeders and fountains from trees and woods around the refuge headquarters.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, 50-78F, Breezy from late morning till dark

Location: Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge 32.60648N 092.04541W

Time At Location: 7:00am to 7:00pm

Good day with great weather. It was a nice way to wind down National Wildlife Refuge week. As expected, we got most of our birds by 10:00am. The wind picked up shortly after ten and as a result we had to 'work' much harder for new species the rest of the day. The BirdNerds would like to thank the Friends of Black Bayou and the Northeast Louisiana Bird Club for their help and support. It was great to have such good company in the circle!

Anecdotes:

Did not see a great blue heron until after 6:00PM.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Comments:

Weather: Dense fog

Location: Olympia, Wa

Time At Location: 5:15 AM to 5:30 PM

Here are the results from Team Trout, (Ralph Arnold at 2732 Fishtrap Road NE, Olympia, Wa 98506). Our team consisted of Ralph, Colefield (my grandson extraordinaire) and Bobo, my best friend. We began at 5.15am in heavy, dense fog. We could hear lots of birds on Puget Sound, but could only make out a few (great blue Heron, Kingfisher, Western Grebes, etc). The fog didn't lift until 2pm. Meanwhile, we had some surprises in the yard and feeder, plus a couple of life birds. Throughout the day our superb kitchen crew, one wonderful Jojo, supplied us with hotcakes, sausage, eggs, hot coffee and a delightful lunch and snacks. All in all, it was a great day. though we would have paid handsomely just to see one Mallard. We called it quits as the fog rolled in again at about 5.30pm.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: AM, Clear, Sunny, calm, cool. PM,Changing to Cloudy, Breezy. light showers

Location: Home,

Time At Location: Morning to dark. Break for lunch

PM, Some sort of front moved in and brought many birds!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny fall day 53 degrees F/11 C becoming overcast w/ rain at 3:00 PM

Location: South Melville, Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Time At Location: 8:00 AM until 3 PM

This was a fine fall day. Unfortunately, a good part of our migration has passed through over the past three weeks with many of the warblers and sparrows being more numerous before the Sit. There were still a few to be seen and some still local but not seen from the circle. Also, some of the usual suspects - eg. Boreal Chickadees and Woodpeckers, just didn't want to participate!

Anecdotes:

An amusing incident occured when we re-located to the kitchen for lunch and left our circle abandoned temporarily. We looked out to see the Goldfinches giving our scopes and chairs a thorough inspection - perhaps to assure that we were properly equiped!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly Cloudy, some sprinkles & lightning, low 50s to mid-70s

Location: Burr Oak Woods, Near Fishing Pond

Time At Location: 22 hours

Location was chosen for proximity to a small pond, forest edge and field edge. Most birds were seen in the morning hours, with Belted kingfisher and Spotted sandpiper making an appearance in the afternoon. No migrating flocks were observed overnight, partly due to the presence of lightning. Only a pair of Great horned owls hooting at each other and at members of the team were seen overnight.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 41-56 deg., winds 7-13 mph w to nw, clear to partly cloudy skies

Location: Maine Audubon's Gilsland Farm Sanctuary North Meadow on the Presumpscot River

Time At Location: 4:00 am - 6:30 pm

Linda Woodard & I were joined by 14 observers over the course of the day in trying to see or hear as many species of birds as we could from our 17 foot circle. Our final count for the day was 52. There were several song birds flying over without calling or seen in the distance & shorebirds that stayed on the other side of the river never to be identified. There was a goose that might have been a cackling but uncertainty precluded its listing. There were the birds seen on other parts of the sanctuary that we missed. Where were the resident turkeys? Maybe next year we'll add these to the list. On the bright side, we could have done a workshop on sparrow identification. We saw 7 species including a late Nelson's Sharp-tailed found by Naomi. At one point there were 45 sparrows of six species, both adult & juv., counted on the path leading to our circle. We also saw 9 species of raptors, including an American Kestral that hung over the field for quite a long time looking for dinner & a Peregrine Falcon that I missed when I went to the car. Then, of course, there was the grazing. The homemade apple cake, fresh, warm donut holes from Duckfat's, how come the french fries didn't get there?, pizza, cheese & crackers, bagels & cream cheese & coffee, hot chocolate & apple cider.

Anecdotes:

This was our first Big Sit & we are looking forward to others. There was talk of having a second circle next year on the other side of the sanctuary where it is more wooded. It'll be interesting to see how the two compare.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny and warm

Location: Alazan Wildlife Management Area

Time At Location: 7:00 - 10:30, 3:30 - 5:00

Birding activity slowed to nothing as the day warmed up. No great numbers of migrants. A small flock of Pine Warblers plus a few Yellow-rumped Warblers showed up.

Anecdotes:

Home-made banana nut bread was a hit with participants.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 64 to 82 degrees; Sunny and Beautiful all day

Location: City of Phoenix Rio Salado Restoration Project, Phoenix, AZ

Time At Location: 0540-1445 hours; (9 hours)

A pair of muscrats was enjoying the wetland as was an earred-grebe among other usual birds, turtles, dragonflies, butterflies, and lizards. Tom, Frank, and Jamers even had time to lead and join a birdwalk in between their times of being in and helping with the Big Sit Circle. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Our second spring in Arizona! No snow here!

Anecdotes:

Tom Gaskill says he should just bring chairs and have Big Sits every month. We got more species by just staying in the one place than we do when we hike! It was great!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Comments:

Weather: cOLD EARLY BUT TURNING SUNNY AND MILD IN THE LOW 70'S

Location: Dike at Little Seneca Reservoir

Time At Location: 6am-3PM

bIG mISSES INCLUDE mOURNING dOVE, hOUSE fINCH AND BOTH cHIMNEY sWIFT AND oSPREY WHICH WE USUALLY GET.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny day, little or no wind, high 81 degrees

Location: Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Cottonwood, AZ. Ecotone between open fields and first lagoon

Time At Location: 12 hours: 7am - 7pm

Anecdotes:

The weather and the company was wonderful. He failed to see many of our common species, which had us all baffled, but we got birds that we hadn’t seen in the past. Saw the Cooper’s hawk chase the female belted kingfisher after she caught a small fish. She sure made a ruckus.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Dry but thick mist early in the day

Location: Cliffe RSPB Reserve, Kent, UK

Time At Location: 5.50am - 6pm

I'll try and attach my report to an email. Meanwhile it can be seen, with a few photos, on the Kent Ornithological Website: www.kentos.org.uk Click What's New and there is a link to the story of the day, dated 16th October, I believe. (Webmaster's comment: click here for a direct link to Don Taylor's excellent report.)

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny and calm becoming light overcast with slight breeze.

Location: Deception Pass at West Beach Parking Lot

Time At Location: 8:00am to 12:45pm

Lots of birds early on, saltwater almost birdless by noon. Ancient Murrelets were nice to see.

Anecdotes:

Much missed was Jim Flynn, initiator of this circle! Until next year...

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, light breeze,, 45-68 deg. F

Location: yard

Time At Location: 8:00am to 6:00pm - sporadic

RB Nuthatch first show for the season, and it was a regular visitor to the seed feeder - it also was stowing seed so I hope to have it around for the Winter. It has been a while since we have had a visitation. House Wren was a total surprise. The pair of Red-tailed Hawks vocalizing was a real treat - maybe they will also be Winter residents. I thought I had heard a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but then heard a Blue Jay and thought NO, so its appearance was really welcome.

Anecdotes:

I had some really good times today - One was the Sapsucker being confirmed, another was knowing that there is a Song Sparrow down at the neighbor's field, but it rarely comes to my yard, and then I heard it from my yard so I got to count it. Hearing a RT Hawk after seeing it and thinking there must be another one around and having that confirmed - makes one feel good. And the weather was pleasant. A really, really good day! I did not get many species, but I had FUN!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, partly cloudy

Location: East Rock Park, footbridge over Mill River

Time At Location: 8 hours

Highlight was watching 2 Common Ravens performing aerial acrobatics.

Anecdotes:

Record number of species, thanks to the good weather and breezy conditions which had the raptors flying.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 28-38 degrees, lt rain and snow

Location: house feeders

Time At Location: 9-11am and 3-5pm

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, 100% sun, wind 0-5mph

Location: Lunacurrie, Musella, GA

Time At Location: 2 hours

Compared to normal years there was very little bird activity either in flight or song. Of course we were not at our site during optimal birding hours and we are experiencing a severe drought which translates to very little food for the birds.

Anecdotes:

We were hampered this year by the fact that my wife (1/2 the team) was heavily medicated as she was recovering from major surgery. We had to strike off all Trogans, Bulbuls, Flamingoes and Parrotts as she was the only one to see or hear them!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: rainy

Location: kent city , MI

Time At Location: 2 p.m Eastern

It was raining and mid-40s all afternoon.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear

Location: Grassy meadow and hillside behind housing area, Talbott, TN

Time At Location: 12 hours

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Nice, west winds, no clouds.

Location: CMBO Hawkwatch Platform, Cape May Point State Park, NJ

Time At Location: 19 hours

Anecdotes:

Im a lil' weirdapillar!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, no wind, 50 degrees F.

Location: Dike Road between the Umatilla River and Mission Ponds 1-1/2 miles west of the Market Street bridge.

Time At Location: 8:00 am to 9:30 am

Very few raptors and shorebirds this year.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, 70s-80s degrees, light breeze

Location: Ringgold, Georgia

Time At Location: 6:45 am - 11:30 am, and 6:15 - 6: 30 pm

This was our first time doing the Big Sit! and it was a absolutely fantastic experience! Birding together all in a small circle is so fun, and the fellowship we have is the best part of it! Two of our team members got lifers, very exciting! One memorable experience was in the afternoon after everything had slowed down, we had left the circle, but on the way back to the circle to get our stuff (as the rest of the team had to leave), we noticed vultures soaring overhead. We dashed across the creek, ran to our circle, only to find that we couldn't see them! Disappointed, we headed back with our stuff. Then we saw them again! I splashed across the creek again, but still, I couldn't find them! I crouched, stood on tiptoes, looked in between this branch and that leaf, but not vultures. The rest of the team was across the creek heading up to the house, they were yelling out to me the position of the vultures "Directly over the house now!..... Now slightly to the right!". After a few minutes of this, I finally locked onto a Turkey Vulture, but there were Black Vultures up there too! After more crouching and standing on tip toes, I finally got it! Phew! What a relief, that bumped our species number up to 44, quite a bit more than I expected! Unexpected Species: White-throated Sparrow (First of Season) Tennessee Warbler (Very few warblers this late) Orchard Oriole House Wren (I only get these occasionally) Sharp-shinned Hawk (A hit and miss species at my house)

Anecdotes:

Our team was made of 100% Young Birders, do we get extra points... hehehehe

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Mostly sunny, westerly winds

Location: NH Audubon Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory, Miller State Park, Peterborough, NH

Time At Location: 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM

It was a fabulous day for raptors.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 60's temp, NW breeze, started sunny then clouded over as day progressed

Location: Thickson Woods Nature Reserve, Whitby Ontario

Time At Location: 6 hours

Awesome day!!! We chose a location with a variety of habitats all visible from our circle.

Anecdotes:

Not too many warblers left... Great variety of others.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear in the morning, overcast in the afternoon. Windy.

Location: Smith Point Hawk Watch Tower, Smith Point, Chambers Co., TX

Time At Location: 6 hours (8am to 2pm)

The highlight came in the morning, when we counted almost 700 Broad-winged Hawks in a single sweep of the sky. Other goodies included 5 Magnificent Frigatebirds and a Crested Caracara. Passerines were tough, and fewer than I had hoped. Unfortunately I had to leave early, otherwise I might have added a few more species. Volunteers at the hawk watch boosted the final tally with a few species that I missed.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Partly Cloudy, 44F - 61F, Winds W 5-10

Location: Northwest dike of Chambers Lake adjacent to Wagontown Rd. (area known as

Time At Location: 0200 - 2000

Also saw a Mandarin Duck (escapee), which had been around for about a month previous. The water level was very low at the lake, which provided much shorebird habitat.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 39-55 F, partly cloudy most of day with light W wind

Location: suburban yard near crest of hill, 2 miles E of Conn. River

Time At Location: 0645-1030, 1430-1845

Big flight of Purple Finches (34) and a couple of siskins. No creeper or Red-breasted Nuthatch. A white and yellow Budgy flew by and was the first "escapee" on my yard list. Monarch - still 6 migrating south, one spring peeper and only one gray squirrel observed.

Anecdotes:

Number of species is between my totals from other two years. Had to leave area due to unavoidable obligations from 1030-1430, so probably missed a few (hawks, tree swallow) during that window.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Clear, sunny, October Tennessee blue sky, warm. Beautiful.

Location: Glendale Baptist Church campus, high on the hill.

Time At Location: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Eastern bluebirds galore, in and out of the martin house. Fewer soaring birds than expected. Hoping for 30 species; got 28. Big misses were: Eastern phoebe, black vulture, cedar waxwing, and any sparrow. Forty (40) in a day would be an ultimate goal. Maybe next year. This was the first meeting of a church bird club. It won't be the last.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: sunny - from 50 to high 70 degree - slight wing in the afternoon

Location: Henderson park - DeKalb County - Georgia

Time At Location: 7:30/10:45am 12:45/2:15pm 4:00/5:15pm and 6:45/7:15pm

The weather was too nice, but it was still a beautiful day to be outside. It was ok for a first try. There was 12 warbler species sighted around the park but only 7 in my circle. 39 species were sighted before 10:45am. As usual the rest of the day did not bring a lot of new species. It has been the same story on previous big sits at my house a few miles away from the park. Interesting birds: Red-breasted Nuthatch (seems to be a small invasion year), Swamp Sparrow (fots for the park), a Cooper's Hawk chasing a Kingfisher, and a Red-shouldered Hawk diving at a Red-tailed Hawk for over 10 minutes.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Calm, Hot(89), clear to partly coludy.

Location: Ramsey Nature Park, Harlingen, TX.

Time At Location: 6 hrs

A summer of heavy rains resulted in an abundance of food sources outside the park.Fewer birds were in the air and heavy cover within the park made observation dificult.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: dry, overcast

Location: 219 Jeffrey Drive, Woodstock GA 30188

Time At Location: off and on during day - not continuous; imaginary circle

Best bird was a female Hooded Warbler (we've had several Hooded's this migration) who posed for photos!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: NW winds 10 mph, variable (0-70% )cumulus.

Location: Lighthouse Point Park Hawkwatch

Time At Location: 10.5 hours

A great hawk day with 1,012 raptors.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: sunny, unseasonable warm

Location: backyard

Time At Location: observed intermittantly between 8 A.M. and 4 P.M.

Weather has been unusually warm and dry. 3 days prior to Sunday I had my last Ruby Throated Hummingbird at my feeder - much later than normal. I think the Big Sit is a great idea - you can do it at home at your leisure when all else fails.

Anecdotes:

The first bird I saw on Sunday was the Sharp Shinned Hawk sitting at the edge of the swimming pool (now shut down for the winter) I have seen this hawk off and on during the summer at the pool or perched on the pool fence. First year for this occurance. It is a juvenile as best as I can tell.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: sunny, turning cloudy later; temp: 38-63F

Location: Kunkletown, PA

Time At Location: 4:30am-9:30pm

Lots of great birds! We had some great Sharp-shinned Hawks that passed right over the sitting spot. A pair of Tennessee Warblers was a great way to start the morning. A flock of Purple Finches, and later a Pileated Woodpecker were two "late day suprises." Our first bird of the day was a Hermit Thrush, calling as it flew over at 4:30am, and the last bird, a Peregrine Falcon that flew past the sitting spot while the sun was setting.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Sunny, winds WNW 7-17mph, scattered cloud cover, temps 48-66 F

Location: The Rose Tree Park Hawkwatch in Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvani

Time At Location: 7am until 5pm--10 hours

We got most of the expected species, but were sorry to miss a few that we have been getting regularly at the park in the last week, including Red-breasted Nuthatch and Broad-winged Hawk. Eastern Phoebe was a bird we didn't get last year, but were pleased with this year. A Peregrine Falcon added excitement in the afternoon and was also a new bird for our Big Sit list. A possible Pine Siskin was heard, but wasn't counted. About 90% or more of the birds we counted were flyovers.

Anecdotes:

A great day, for a fun event. Everyone had a good time finding birds, and enjoying the goodies everyone brought to share. This year, we had a tent to provide a shady place for everyone to take a break and have a tasty treat. We're already looking forward to next year's Big Sit!

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 7o-85 degrees Fahrenheit, clear with high cumulus clouds

Location: Port Orange Bridge, NW side of the Halifax River

Time At Location: 6:00AM to 7:00Pm

Sitting at the Port Orange Bridge is an adventure. Sitting from 6:00AM to 7:00PM in a 17 ft circle looking for birds is truly a birding adventure. A Sunday at the Bridge is more than an adventure. Making the scene are - dog walkers, walkers, bikers, boaters, sightseers, fishing people, people napping in their cars and even people interested in birds. Boats go into the water, boats motor by. boats sail by, birds fly by, Boat-tailed Grackles squawking, chattering, whistling, screeching - all day long, every second. All the time everything is in motion at the Bridge, even the Sun moves steadily from left to right.

Anecdotes:

Observed two Peregrine Falcons, one circling high, moving West, the other whizzing North low over the Halifax River. Rookery Island teeming with Brown Pelicans and other water birds, all nesting. Flocks of White Ibis flying in to roost in Rookery Island. Hundreds fo Laughing Gulls on the Oyster bars. On a Sunday, once a year, I choose to sit THE BIG SIT at the Bridge to watch the birds, and the activity - to enjoy it all, It's a wonder.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: Awesome, not too hot and nice breezes

Location: Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida

Time At Location: 8:30am - 7pm

Every opportunity to watch birds brings about a new experience. Our group watched as a Peregrine Falcon went after an Anhinga. We doubt it was trying to catch the Anhinga but you couldn't convince the Anhinga. It dove into the water and didn't come up for the longest time. Observations included a flock of five Great Blue Heron, an awesome sight. One of our favorite sightings was the Mississippi Kite. The Kite came in nice and close giving us all a good look.

Team Name:

Circle Captain:

Circle Location:

Participants:

Comments:

Weather: 40 - 50 degrees, Sunny with clouds later in the day, breezy

Location: Silver Sands State Park, Milford, CT

Time At Location: 5:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Matt and Jim arrived at the circle @ 5;30 a.m. When Bernice and I arrived @ 7;30 a.m., the guys had already recorded 45 species. Much Thanks to them! Stacy