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Weather: Mid 80's, crisp and sunny

Location: Central Arizona

Time At Location: All day

This year we couldn't turn down the offer of a sizeable contribution in exchange for adding the name "Kathryn F. Anderson" to our existing Sit! name to honor the memory of the mother of a new entrant to our circle, birder extraordinaire, Kathe Anderson.

Would you believe that here in central Arizona it is not unusual for the daily high temperature to not start registering below the three figure level until mid-October? So we were relieved to be confronted by a day which only reached into the mid-eighties, a day that we define a just a little crisp, but nevertheless sunny.

We arrived just before the daylight and quickly established our circle so that we could count all the heard birds, followed by shadowy presences. The Audubon's race of Yellow-rumped warblers had arrived in substantial numbers. I always worry that we won't hit fifty species, but the numbers quickly began to turn significant.

Our all day observers this year were the above-mentioned Kathe Anderson, longtime veterans Pete Moulton and Cynthia Donald, second time participants Tom and Rosalinda Partel, Cynthia Grant and me. Helping for several hours was veteran Phyllis Martin. I, Herb Fibel, founder of this circle, have pretty much become the administrator and coordinator of the operation. If I spot a couple of new and different species during the day, it is the exception rather than the rule.

We ended the day with 70 species, topping last year's record of 67, which was in and of itself well above normal. We added four new species this year to our cumulative list-Snowy Egret, Virginia rail, Wilson's snipe and White-winged dove (which usually leaves for the winter months promptly each year on the first day of dove hunting season, September 1st)-bringing our cumulative total for the 13 years to 128 species.

When all is said and done, we will have raised over close to $2,000, for the Maricopa Audubon Society in Phoenix with this year's Big Sit!

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Weather: Sunny, clear skies, mid 50's; slight crisp breeze in the afternoon

Location: Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Stillwater Point Overlook

Time At Location: 9:00am - 4:30pm

It was an enjoyable day on the refuge. Five Lahontan Audubon Society members started the day off. We had good luck at identifying the birds from our circle with the exception of one little warbler that led us off into the cattails and tules below the observation deck. Unfortunately we were not able to get a positive id on him. We had some visitors stop by that were just visiting the refuge and didn't know about the Big Sit. They enjoyed learning about the event and the refuge and getting to see some birds through binoculars and spotting scope. We even ran into a few Ohio Big Sitters who were passing through on their way to Bodega Bay, California. They mentioned that they normally spend their second Sunday in October at a Big Sit location in Ohio, so they were pleased to run into our Big Sit on their travels. They helped us add a few more species to our list. The afternoon was slow and brisk. Juan and Rosa Gonzales, two Audubon members joined us for the last part of the day. It was a beautiful day seeing good birds and eating wonderful treats; a successful first time Big Sit!

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Weather: clear, sunny, high in low 80s, light wind

Location: Patuxent Research Refuge Schoolyard Habitat area

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

Not a ton of birds, because we were kind of tucked in behind the building, but good human traffic. We offered kids the chance to make pine cone bird feeders, take home National Wildlife Refuge Week posters, and color bird pictures. Tried some crane origami, but most of the kids were too young. A couple drop-by birders sat for a while. Outstanding day to be outside! Thanks to the staff and volunteers at Patuxent Research Refuge for making it a great day!

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Weather: Clear to mostly cloudy skies, temperature 71-82 F, winds ESE 0-20 mph

Location: Wheeler NWR near Decatur, Alabama – White Springs/Ferry Dike Roads

Time At Location: 14 hours, 4:30 am – 6:30 pm

Rather pleasant with short periods of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day. Winds howled throughout the day, undoubtedly affecting bird activity contributing to 19 fewer species than last year. No nocturnal migration noted before sunrise. Impressive Blue Jay and Northern Flicker migration throughout the day. Only 12 new species recorded after noon.

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The most memorable event was non-avian: two otters playing in Canvasback Pond shortly after first light.

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Weather: Beautiful, blue sky day, 75F, light winds

Location: Stillman Nature Center, South Barrington, IL

Time At Location: 3:00pm until Dusk, about 3 and 1/2 hours

We enjoyed watching a kingfisher diving for fish, and enjoyed the sounds of geese landing in the pond at dusk.

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Weather: clear,57-70 degrees F, beautiful day

Location: back deck of house in Chesterfield,Va over looking feeders

Time At Location: 4:00am until 5:00pm

Started out at 4:00am, at 5:15am heard a barred owl several times, very active birding starting at about 7:30am but once a Coopers hawk showed up at 10:00am things slowed down for a while. The Coppers hawk did take one bird in the yard and disappeared as did all the other birds for awhile.Pretty neat scene however and worth waiting for.

Anecdotes:

Now that my wife has gotten into birding, next year we will find a place near home with more species to see for the big sit.

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Weather: Light rain, drizzle or misty, high in low 50's, light winds

Location: Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge Warbler Woodland Wildlife Viewing Area between Pingree and Kensal, Stutsman County ND.

Time At Location: 12 noon - 7:30pm

Heavy rains overnight gave way to light rain/drizzle about 10:30am. At noon when we started observations the fog was so thick we couldn't see the shoreline only 100 feet away. We had sporatic periods of light rain/drizzle most of the day. We had many misses of common birds during mid-October mostly due to poor visibility. Merlin was the only 'miss' observed outside the circle. A little pre-baiting provided some great viewing of the "winter" feeder birds like White-throated, White-crowned and Harris Sparrows and as well as juncoes and nuthatches. The shorebirds were a bonus since the lake was in drawdown and provided great shoreline habitat.

Anecdotes:

The newest birder in the Arrowwood NWR family, Zachary Hanson, joined the fun and his first Big Sit! at only 8 months.

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Weather: partly cloudy to cloudy breezy at times hot 80 deg plus when sun was out.

Location: Small prairie running along the edge of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge

Time At Location: 4:30a.m. to 8:30p.m.

We had good weather over all people came and left throughout the day. I did expect a greater turnout but it will be better next year. I am going to maintain a sign in log next year and gather journal entries on a volunteer basis.

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Weather: Early AM - cool & breezy; dawn - fog until 0900; The remainder of the the day mostly sunny, breezy and seasonable

Location: Station 43 Marsh, South Windsor, CT

Time At Location: 0600 - 1700 hours

The fog at dawn curtailed early morning movement, or at least, early morning visibility. A Peregrine Falcon spent much of the day soaring and perching at the end of the marsh, possibly restricting movements of some species. There is no better place to be just before dawn than waitng for first light at the edge of this marsh!

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Weather: Sunny, ended up at 88 degrees, variable winds up to 8 mph

Location: Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Austin, TX

Time At Location: 6:30a.m. to 6:00p.m.

Eric Carpenter started us off at 6:30 with his first bird of the day - Great Horned Owl. I joined him and Eric Brierley at 9:00a.m. at the new Hawkwatch location which is at the intersection of the three main ponds at Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory. As usual, most of our species were counted by 10:00, but thought the species count slowed down our enthusiasm never did.

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We knew all day that an Indigo Bunting was nearby, but we had never caught a glimpse of it. Finally, near the end of our day Gary Newgord took a scouting walk and found the bird. I saw it from the circle, he ID'd it and we had our final species of the day.

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Weather: chilly at midnight, cold in morning to very nice during the day

Location: South of Route 75 river bridge on Juniata River.

Time At Location: Midnight to 4:30pm for count times

This was our first attempt at our own counties big sit. We had alot of fun, good food and good friends. This is by far the most relaxing count/survey I have ever done for birds.

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What else can we put maple syrup or franks hot sauce on?

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Weather: 65-85F, clear,sunny and 10-20mph wind

Location: Aransas NWR 'top of the tower'

Time At Location: 7:15a.m. - 6p.m.

This being our second year at the Aransas NWR, we enthusiastically found a good number of birds during the 'Big Sit'. Our watchers were prepared to ID all birds in the area and were happy to introduce some of the Refuge visitors to our efforts for the Sit! At the end of the day, we were able to advance our prior count by ONE species.

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Weather: Beautiful and sunny. Temps between 45 and 80 degrees. Light SE winds

Location: The birding tower at Indigo Hill, near Whipple, Ohio

Time At Location: midnight to 8 PM

We BROKE OUR RECORD for most species seen. Old record was 65. New record is a hard-to-beat 69. This was our 12th Big Sit at Indigo Hill and our 7th in the birding tower. We swept the expected owls and thrushes, got a surprising number of warblers, picked up some surprisingly late birds (ruby-throated hummingbird, scarlet tanager, tree swallow). Among our misses were killdeer, American kestrel, great blue heron, double-crested cormorant, and palm warbler.

Anecdotes:

We also set a record for the number of circle participants with 27. Many of these same folks got to try out riding a Segway courtesy of Lee Underschultz of Firefly Hollow in Little Hocking, Ohio. The record-breaking species, by the way, was a common grackle! We tied with red-headed woodpecker, spotted by wunderkind birder Ethan Kistler (fresh from his high school homecoming dance). The new record of 69 was set with a scarlet tanager, our last new bird of the day.

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Weather: NE winds 20-30, mostly clear skies

Location: Pea Island North Pond

Time At Location: 6:00 am until 4:00 pm

Too windy - very few migrants moving

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Weather: Blue skies, light SE winds, Temps 16 to 25 C

Location: Stone Mountain Hawkwatch platform, Huntingdon/Mifflin Counties

Time At Location: 8AM-4PM DST

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Weather: Morning, rain off & on, 60F,SE wind(5-10). Afternoon, 75F, cloudy & SE winds (15-20mph).

Location: Orchard Hill,Dassel,MN.

Time At Location: 6:00 am - 7:00pm (13 hrs.)

The birds were busy until about 10:30 am when the rain became heavier. Bird activity started in again after the rain, but the wind picked up, keeping the birds hunkered down for a while. Very little hawk or other bird activity in the sky, except for lots of gulls at times. We had the Cooper’s & Sharp-shinned Hawks make a pass through the Orchard, keeping the birds still for a while. The winds made it a slow day for bird watching, but not for us birders. We kept on watching the sky, trees, field and water for anything that might show up. The usual birds were around with a straggler showing up at times. The weather seemed to have an effect on many species not being around, we had Hawks and warblers migrating around until this weather change. But that’s birding!!!!! We still had a decent and fun day for birding, the weather could have been much worse.

Anecdotes:

Thanks to our fellow Hutchinson Bird Club members for joining us. We appreciated all their efforts in locating birds and the terrific food that we had. This is our 4th Big Sit that we have enjoyed together. The birds, laughs and moments of the Big Sit are always remembered each time we do this event, giving us another opportunity to bird together again. The weather made it a rough day, but we stuck together and watched for as many species as we could possibly find. We want to say “Thanks to Bird Watchers Digest” for having this event. It makes it possible for other birders to see what birds are being seen elsewhere.

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Weather: 78 degrees and beautiful!

Location: Havenwoods State Forest - Milwaukee, WI

Time At Location: 12 hours (6:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Appreciating all things avian was the goal of the day. It was still dark as I pulled the white Dodge Dakota pickup into one of the parking spaces in the lot at Havenwoods State Forest. The air was crisp and moist on this autumn Sunday, October 12, 2008. I loaded up the wheeled folding wire cart with all the equipment I felt I would need for the day. Muffled strains of distant traffic noise could be heard along with the chirruping of crickets as I slowly dragged it to the paved road to the north of the building. The road abruptly ended about 1000 yards from the lot and I was forced to double back slightly to locate the dimly lit mown grass path. Two large rocks had been rolled in place just off the pavement to adequately discourage motorists from attempting egress. It was here that I left the hard navigable surface for the uneven footpath into the woods. Walking slowly through the wet grass as to not stumble or dump my load, I moved deeper into the forest quietly slipping through the ground fog. I was heading for a place I had scoped out a few weeks back where I imagined I would have a variety of habitats in which to scan. As I neared the rust-colored metal arching bridge over Lincoln Creek, I glanced to my left and stopped in my tracks. Through the dim moonlight on the surface of the small ½ acre pond lying 200 yards away and below the trail where I stood, floated hundreds of dark shapes. I was mesmerized. What were they and should I just stop here? Because I was the only one who was likely to participate in this particular Big Sit today, I made an executive decision to create my virtual 17 foot circle right here, forsaking the area I had imagined myself inhabiting for the day. I pulled the cart off the trail towards the treated wood Boy Scout Eagle project bench that was thoughtfully positioned overlooking the water and waited. Carefully removing the contents of the cart, I unpacked a few things in order to get to my Bushnells. As I raised them to my eyes and turned to the shapes on the silvery pond, I was startled by a noise behind me. Hhhphhhhh…Hhhphhhhh! arose from the direction of the bridge abutment on my side of the creek bed. I froze. Hhhphhhhh…. Hhhphhhhh! the sound repeated itself. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I turned to face the bridge. Hhhphhhhh…Hhhphhhhh! The only thing that helped me stand my ground and not bolt from the area was a memory from my days as a deer hunter raising the possibility that a Whitetail may be just below the ridge and had caught my scent. I chuckled to myself wondering what I may have done had I not considered this possibility as I walked though the darkness to the bridge to investigate, hoping I was right. Now, having viewed more than my share of slasher movies while practically screaming at the screen for the lead character to not go into the darkened room, I vaguely wondered why I has not taking my own advice. Perhaps the slight crackling noise of my approach on the gravel near the start of the bridge may have spooked whatever was previously making the sound, as I heard nothing further, nor did I see anything as I peered into the gloom. I turned around and walked back to my bench to await the glow of the impending sunrise. The surrounding woods smelled damp with dew and tendrils of white mist hung mere inches above the fallen leaves. I sat as high as possible on the back edge of the bench with my feet on the seat. Having dressed for the day in olive drab and brown layers I was insulated against the morning’s coolness, and prepared to remove clothing as necessary throughout my 12-hour stint. Perched as I was on 2” of treated pine, Bushnells in hand staring out at the pond, I reached beside me to turn on my .mp3 recording device. If there were bird sounds to be heard, I would capture them for reference later. I sat virtually motionless about 25 minutes watching and listening to the geese on the pond occasionally honk their disapproval at small incoming sorties of visitors. With my backside needing a break from the lumber massage it had been subjected to, I quietly climbed down to stretch. The light from the rising sun cast an orange glow to the distant trees as the world around me brightened ever so slightly. I snapped a few photos of the pond and surrounding scenery catching a glimpse of a Great Blue heron standing stoically amongst the feathered throng that floated nearby it. Small ducks were dipping their heads under water and paddling around like small service boats in a marina. The crickets continued their background soundtrack as I celebrated the growing lightness of the forest. A muskrat dog-paddled its way back and forth to its subterranean home shuttling mouthfuls of succulent reeds while green and bull frogs jumped into the water from the bank. Without warning another group of geese decided that the pond looked inviting and flew in for a quick dip. The honking from the gathered started slow and steady but grew in intensity until suddenly the entire 500 or so Canada geese decided to take flight as a group. The noise was deafening as they all vocalized and flapped their wings defeating the gravity that held them on the water’s surface and took to the sky, their cacophony fading slowly away to the southwest, as I stood there with my mouth open in awe of the sheer spectacle I had witnessed. “Wow, one in a million,” I said out loud to no one. The ducks hadn’t left but were visibly disturbed and milled around reorganizing their ranks. About two dozen geese (the new comers more than likely) remained in the water honking as if to critique the mass takeoff, and through the pandemonium the Heron had stood unmoving, seemingly unfazed, providing for me a new definition of the word “composure.” Their departure seemed to wake up the balance of the songbirds in the immediate area as they could now be heard warming up their individual parts of the fall dawn chorus to come. Pulling out the drab green soccer-mom chair from its matching nylon condom, I set it up facing the opposite direction from the wooden bench. Finally unscrewing the cover on the blue thermos bottle and pouring myself the first cup of the day, I smiled and picked up my notebook to log in the avian species that had already been a part of my 2008 Bird Watcher’s Digest Big Sit experience. After making one entire slow clockwise tour of the pond’s shallow reedy edge, eating whatever it could spear, agitate, or impale, it waded to the southwest section of the pond near the edge. With two spotting scopes trained on the heron, it stood, sat, dozed, stood, sat, dozed, and preened endlessly for 8 hours within 3 feet of the same pile of rocks. Mallards would occasionally swim up next to it resting on one orange leg, as if to keep it company for a while. This was a definite bonus having it in constant view for the entire day, especially during the doldrums of midday bird watching drought. I alternated chairs, ate a bagel with cream cheese and apple my wife had packed, took photos, logged the occasional species, and even popped open a tin of smoked oysters to celebrate a flock of Eastern Bluebirds that buzzed and chirped around me, before settling down on the steel of the bridge railing. Wife Nola packed-in a lunch of a Subway sub sandwich, chips and a Diet Pepsi around 2:00 PM and EPBWC Treasurer, Julie Ristow joined us shortly after I began eating. (Notice: All shameless product endorsements have been uncompensated for the purposes of inclusion) The two of them watched with me for the afternoon and enjoyed the nearly 80-degree unseasonable weather, reminding me of the cold-wet sit we had endured the year before in Sheboygan. 28 species logged and 12 hours later, I packed up the truck for the return trip, feeling relaxed, happy and grateful for the opportunity to be in nature among its incredible beauty and wonder. Did we (EPBWC) win anything with our 28 bird species sighted? - Nope, but the rewards are endless...

Anecdotes:

Did we (EPBWC) win anything with our 28 bird species sighted? - Nope, but the rewards are endless...

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Weather: Mostly Cloudy, high winds, temp, 60

Location: Clear Lake, Iowa: large lake/marsh

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

This was our lowest Big Sit Count. So windy the birds were not flying.

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Weather: Sunny with mixed clouds. A moderate wind from the sw with occasional strong gusts. Temps from high 60's to mid 80's.

Location: Village Creek Drying Beds, Arlington, Texas.

Time At Location: 4am to 7:30pm

This was Fort Worth Audubon's second year of participating in the big sit and we certainly exceeded our expectations. We finished with 82 species, 10 more than last year! Our circle remained chock full of participants for most of the day. The weather was pleasant, the birding was fantastic, and the camaraderie was infectious.

Anecdotes:

We started the morning at four am out in the marsh, eighty yards west of last year's circle. Things started a off a little slow in the wee hours, but we did hear a Virginia Rail that made a brief appearance later in the day. We had four Great Horned Owls in sight at one time that made for great company as we awaited the dawn. Some of the highlights were Greg Cook locating distant flying Roseate Spoonbills not once, but twice. We watched a Merlin at our leisure for several hours as he made a meal of an unidentifiable passerine. The Merlin sat on a wire with a kestrel only 15 feet away giving a great side by side comparison of these two falcons. Later in the day a Peregrine glided over us as it was heading south. A Yellow-headed Blackbird showed up immediately after it was "wished for". We executed a devious scheme with an 8 foot ladder and a pickup truck which allowed us to locate one of the two extremely antisocial Least Grebes that have been here all summer. Catherine Winans plucked our big sit nemesis bird out of a very distant wall of green: a Northern Cardinal. The ending to our day was rather dramatic as six Black-bellied Plovers dropped out of nowhere behind us for our eightieth species of the day. The plovers spent only a few minutes with us before hastily continuing their journey south. A much hoped for Snowy Egret showed up as the sun was setting. Accompanying the Snowy Egret was a Tricolored Heron giving us 82 species for the day. We had eleven species of waterfowl, eight raptors, and fourteen shorebirds. This was so much fun that it's a shame to only do it once a year. Thanks to everybody who came out and looked, searched, waited, and watched.

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Weather: Windy

Location: Sand Creek Bay Overlook off of Eagle Roost Nature Trail

Time At Location: 8:00 am - 7:30 pm

It had been windy for the past couple of days and the birds were hunkering down where we couldn't see them. We kept joking that we needed to pay the birds better so they would come out for us. It was a great sit, just hopefully next year the birds and weather will be more cooperative.

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Weather: Clear to partly cloudy, 38 to 66 degrees, west winds 3mph

Location: Falmouth, ME

Time At Location: 3:00 am - 7:00 pm

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Weather: Sunny, no wind at first, then slightly out if the north

Location: Lenoir Preserve

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

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Weather: Mild temperatures (60-low 70's) with brisk winds (from 10-20 mph)

Location: Alligator River National wildlife refuge

Time At Location: 6:40 AM - 5:30 PM

Consistent wind speed kept many birds in low profile. Citing of bears exceeded eight, with the closest to the observation platform being only 12 meters...and he/she was keenly interested in our "behavior" pattern. Probably doing her/his own human head count!

Anecdotes:

The number of participants was double the previous year, a welcome addition. Thanks to all

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Weather: Cool morning, very warm sunny day

Location: Metro Beach Metropark, Harrison Township, MI

Time At Location: 6:30 am to 7:30 pm; 13 hours total

The most exciting part of the day was when Joanna Pease said two white geese were flying in with a flock of Canada Geese. They turned out to be a Snow Goose and a Ross' Goose. The Ross' Goose was the first ever recorded for Macomb County and the park. Altogether we added 5 species not seen from the count circle in the past, bringing our total since 1996 to 128 species. We ate very well feasting on Brats, homemade potato salad, potato chips, and homemade cookies.

Anecdotes:

Since we were counting species we also had: Dragonflies: Meadowhawks, Black Saddlebags and Green Darners Butterflies: Sulfer, Cabbage, Monarch Other insect: A Praying Mantis which entertained us by walking over our feet and leaping from chair to chair Mammals: White-tailed Deer, Gray Squirrel, Raccoon, Woodchuck and many Big Brown Bats. We also had many inquisitive people wanting to know what we were doing.

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Weather: Fresh W breeze, +15°C, clouds 4/8, water level + 10 cm

Location: Segerstads fyr ("Vicory City Lighthouse"), island Öland, SE Sweden

Time At Location: 07:00-19:00

20000+ Barnacle and Brent geese on migration, amongst them no less than five Brents of the form hrota and a record breaking three nigricans. White-tailed Eagle extravaganza: at least five of them were hunting around the lighthouse! Peregrine and Long-tailed Tits worth an extra mention. This is late in the season for high numbers (most waders, warblers and swallows are long gone) but excellent for other species! Check http://segerstadsfyr.se for more info.

Anecdotes:

The White-tailed Eagle passing level with us on top of the lighthouse, close enough for us to look into its evil eye will remain the strongest memory!

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Weather: ptly sunny, windy, 45-55

Location: suburban scrub oak on the shoulder of Pike's Peak, Colorado

Time At Location: early morning, afternoon, and evening

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Weather: 65-80 F, windy 15-20 MPH, partly cloudy

Location: Observation tower at Tishomingo NWR

Time At Location: 7AM - 2:30 PM

Very slow for birds. Last year we had high flood waters so duck and shorebird numbers were higher. This year, little water so mostly focused songbirds. Best bird was probably a juvenile harrier that foraged in front of the tower. Very late Indigo Buntings and Dickcissels still feeding in the moist-soil unit (smartweed and Sesbania).

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Weather: Cold morning, partly cloudy, sunny and warm in the afternoon.

Location: Cheadle Crossing (road to barn)

Time At Location: 0530-0700

Highlights were three white-tailed kites hunting in our view throughout our day. Also saw the first Rough-legged hawk of the winter for the area.

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Weather: Warm and sunny

Location: Brooksville, Florida

Time At Location: 16 hours

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Weather: Sunny, High 78, Low 48

Location: Beach parking area at Pleasant Hill Lake.

Time At Location: 6:00 till 18:26 first bird heard at 6:05, last bird seen at 15:00

The weather was great, the food was good. First year at this location, think everyone had fun. Didn't help our species number at this location, have had 47, 51, 46, and now 48 species. May try new location next year. We also had three visitors to our circle, and I failed to get their names.

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Weather: Fine fall day, 38-73 F, occasional light wind

Location: Mesa Day-Use Area, Lake Mendocino, Mendocino Co., CA

Time At Location: 05:37-18:45

This is our 10th year of participation. As usual we drew a beautiful fall day. When I arrived at the circle, Orion and Canis Major were reflected in the lake. At first the owling was slow, but eventually three species spoke up, including the Golden Bird of 2005, Northern Pygmy-Owl. By the time the sun was over the hill we had seen or heard 40 species - a little slow, but by the end of the day we had logged 89 species - beating our previous record by two. Some late-lingering species, Caspian Terns, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and Cliff Swallow and an early group of Pine Siskins were new for the count and brought our 10-year cumulative list to 127 species.

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One of the most memorable events of the day was a series of close passes by a pair of Golden Eagles. A close second was a hot breakfast and a string of delicious snacks through the day.

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Weather: 34-40 F Cloudy, breezy.

Location: Provo Airport, North Provo Bay, Utah Lake

Time At Location: 6:15 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. 13 Hours 15 minutes

I brushed an inch of snow off my car early Sunday morning and headed to the Provo Airport Dike. The storm missed the dike. There was no snow on the ground and although there were storm clouds threatening us all day we only saw three or four snowflakes. The sun broke through the clouds late in the afternoon giving us great lighting on the mudflat. It was cold ( in the 30s with a breeze) all day long and we ended the day with one of the lowest species counts we've had on a big sit. It was still great fun. This year the count circle was occupied by at least one person all day from before dawn to dusk. We saw 45 species. Most exciting bird was a Stilt Sandpiper mingling with the many dowitchers that spent the day on the mudflat. Other good birds included 5 Mountain Bluebirds, a Merlin, and two Pectoral Sandpipers. The Mountain Bluebirds, Coopers Hawk and Stilt Sandpiper were all new for our 'Big Sit Life List', which after 7 years is now at 104 species.

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Weather: Sunny and warm some windy times

Location: IBA Cowan>s Ford Reguge- Huntersville,NC

Time At Location: 7am- 7pm

Better than ever participation- 17- and mostly good weaher along with some late migrants made this - our third year - the best yet beating our high expectations by 4 species.

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At dusk we thought we had a turkey to add to our species list. Our turkey was the " turkey" parks representativde who had come to close the gate and was trying also to call up a flock justprior to closing!

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Weather: 60 Degrees, clear skies

Location: Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge Opening

Time At Location: 8am to 5pm

This was the dedication of the new Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge. 110 people attended but our circle had 6-8 people all day. Our group was the Audubon Society of Lincoln City.

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Weather: 38-41F, overcast, some fog, misty on and off all day; light breeze

Location: Chatfield State Park heronry overlook deck

Time At Location: 5:45am - 6:30pm

Colorado State Parks donated the use of a 10x10' canopy to keep us dry! Yea! Saw 5 Mule Deer, 10 Elk and one squirrel.

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This was another year (three in a row) of miserable rainy weather! One highlight was watching a subadult Pomarine Jaeger hot on the tail of a Ring-billed Gull! Another was watching an adult Bald Eagle fly right past us at eye level only 30 feet away! Pretty cool!

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Weather: Lovely

Location: Our backyard, 4099 LaRue-Prospect RD, Prospect, OH

Time At Location: 7 hours

The birds that were present were active. But, they seemed hesitant to come to the feeders. We had moved the feeders, but not the circle. So long as we remained on the side away from the feeders, the small birds came to eat. Next year, we must remember to move the circle away from the feeders.

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We saw 2 immature, male Sharp-shinned hawks playing. This is a lifer for us. It is always nice to see a bird for the first time in our backyard. We now have 91 species seen in or from our yard. We have lived here 20 years and started our list our list about 15 years ago.

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Weather: clear warm light winds

Location: East Lyme Ct

Time At Location: 7 hours

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Weather: Temperaturea almost reached 80, with light winds and sunny skies for most of the day.

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

Time At Location: 4:00 AM to 6:00 PM

The birds were quiet during the morning darkness with only a few birds added to the list in the "heard only" category. As the morning light began to show itself the marsh and surrounding area came to life. The highlight of this Big Sit was adding a "new" bird species to the Horicon Marsh Checklist. Beginning the day with 299 documented bird species for the marsh, the Old Coots found not one but three Surf Scotters! While all three scotters can be found in limited numbers on the Great Lakes, finding them inland is something unusual. Add that to the fact that they were in but 2 foot of water full of lilly pads made this find more unlikely for ocean diving ducks. My hat goes off to the Coots for their find and thorough ID evaluation.

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As in past years, the person who first ID's a new bird for the day had the "privilege" to mark it down on the board. It became kind of a joke as a few birders were sitting comfortably when they added a new bird and were "required" to get up and post it. At about the 1/2 way point for the day we had hoped to break our Big Sit record of 73 species, but we really had to work to get the 68 species that we ended up with. Many times a great weather day does not mean a great birding day. As I stated last year. We need a sign-up sheet more so than ever. Memories, especially mine, are not something that can be relied upon and with that said I apologize to those who I have left off on the above "circle participant" list. Hey, Old Coots remember this for next year. In closing I would like to thank all the "Old Coots" for spending time birding and for making the day a fun and interesting time. Thanks for the coffee and donuts. Our Big Sit would not be the same without them. Photos by Brad Webb

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Weather: Cool, sunny

Location: Lake Perez

Time At Location: 8 hrs

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Weather: Mild, sunny

Location: Pirie Platform at the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ

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

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Weather: Mostly cloudy to partly cloudy; high: 77 low: 61 (9:08pm)

Location: Table Rock State Park, Pickens County, SC

Time At Location: 3.5 hours between 6:35am and 4:00pm

21 species by 9:00am; only 3 more species added the rest of the day.

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Lowest count for this Big Sit site. Activity was abnormally slow for this area. Amazingly, a Carolina Chickadee or Tufted Titmouse was not counted!

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Weather: 35-39F, no wind; mostly cloudy, rain, sleet, snow during overnight hours; about 2" snow on ground at sunrise

Location: eastern foothills of Black Hills of South Dakota, Pennington County

Time At Location: 6 hours

Counted 50+ separate flocks of sandhill cranes passing overhead from 1-3pm, flock sizes ranged from 50 to over 300, estimate 4,000 to 5,000 birds total. Spotted towhee unusual for this date. Neither of the regular downy or hairy woodpeckers showed up today. Last night was first below 32F night when water in the birdbaths froze, also froze berries on woodbine on the chimney. Freezing must be a key to palatability as flickers were eating them this morning off the vines, same thing occurred last year after first freeze.

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With snow on the ground this morning and temperatures not getting out of the 30s, this was more of a "Big Stomp your Feet, Blow on your Freezing Fingers" sort of an event today. No wind at all, thankfully. The low pressure system and trailing cold front that brought the snow also brought the sandhill cranes, I have never seen so many in my life! There were several times that the flock was large enough that it stretched past my field of view out of sight in either direction. Some groups came directly overhead, some followed the eastern edge of the foothills of Black Hills where the prairie begins. Sky had broken clouds to the east, it was partly sunny in the Badlands,(about 50 miles due east of my observation point). My guess is there were groups beyond the reach of my binoculars between here and there. Absolutely the quintessential autumn event to see and hear the cranes heading for the Platte River as they have for millennia. I was tickled that the one intrepid Spotted Towhee decided to stay till today, his fellows headed out about 5 days ago. He is keeping company with a group of white-crowned sparrows and was even brave enough to come to the platform feeder on the deck this morning. The blue jay and chickadee "cat/hawk warning system" alerted me to the Cooper's hawk that was lurking in the wild plum trees in my neighbors' yard. I'd have missed that one if they hadn't been having such a hissy fit that I started scanning in the vicinity of their focus of interest and saw him in plain view. Ma Nature handed out the gifts today, for sure. Caroline Stafford

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Weather: am sprinkles, afternoon partly cloud ~58 F

Location: Yard

Time At Location: 19 hours

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Weather: Mostly cloudy, winds 10 to 20 miles per hour

Location: Mitchell Lake Audubon Center San Antonio Tx

Time At Location: From 630AM to 400PM

Our team compiled 77 species, two short of our total last year. We struggled greatly with the wind, which limited our passerines. We had 15 species of shorebirds which were in continuous disarray due to a very active juvenile Peregrine. Right before dawn at least four Great Horned Owls were calling across the lake. Huge numbers of American White Pelicans were both on the lake and flying overhead. Two Northern Harriers, the first seen this fall at the center, zipped by, obviously migrating. We had no rarities but were happy with the diversity that we did have.

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Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees, 0-5mph W Wind

Location: Falls Lake SRA Sandling Beach Recreation Area swim beach

Time At Location: 630 am - 130 pm

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Weather: Sunny, temperatures 53-74 F, winds variable and light, mostly from the S

Location: Rose Tree Park, Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Time At Location: 7am through 4pm EDT

This year we moved the circle a few yards closer to the wooded edge of the park so that we could see and hear more woodland birds. Deep blue skies much of the day made it difficult to find birds overhead, but we still managed to do well with the raptors, despite not finding a Bald Eagle (which is a rare day at our site to come up empty on BAEA). Six woodpecker species was a nice surprise, especially seeing a Pileated. This is the first year we have missed Double-crested Cormorant. Both kinglets were nice to see, and Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers were abundant today. We dipped on Dark-eyed Junco, which was a bummer.

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Weather: Beautiful. 70 sunny and leaves are turning.

Location: Backyard

Time At Location: 2.5 hrs

1st BY Ruffed Grouse!

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Weather: Started clear and about 45 dgrees w/ offshore breeze, warming to 70 degrees, then onshore mid afternoon and cooler.

Location: Elfin Forest, Los Osos, California

Time At Location: 5:45 AM - 7:00 PM w/ later owling

After 10 years of doing a big sit at this location there were still many surprises this year. Many of our reliable species were absent (due to a drought?), such as Canada Goose, W. Snipe, Killdeer, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, R-c Kinglet, and W. Meadowlark. We had 4 new species for the count - White-faced Ibis, Vaux's Swift, Steller's Jay, and Blackpoll Warbler. The vagrant Blackpoll was perhaps the least surprising of the four since its been a good fall for them here. The number of passerines in the coastal scrub of the Elfin Forest was noticeably down, but the Morro Bay estuary was as productive as usual. The flight of migrant passerines was average or better with a fair number of warblers and the largest number of swallows we have ever had at the big sit here - mostly Violet-greens. The single Vaux's Swift was with one of these swallow flocks. We had as many as 8 scopes on our platform at once and a lot of good birders so we'd like to think that we didn't miss too much. Our total of 108 species was well below our all time big sit high of 122 species. Our ten year species list for the big sit at this location now stands at 174 species.

Anecdotes:

The group organizer/compiler bicycled to the big sit to make it count for his big green big year (BIGBY), but got 2 flat tires riding in the dark to arrive before dawn (he had to repair both tires before the end of the day so he could ride home and be able to count his 2 new BIGBY birds). Nevertheless, it was a fun day of birding with displays by an adult Peregrine Falcon (calling at a Red-tail, and diving on and screaming at a harrier). We watched this Peregrine and an immature Merlin hunt along the estuary. An Osprey caught a fish in the bay and flew by our perch as if to show off its catch. Twenty-one counters made it a fun day of birding, eating, drinking, and more birding. While things slowed in mid afternoon with the tide being very low, they picked up with a small flurry of sightings just before the light faded at dusk. The few who lasted to the end, toasted with champagne to the beautiful sunset behind the sandspit that separates Morro Bay from the not-so-Pacific Ocean. We had a group name contest to replace the not so creative SLO Birders. "Bay Watch" will be our team name starting next year.

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Weather: Rain 70 degrees

Location: Sioux Falls SD

Time At Location: 5 hours

Rain kept many birds away. Chickadees were fighting. Downy Woodpeckers were chasing each other. Cardinals were out more than usual.

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Weather: Sunny 45-80 degrees

Location: Wirtz, VA

Time At Location: All day

We manned two circles on our property, and had a total of 26 species within the circles. Some of the participants also took a walk around our 13 acres, and we found two additional species outside the circles. At our farm pond we had a song sparrow and our first ever cerulean warbler. Too bad we couldn't add that one to the list!

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One participant decided we should rename the event to The Big Eat-a-thon.

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Weather: partly cloudy, breezy and very warm midday 62 - 80 degrees

Location: East end of nature trail

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

Much higher water levels than usual due to vey wet year with much flooding on the refuge. Had lots of activity from large numbers of White Pelicans, Cormorants, and Tree Swallows moving around all day. Enjoyed watching at least 8 Bald Eagles.

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Weather: cool (60 degrees), calm and sunny

Location: Cold Springs NWR near Hermiston, OR

Time At Location: 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Enthusiastic and good birders spotted unusual species for this area: Peregrine and Prairie Falcons. The shorebird migration is still on and lots of shorebirds were seen on the mudflats, plus Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese.

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Weather: Cool, about 60 degrees, sunny and calm

Location: McNary Wildlife Pond and Columbia River below McNary Dam,

Time At Location: 7:30 to 11:30

The Columbia River was fairly quiet today, both weather and birds.

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Weather: Clear

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

Time At Location: 6 Hours

Avisabawala and lekhrajsing Reached at watching site and 6 AM in morning of 12th october i my self join them at 8 and we were count birds till 12 Noon.and during course of 6 hours we have recorded 34 Species of Birds

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Weather: Clear skies, 50-78 degrees, light winds from NE

Location: Ashland Nature Center's Hawk Watch Hill, Hockessin, DE

Time At Location: 3:45am to 7:00pm

A wonderful day afield, with many highlights. Gray-cheeked Thrush and Bobolink flight calls in the darkness, along with Barred Owl calling. An American Bittern flew overhead just after dawn, and just afterward a Green Heron came by. Both very unexpected. Just afer 8:00am, the bird of the day appeared: a Short-eared Owl, spotted by Judy. This is a first-ever record for the property! Songbird surprises for the day include American Pipit, Scarlet Tanager, and Prairie Warbler. First Common Loon flyovers of the season, as well as flyover Wood Ducks, Double-crested Cormorant, and Herring Gulls.

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We scored more participants and visitors than bird species! A total of 93 people took part in our Big Sit, joining the circle for a time during our 15-hour count period. We all had a wonderful time enjoying a great day of fall migration. PLenty of good food and drink, too!

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Weather: Clear sky, fair, mid-60's F, West, calm to 10 mph

Location: 35 yds south of the beach at Bald Eagle State Park, PA

Time At Location: 5:15 am to 6:30 pm

This was our 2nd Big Sit at Bald Eagle State Park, in central Pennsylvania! Situated in a narrow valley between the ridge of Bald Eagle Mountain and the foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, the park also has a 5-mile long lake. Our site was located in the main park area, adjacent to swimming beach, with great views in every direction. We had a beautiful, warm day in the upper 60's to low 70's (F) that had started off as a chilly (upper 30's), foggy morning as Diane Bierly, Debra Grim (5:15 am) and Nan Butkovich(6:00 am)listened for owls. Dick and Margaret Sprott got up early, and drove up from Huntingdon, PA to join the circle at 8:50 am. Bald Eagle State Park Naturalist Nick Thomas stopped by in the morning and later in the afternoon. Circle captain Bob Snyder joined the group at 10 am and all stayed on until 6:30 pm (sunset). Our 37 species flapped by in a slow play of characters while morning slowly drifted into mid-morning, slowed down a bit at lunch time and picked up the pace a bit as the day ebbed toward sunset. So, between conversations on chores we weren't doing, best places to get bar-b-qued ribs, or political humor, we all would jump up in excitement to ID our next entry for the LIST! The best find for us was one Palm Warbler that was mixed in with a flock of Yellow-rumped Warbers and Eastern Bluebirds. Another thrilling observation occurred when a Basic II plumage Bald Eagle flew low, and directly over the circle: perhaps attracted by the small red, white and blue flags used to mark off the circle. We all had a great day and look forward to the 3rd annual BESP Big Sit in 2009!!

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Weather: partly cloudy, morning drizzle

Location: Santa Ana NWR Treetop Tower

Time At Location: 8 am - 11 am, 7 pm - 7:45 pm

Fun first attempt at Big Sit. Morning crew of 18 birders included a group of 11 high school/college students - great introduction to the activity of birding for them. Afternoon count leader was not able to make it, so count totals were on the low side.

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Weather: Sunny and warm

Location: Hiking Trails at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Time At Location: 7 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

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Weather: Partly cloudy, hot, light breeze

Location: Hawk tower at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park

Time At Location: 4 AM to 8 PM

We just barely broke last October's mark by 1 species, despite using a new location where we had tallied 90 species during the Big Sit competition of the Great Texas Birding Classic in late April. Our total was actually fairly impressive upon considering that we had not one single species of shorebird, gull or tern, thrush, warbler or sparrow!

Anecdotes:

The most impressive spectacle of the day was the evening Barn Swallow flight. I believe it was around 7 PM that I attempted to estimate the numbers of swallows streaming past the Bentsen tower, headed east, presumably to some unknown roost site. I wound up at roughly 10,000 birds. Around 7:15 I scanned the skies again, completely lost any thought of estimating numbers, and just repeated "Oh my God!" and "Good Lord!" and a few similar exclamations. There were several hundred swallows just within a single binocular view, and these numbers were occupying large swaths of the evening sky, more than 20 binocular field's worth. Total number of swallows must have been in the six-digit range, if not more.... A Mississippi Kite was a surprise this late in the season. Local specialties in evidence included Least Grebe, Gray Hawk, Altamira Oriole, Great Kiskadee and Groove-billed Ani; Lesser Nighthawk and Common Pauraque were well in evidence in both morning and evening. Mary Beth Stowe and I had a tough time adding new species to the tally in the afternoon, but Carol Navarro spotted the first of two V's of American White Pelicans to bring us within one species of last year's final tally. At sunset, as I was on the phone with John, who had headed home hours before and was calling for an update, a Merlin streaked by to guarantee a tie; and, somewhat anticlimactically, a Long-billed Thrasher called in the darkening brush to put us over.

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Weather: Sunny Above Average Temperature HI: 85 degrees F

Location: Falls of the Ohio State Park

Time At Location: 9am to 6pm

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Weather: Clear. 33-75 degrees F; calm, windy midday.

Location: USA, Arizona, Pima County, Catalina State Park, second table beyond Picnic Area restrooms

Time At Location: 5:35 am - 5:55 pm

This was the first Big Sit in this circle since 2005, and it proved to be a fine day with fine company. As expected, Catalina State Park remained completely off-limits to any waterfowl of any kind, putting us in the running once again for highest count anywhere in the world without a Mallard. Unfortunately, and utterly uncharacteristically, Catalina was also nearly a raptor-free zone; our only falconiform bird of the day was a Cooper's Hawk eleven hours and ten minutes in to the day! After stormy winds and dark skies the day before, the day of the Big Sit produced virtually no visible migration. A few Violet-green Swallows and two Western Kingbirds were obviously headed south, but most of the other would-be transients seemed content to cycle through the area, apparently the same flocks of Audubon's and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Lazuli Buntings, and so on returning again and again. Emberizid sparrows were less diverse than hoped, though we were rarely without Rufous-winged Sparrows and Abert's Towhees throughout the day. Crissal Thrasher, another specialty of the park, called loudly a few times mid-morning. The most abundant bird of the day was Mourning Dove; among the day's surprises was a trio of Rock Pigeons in the early morning, a species very rarely seen in in the park's interior. The most unexpected species was Varied Bunting, a single female-plumaged bird; that species breeds in the park, but is rare by the time October comes around. One of the pleasures of spending a leisurely twelve hours in the autumn sunshine is getting to really watch some of the birds that made it onto our list, invariably an opportunity to observe a new behavior. Today's novum was provided by an Ash-throated Flycatcher that bludgeoned and eventually swallowed a two-inch lizard; it's not unusual in the autumn to find the larger tyrannids eating toads and lizards, but my cherished sense of the gentleness of ash-throats vanished today. Thanks to the good eyes and the generosity of the participants, we have been able to make a donation to Nature and Culture International (http://www.natureandculture.org/mexico.php) in an amount equivalent to the purchase of one acre of tropical deciduous forest in southern Sonora, Mexico. Thanks to all for another fine day's birding--see you next year!

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Catalina State Park is usually a fine spot for raptor-watching, but today we settled for empty skies--to our good-natured frustration and well-concealed envy, everyone dropping by the site had seen a Turkey Vulture, or a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, or an American Kestrel, or a gang of Harris's Hawks, or a Prairie Falcon just outside the park. Finally, when we'd been sitting big for nearly 12 hours, a juvenile Cooper's Hawk made a desultory pass at the Mourning Doves, giving us our only raptor, and our last new species, for the day.

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Weather: Warm, dry in the high 60's low 70's

Location: Shaker Trace, Miami Whitewater Park

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

We had a great day and were part of the banding station focusing on sparrows from sun up to sun down. We had a number of people stop by and ask what we were doing while they were birding. Great day, great people and great fun. Can't wait until next year.

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Weather: 50 to 71 degrees F. Clear. Wind NNE to N 0 to 7 mph.

Location: Observation tower at west end of Tubby Cove trail, Eastern Neck NWR

Time At Location: 0630 to 1500

The Kentish Plovers sat for eight and a half hours beginning at 6:30 AM on the platform at the west end of the Tubby Cove Boardwalk. Full-time Plovers were Walter Ellison and Nancy Martin and we were joined by part-time Plovers Meg Parry and Kathleen O'Connor for parts of the day. We had 67 species from the Big Sit circle. Highlights were a Virginia Rail that sounded-off in the marsh at dawn; the hooting Great Horned Owl that greeted our arrival; five warbler species featuring Nashville and Tennessee; pipit, lark and Bobolink passing overhead; a fair diversity of raptors including 18 omnipresent Bald Eagles and a Peregrine Falcon soaring east of the platform; eight waterfowl species including early-ish Lesser Scaup; a Common Loon flying by; and three Royal Terns. Myrtle Warblers, and both kinglets were around all day, often giving intimate views. Palm Warblers were around mostly in the early morning and included both subspecies with hypochrysea in the majority. The weather was also splendid, always a plus in mid-October.

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Weather: Windy, clear day, 60's to mid 70's.

Location: Jefferson City, Mo. South East corner of Memorial Park, at woods edge in mown grass area near city street.

Time At Location: 6:10 am-7:30 pm

Twenty five folks joined us off and on during the day. Several people passing by had seen the information about the Sit in the paper or heard about it on the radio. Our fist bird of the day was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the snag right above us and it was also the last bird of the day on that same snag. We got the Brown Creeper while searching for the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Cedar Waxwings put on a nice show in the Hackberry tree and a Sharp-shinned Hawk got a "starling lunch" in front of us. The Chickadee on our list was recorded as a Carolina instead of a Black-capped based on the keen ear of an experienced birder in our circle. The big surprise for the day was seven Double-crested Cormorants which flew over and circled around for us to get a better view! We were certainly not expecting to see that in this habitat. Many folks in the circle and passing by got to see or hear birds they were not familiar with and everyone who participated in the sit received a Bird ID chart and additional information. It was a great teaching opportunity.

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This Big Sit was the first for the Memorial Park Lawn Chair Birders. It was a fundraiser to raise funds and awareness for a new "Bird Garden" going in at Memorial Park. While a great park, this particular area is not known for having a large variety of bird species, which is why this spot was chosen by local birders to build a moving-water bird garden. Our teams 28 bird species were actually a bit more than we expected to get at this location and we are looking forward to next years Big Sit to see how many more birds we get after the Bird Garden is completed next spring!

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Weather: Partly Cloudy, fair, temps in the 70s

Location: Weston, Wisconsin

Time At Location: 22 hours

Tufted Titmouse was not expected but sighting have been reported. A great day and I'll be bact next year with help.

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Weather: Sunny, Slight cooling breeze, 75 - 83 - 76 degrees F

Location: Port Orange Causeway Park, FL under the bridge along Halifax River

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

Today our species count was modest, in part because high waters and an easterly wind hid many of the oysterbars and sandbars that show at low tide. However, the birds at the bridge were interesting to watch. Large numbers of Brown Pelicans, Rock Pigeons , Laughing Gulls and over 300 Willets contributed to the aerial antics that was ongoing all day. The causeway park is a beehire of boating and people activities. Yet the birds fit in nicely. The opportnities to watch both make for interesting opportunities. Many Osprey crashed from the blue skies to the water in pursuit of their daily fish dinners. Once in a while a Belted Kingfisher would add to the spectacle. A very good day.

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Weather: Rain, fog, mist, clouds

Location: Roof top

Time At Location: 10 hours mostly

We ended up with a surprising 37 species (second highest in 7 years) Everybody who came contributed something (fruit, veggies, birds). Karen von Saltza arrived first and first heard the Canyon Wren, but she missed the Great HOrned Owl that grunted from the oaks above the house at 6:40 a.m. Doug Kibbe and Mackenzie Goldthwait applied big-reservoir techniques and found Canada Goose grazing in a field a mile away, 9 pigeons on a 3/4-mile-away-silo, and, cruising along Willow Creek a mere half-mile-plus to the east, a Northern Harrier. Yvonne climbed up to the roof and asked, "What's that?" and added our only Ravens. When Karen Metz and Jackie Dunn left, they stopped to look at the half-mile-away pond and persuaded a Pied-billed Grebe (it's hung out there for 2 weeks)to come out into the open for a glimpse from the roof. At 4:10 Urling headed out for a second trip to the pond with Shadow the dog, and just outside the door she and I simultaneously heard a flock of Sandhill Cranes. Then another, and another, and finally a fourth -- we counted 403 in 25 minutes -- a fine end to a soggy day.

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Weather: Gorgeous! Absolutely a perfect fall day!

Location: Big Oak Tree State Park - southeast portion of lake levee trail

Time At Location: 0600 - 1400

Beautiful day. The cypress trees again put on a fantastic accipter and woodpecker show. Butterflies included: Monarchs, Orange Sulphur, Little Yellow, Cloudless Sulphur, Pearl Crescent, Fiery Skipper, Eastern Tailed-Blue.

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Weather: 50 degrees at sunrise, fog until 9:00, 83 by mid-afternoon, winds calm all day

Location: Independence Lake, Washtenaw County, Michigan

Time At Location: 5:10AM to 3:00PM

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Weather: clear, windy

Location: Talbott, TN

Time At Location: 9 hours

The weather was a perfect birding day. Clear skies before sunrise and puffy clouds during the day with a slight breeze. Temps started at 59 before sunrise and topped out in the mid-80's. Was disappointed in the numbers seen this year. Did not see some that I expected and normally see (blue birds, robins, turkeys) and had just the day before seen a hummingbird at our feeder, but not during the count! Have a personal goal to meet and exceed next year.

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Weather: sunny mid 70's

Location: Riverbend Park, Great Falls, Virgnia

Time At Location: 6:30am to 4:30pm

Two great sightings of peregrine falcons flying down the river. It was great to have lots of visitors (50+) stop by and check out what was going on. Special thanks to Chrystal and Rob for all the snacks and Dave for the fantastic grilling. Thanks to Caroline and family members for spending time with us. Beautiful day for birding. Thanks to the American coots for moving into a spot where we could observe them at the end of the day.

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Weather: Overcast,light rain in afternoon

Location: Boat Access on South Shore of Shagawa Lake, Ely, MN

Time At Location: 8.5 hours

Midafternoon thermals above a rocky bluff on the north side of the lake attracted raptors for a short period in midafternoon. There were very few migrating sparrows compared to previous years.

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We were able to watch the feeding of common and hooded mergansers throughout the day. It was very enjoyable talking with visitors to the public access regarding their interests in birds and The Big Sit.

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Weather: Clear, low 70s to mid 80s

Location: Trinity River Refuge, Champion Lake pier

Time At Location: 6:45 am until 7:00 pm

Started observing from just before dawn to dusk with up to 5 folks at one time. This spot had some open water with a tree lined area behing the pier. We had hoped to get more woodland species, but a few that we expected just weren't around. We were very pleased to get 57 species for the first time we entered this event.

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Added 3 new birds to the refuge bird list as wed are continually developing the list.

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Weather: Sunny; temperature 45-55

Location: Seltzer Park, Seaside, OR

Time At Location: 08:15 to 13:30

As nice as the weather was, birding was kind of slow. Seabirds were too far out to identify with confidence and the landbirds were few and far between.

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Weather: clear, 50's-70's, sunny

Location: Nature Center at Shaker Lakes Boardwalk

Time At Location: Midnight - 7:00 P.M (19 hours)

The weather was great, and unseasonably warm. No night flight calls were heard. A common nighthawk was seen both at dawn and dusk. The highlight was the appearance of one (several?) flock(s) of pine siskin which are not often seen at the Nature Center. Thanks to all who helped out and/or to those who supported us with pledges!

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Especially appreciated were the homemade ginger snap cookies contributed by Chef Ben. Other food offerings were also gladly accepted. Another highlight, which is becoming a "Big Sit" tradition, was the appearance of Gary's parrot hat.

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Weather: 80's, humid, SE wind

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL

Time At Location: 1200-1215, 230-300, 630-130, 215-730

Early morning 695 White Ibis headed west. Wind from SE not great for migration except a few falcons. Warblers headed north during morning, most unidentified.

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Weather: windy, clear to partly cloudy, temperature in the low 80's; in general, a wonderful day

Location: Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Time At Location: 8:00 a.m. till 6:00 p.m. 10 hours

We didn't see as many birds as I thought we would. Some of the more common ones were absent. Unfortunately, there was a buteo that none of us could identify. It was passing through, circling high in the sky, and even with a 60 power spotting scope, we just couldn't ID the bird.

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Weather: 60 degree and extremely windy

Location: Tucker GA

Time At Location: from 7AM to 7 PM on and off

not too bad for a very windy day! The Merlin was new to count and the Kestrel is accidental. 33 Turkey Vultures is high for the count.

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Weather: cloudy, sprinkled off and on all day, muggy

Location: Laguna Atascosa

Time At Location: All Day

It was a muggy, cloudy, sprinkly day. Not much bird activity

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Weather: Sunny, 70s

Location: Prime Hook Beach, DE

Time At Location: 24 hours

Thousands of snow geese

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Weather: Clear skies, high around 70 degrees. Light east winds, shifting and increasing from the southeast for the afternoon.

Location: Cape May Bird Observatory Hawk Watch Site, Cape May Point State Park, Cape May Point, NJ

Time At Location: 0200-1700

Pulses of Yellow-rumps moving through all morning. 2 Ring-necked Ducks and a Greater Scaup appeared on Bunker Pond, as did 2 Stilt Sandpipers and 2 White-rumped Sandpipers later on. An Orange-crowned Warbler briefly appeared next to the platform around 8am. Notable flyovers included Pectoral Sandpiper, Purple Finch, Rusty Blackbird, Cape May Warbler, Nashville Warbler and Northern Parula.

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Many thanks to everyone who came out this year. Special thanks to Michael O'Brien for braving the mosquitoes and dreaded easterly wind in the hours before dawn to tie down a few bonus nocturnal migrants. Thanks also to Bob Fogg for making a coffee run for everyone...even though we weren't sure if he was coming back at one point. Good times, good birds and good people- hard to beat.

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Weather: Clear, windy

Location: Santa Margarita Lake, CA

Time At Location: 0800 to 2000 hours

Failed to see a number of the regulars we would have expected to see. Otherwise, had a good time

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Weather: Sunny, Clear, high temp 75F, winds ENE 5-10mph

Location: Cape Henlopen State Park Hawkwatch Platform

Time At Location: 3:45am through 8:00pm

We had lots of great things happen. Seaduck migration was in full swing with all three Scoter being counted, Black and Surf seen in the hundreds, if not thousands. Merlins came in to bomb our hawkwatch fake owl, and we had the FOS Pine Siskins for the state! "Best" birds: Pine Siskin, Cape May Warbler, Eastern Meadowlark, and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

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What a turnout. Five of us started the day, but by 6am we had nearly 20 people on the platform enjoying one of the most beautiful sunrises ever. Some folks witness the Green Flash at dawn, while I was calling out Swainson's Thrushes overhead. Visitation totals were impressive, with well over 70 people stopping in today. 8 visitors came bearing food and drinks! The support was overwhelming, as was the commeraderie.

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Weather: Clear and sunny

Location: Spring Lake, Santa Rosa, CA

Time At Location: 6 hours

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Weather: 50-70 degrees, Sunny with light NE winds

Location: Silver Sands State Park. Milford, CT

Time At Location: 5:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. (10 hrs)

Again this year I have to extend much thanks my team mates! Particularly Matt and Jim who identify at least 80 percent (or more) of our list. It was a beautiful, fun day with friends! Stacy Hanks

Anecdotes:

A woman approached our circle in the afternoon, proclaiming "I Know A Big Sit Circle When I See One!" Her name was Claudia Ahrens and she and her husband have had a circle in Panama the prior 3 years. She was visiting here in CT, where she used to live.

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Weather: Cool, clear morning, sunny clear afternoon, cool evening

Location: Suburban backyard deck

Time At Location: 0600 - 2200

Starry night, no owls heard. Many chirping crickets. First bird was an American Robin (7:20 a.m.) Two minutes later was a full chorus of house sparrows and northern cardinals. First fly-by,a UFO,(7:25 a.m.) First rabbit (7:40 a.m.) First squirrel (7:55 a.m.) First butterfly (Cabbage White, 11:10. Highlight: Black-throated green warbler, a new yard bird for us(12:40 p.m.) We put berries out for it but it didn't eat them. We also had black oil sunflower seed, thistle, and suet cakes.

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The first bird observed was an American Robin, heard only at 7:20 a.m. The last bird was also an American Robin, a flyover at 6:45 p.m.

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Weather: 5'c,windy,heavy rain.18mm

Location: Grand Beach Provincial Park

Time At Location: 3hrs 8:00a.m.-11:00a.m

Stayed out as long as I could stand the bad weather.There were lots of gulls flying by but could not identify any.After the sit went for ride around the park and did see the following birds Red-breasted Mergansers,Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneye,Bufflehead and American Pipit.

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People were more scare then the birds!One Natural Resources truck did a drive by and probably were thinking"What is that guy doing out in this weather!" No photos but a video at, http://ifnot250.blogspot.com/2008/10/big-sit-grand-beach.html

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Weather: Good

Location: Southern Jug Bay, Anne Arundel Co. MD

Time At Location: 8 hours

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Weather: Warm and sunny with few clouds.

Location: Militia Hill Hawk Watch, Fort Washington State Park, PA

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

Great-Horned and Eastern Screech Owls were vocal before sunrise. Common stuff picked up right at sunrise - Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird and White-throated Sparrows. A Pileated Woodpecker called from just up the hill - they've been absent in the Park since spring. Three calling Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were good birds also. Managed to find Palm, Black Throated Blue, and Black Throated Green Warblers among the many Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Also had first-of-season Dark-eyed Juncos - always one of our favorites! Raptors started mid-morning (this is a hawkwatch platform) with all 3 falcons, sharpies and Cooper's hawks. We got lucky at about 2:00 when three Wild Turkeys wandered into the parking lot. All in all, a good day with 60 species. We missed a few expected species, but not many.

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The two best birds of the day were not countable! Tom, a friend of the Hawk Watch and a Master Falconer, brought his immature male Gyrfalcon and his "Finnish" Northern Goshawk for people to see and study. About 80 people came by to see the birds.

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Weather: Overcast, 10mph wind, 69°F

Location: The Blackwell Cabin, Neshoba County MS

Time At Location: 6:00 am to 1:00 am

The morning was dominated by clashing flocks of American Crows, numbering up to forty birds at a time. Songbirds, usually plentiful at this spot were practically absent.

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Weather: Clear, no wind, hot. High 82F.

Location: Prairie Wolf Slough, Lake County Illinois

Time At Location: About five hours total between 6:55am - 6:15pm

Our first Big Sit. We walked to our circle (a strategically located picnic table) from our home several times throughout the day. Most activity at sunrise and sunset; too hot in the afternoon for birds and watchers.

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Weather: Sunny and warm

Location: Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary Mahoning County, Ohio

Time At Location: Dawn to dusk.

We only birded during the daylight hours.

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Weather: +7C to +11C, sun with thin clouds, SW wind about 5-8 m/s

Location: Dyudden, Västerås, Sweden. At Lake Mälaren.

Time At Location: 07.55-10.45 active birding, rest of the day now and then

A bit late start. Forgot to set the alarm clock... Did not have the endurance to stay at the same spot the whole day. However, spent most of the time during day outside and when I spotted something interesting I went back to the Big Sit observation circle, but I only got two new birds after 10.45. The wind gave good waves on the lake that resulted in a noise when the waves hit the shore so it was somewhat difficult to hear all bird calls. Common Redpoll was the first observation for this year. At least 500 Greylag Goose at quite short distance was the most abundant bird of today, followed by about 255 Western Jackdaw. A White-tailed Eagle flew by near the house, but I only got a short glimse of it. Too late in season for warblers, did not have any warbler at all. But I am fully satisfied with 35 species at this time of the year.

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My first big site. It was Christian Cederroth from Segerstads fyr that mentioned this fun event. I did the big sit from home. Thereby it became a more restricted version of the Swedish national championship of yard birding, held yearly the first Saturday in September, arranged by Club Yard 100 (home page http://www-pp.hogia.net/bengt.stridh/Enhagen/yardbird.html)

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Weather: clear sunny day with light SE wind, high of 27C

Location: Hawk tower at Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Amherstburg, ON

Time At Location: 5:40am-12:15pm and 5:15pm-7:15pm

Tom arrived early and was rewarded with a Barn Owl at 5:43 am. The bird called three times as it flew over the Big Creek Marsh. Four Great Horned Owls and two Eastern Screech-Owls were also heard within the first few minutes of the count. The hawk tower is located within sight of the Lake Erie shoreline and next to the wooded edge of the extensive Big Creek Marsh. The early morning was very productive but only nine species were added to the list after 9:00 am. The last bird of the day was a Peregrine Falcon at 7:15pm.

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Weather: 42-62 degrees, WINDY - 30 mph with 50 mph gusts, Clear

Location: Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge - 36 42'38.61N 114 42'56.65W

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

Total 36 species. Very windy all day. Not a lot of total species but some good birds. Best food source seemed to be California Fan Palm berries, and mistletoe berries in mesquite trees.

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This was our 5th BWD big sit, 3 in East TN before we bacame full time RVers, 1 in NE LA, and then this one in NV. We had almost a completely different set of birds here than in the past, but some "standard" ones as well. NO starlings, NO house sparrows, NO cowbirds, NO mourning doves.... a good SIT.

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Weather: 25F-52F, cloudy and breezy in AM, sunny and warmer in PM

Location: Putnam Point, Klamath Falls, OR

Time At Location: 8 to 11:45 AM and 1:15 to 3:15 PM (5 hrs 45 min)

Klamath Basin Audubon Society's first Big Sit! Very cold in the AM but moderated in the PM. Next year we need to have more watchers for the event--we'll recruit early.

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Normal birds for this area, nothing unexpected or unusual. A really different kind of birding and lots of fun.

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Weather: Fine, 5°C to 12°C

Location: Saint-Fulgence, Quebec, Canada

Time At Location: 6h00-16h30

A big irruption of Boreal Chickadee : 588 in the day !

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Weather: Drizzly, Cloudy, chilly.

Location: Loveland, Co

Time At Location: 9 hours

Low bird counts and participants.. will promote more next year.

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The fire in the chimnea was cheery.

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Weather: Overcast, 48 to 55F, Winds NW 0-10mph

Location: West Sequim Bay, WA

Time At Location: Midnight to Midnight

A good day!

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Weather: Rain at times heavy and smoke

Location: Portage la Prairie, Manitoba

Time At Location: 7.5 hours

We had a lack of observations! We dipped on many species that we should have easily had. The weather prevented us from observing much outside. Big dips were Canada Goose, any woodpecker species, and American Robin,

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We had a nice spot picked out at Delta Marsh to do our count however the weather was not going to agree to that circle. We decided that we were going to scale it down and use our usual back deck site. Its a unique circle in that we have created it to include the kitchen sink. It always seemed that some one would see something interesting from the kitchen window and those sitting in the circle would miss it. It is also Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend so while preparing our supper we could watch out the window. We also wondered if we should count the turkey in the oven as we could see it from our circle but decided against it since it wasn't very wild!

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Weather: mild

Location: Hays County, Texas

Time At Location: mid-morning

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Weather: sunny, high 60's

Location: 12 Jean Rd. Arlington, MA

Time At Location: 7:00 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Since the landlords cut down all of the trees on the property, we've had so few birds visit our home. We used to have a great bird community visit our yard on a daily basis. Nothing much anymore...

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Weather: Partly sunny, cool

Location: Acton, ME

Time At Location: all day Oct. 12, 2008

Bird counts have been way down in this area since a recent hurricane passed, that dumped major amounts of rain. Today has been pretty much a typical day since that storm. Prior to that, I would see an average of 15 different bird species a day, now I'm lucky to see 4. Several Hairy Woodpeckers were seen eating directly off the ground today, I have never seen them do that before.

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Weather: partly cloudy, warm, breezy

Location: Possum Valley AR

Time At Location: 7am

I am a team of one. I could not 'sit' all day. Most of my watching was done from 7am until 9am and then sporadically throughout the day.

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Weather: 57-70 degrees and sunny all day! Beautiful and cool for AZ.

Location: Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Project: Under Central Avenue Bridge

Time At Location: 0430-1730 hours

Tom and Frank began owling before sunrise and did well with Barn, Great Horned and Western Screech and stayed on site until 5:30 pm getting us an additional 12 species! Thanks, Guys! Mike joined us shortly after daylight and stayed till afternoon and I had to leave about l:00 pm from 5:30 am. Nicolas joined the group in the afternoon. The morning highlight was dueling male Belted Kingfishers rattling their castinettes round and round the Demo Wetland for seemingly hours chasing each other. The afternoon highlight was a Red-tailed Hawk being tag-team harassed by a Merlin and a Raven. We had 66 species by 0830 hours and 81 species by 1210 hrs. What a spectacular day! The best finds were 2 new species to the Rio: a Common Black Hawk and a Rufous Hummingbird. Great finds, Frank!

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We have never encountered so many Yellow-rumped Warblers in one place. The storm that missed us must have brought them all in at once. They were everywhere! First a Red-tailed Hawk perched on an abutment under the west side of the bridge and then an Osprey came and perched right on the same abutment! We decided it was their Big Sit Day too to people watch!

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Weather: Awful--either ight or heavy rain all day

Location: feeders on deck of house, yard, tidal creek, and woods viewed through windows of sunporch which was part of circle

Time At Location: 7:30 am through 11:30 am and 12:30 pm till dark (7:00 pm approx_

Weather really hampered normal flying birds and my ability to see everywhere at once since I had to be inside. No winter or migrating birds except the flicker and sapsucker.

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Isn't it always the way--there were a cape may warbler and a parula at the feeders the day before. The highlight was eleven painted buntings at once (all female or immature) on the feeder just before dark.

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Weather: Sunny and warm

Location: Cussetah Bottoms Boardwalk, Okmulgee, OK

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

Observations in the early morning were the best. After about 10:00 a.m. sightings became few and far between. In the late afternoon, the hawks, vultures, and osprey showed up to soar on the thermals.