102

Carolina Wren singing before the snow this morning

I have passed the century mark in the number of species of birds I've seen this year. As I like to do, I like to look at stats from years past and compare them. In this case, it is only worthwhile to look at 2016. That year I birded a lot and broke my previous records for the number I saw in Rhode Island (161 species) and New England (182).

In 2016, I saw my one hundredth bird on March 23. So if I were to try to beat my previous record, I am almost two weeks behind that pace.

In 2016 of my first one hundred, I saw 93 in Rhode Island (and Mass) and seven only in Massachusetts. This year of the 102, ninety nine were in RI and only three species were just seen in Mass (King Eider, Tundra Swan, and as of now, Tree Swallow. This is somewhat surprising to me because I've taken trips to Daniel Webster, Cape Cod Canal, Stony Brook, Atwood Pond, among others all in Massachusetts.

The hardest bird I've seen this year was today, a Tufted Duck. It had been at St. Mary's Pond in Portsmouth, RI for a few weeks, but I went three times and came up empty. This week it was spotted one pond over at Scisson Pond. I took the walk out to the pond the wind was howling in my face. Then it started to snow bringing the snow in sideways. I figured since I was there I'd check for it anyway. I ended up walking almost all the way around the pond, sideways snow melting on me, my scope, and binoculars. However at the far side of the pond there were some ducks. I had to get close because visibility was so bad. when I got near, I stepped on what looked like dry shoreline to find a six inch puddle with both feet that was covered by dead reeds. My feet were soaked with ice water
. But the Tufted Duck was there!!! I looked at it for five seconds, saw the tuft twice as it turned its head and walked back to my car wet feet in a snowstorm!  Not my favorite birding moment

The easiest bird from the first one hundred of 2016 that I've yet to see this year is a catbird. They will be EVERYWHERE in a month, but I somehow got one in January of that year. Also common but so far unseen by me, Killdeer

Many of the birds I've missed although not common are regular winter visitors (as opposed to a rarity that shouldn't show up at all). Some of these misses include- American Tree Sparrow, Barrow's Goldenye, Razorbill, Eurasian Widgeon, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Gannet, Fox Sparrow

The "best bird" I have seen is an American Bittern, no one else on my RI group list has seen one yet.

I was the first person to report American Oystercatcher.

Now the humbling stats.

My ninety nine Rhode Island species puts me in 11th out 17 people. The total number of species already reported in Rhode Island is 171. The three leaders have seen 151, 141, and 140. The good news is, although I'm in 11th place, there are six people bunched up between 87-117. So I am in the main pack. It amazes me that someone can see a hundred and fifty species of birds by April in such a small cold state.

Knowing my place-

Despite a paragraph dedicated to number and placement, I am doing everything I can just to enjoy birding and not make it a competition with anyone else or myself.  I've said before, I could never compete with the top Rhode Island birders. All they do is go birding, I spend too much time hiking and fishing. Also, they bird exclusively in Rhode Island, I go to Plum Island in Newburyport, Great Meadows, Concord, Oxbow NWR tooo ften during prime birding times to rack up a long Rhode Island list. And lastly, they are just better. They know more bird songs, they can tell many birds just by their silhouette flying while being backlit.

Experiences-

Like I said, I'm trying to  make it about birds and fun, and not about "the next bird". Truth is, I haven't had to try that hard. I have really gotten excited the nights before a birding trip. I've enjoyed planning my destinations and I've visited many new spots. One thing I have enjoyed, is trying to get some good photos. Attempting to get decent to great photos of birds makes you concentrate on the bird in front of you AND NOT going out and looking for the nest species to add to the list. I have had a lot of fun. Here are some highlights, most of which I have wrote about previously-

Seeing the Snowy Owl in the field with my friend Dick Durand
Seeing and photographing the Long Tailed Duck in Charlestown 
Finally finding a Hairy Woodpecker a couple weeks ago
Having all the ducks at Trustom lit up spectacularly with the sun on them (also saw a mink that day)
Loons and Red Throated Loon photos
King Eider and the sea ducks in the Cape Cod Canal. Water was glass calm, and they were so close
Patriotic Red Tail and Three Bald Eagles the same day
Snow Geese and Tundra Sawn both found on an after work chase. Decent pics to boot

So far this year, I've already seen more Bald Eagles, Snow Geese, Owls, and Long Tailed Ducks than I've ever seen in a year. This is only significant because these are some of my favorite birds.

Prediction-

If I had to guess about records, here is my prediction. I do not think I will break my Rhode Island record of 161. I already have two camping trips planned for Plum Island in May. That only leaves two weekends in May that I could go birding in Rhode Island. One day will be used on Golden Trout. If I want to do any Connecticut River carp fishing, it will take away from more RI birding. That said, there are a lot of easy birds not yet here such as Orioles, Yellow Warblers, and fifteen species of shorebirds. so I think somewhere between 145-155 is reasonable.

I do think my New England 181 is in jeopardy of falling. There are at least fifty easy birds left, many of which are everywhere on Plum Island. Besides those birds, I'm taking a three day trip to Maine. I'm going to go on a Puffin Cruise, there I will see two lifers (puffins and a Murre). Maybe I'll see other species I can't see from land. During that trip, I'm also going to spend a day hiking Mohnegan Island which is a migrant trap. Lastly on that trip, I'm going to spend a day at Scarborough Marsh. The marsh has a list of 130 possible species in June, so who knows what is there.

Whether or not I break 181 is irrelevant. I'm not going to be mad if I don't see anything new on Mohnegan. I'm just hoping to get a ton of pictures of the cliffs, trails, and fishing village. As I've said before, birding is just being outside with a goal.