End of the Year Review- My Rhode Island Big Year

One of the first crazy vagrants I got a photo of was this
pelican seen in Galilee on Jan 4 

   As we near the end of the year/decade I get to do my yearly end of the year review. I look forward to writing these posts. I enjoy reliving fun memories. I suspect these posts aren't the most fun to read by the general reader, but they are a way to keep track of highlights, numbers, and lists. Usually I do my review in two to three posts. However, I birded so much this year, that I'll most likely have this post and one short one to follow about everything else I did in the last 365.

   Even before the year started I knew wanted to do a Rhode Island Big Year. My previous high number of RI birds was 232 in 2018. To be honest, that was pretty tough. I got many of the birds on my own and hadn't yet made many friends in the birding world. My goal for 2019 was 250 species of birds. Because you are most likely not going to see the same rarities every year. I figured I needed about 35 new species that I didn't see last year. I figured getting 35 new species over my previous high was a tough enough challenge. Towards the end of 2018, I was birding a lot and running into the same people. I became friends with many of them. With their help and unselfish birders reporting I knew 250 was possible, but still a challenge.

I owe Ed Hughes and Jan a thanks for reporting this
one. Yellow Crowned Night Heron. At the time it was a lifer.

   For reasons I still don't know, Jan StJean befriended me. She helped me all year. She was privy to info that only a small group of birders were sharing. She would feed me reports of all the good birds and I would go chase them. The one thing everyone told me was to chase everything. "you'll get the common birds but you need to chase the rarities." That is what I did, I chased everything, some multiple times. Later in the year "the list" expanded and almost everyone with an interest in birds is now on it.

    I went after American Bittern eight times before it showed itself. I won't even attempt to add up the number of times I've looked for Purple Finch this month alone! Chasing every bird is a crazy game. There were two nights n May that I was birding after work in Providence and rare birds were reported in the Newport area around 5 pm. So both times  jumped in my car and went to Newport during rush hour! I went one for two. I saw the Tufted Duck but missed the Olive-Sided Flycatcher. These are just two of the couple of dozen crazy chases I did starting after 4 pm.

My Number-

   I ended 2019 with 290 species of birds in Rhode Island. This puts me in forth place in the state. I can safely say that of the 1.05 million people that live in RI, the thousands with bird feeders, and the 180(roughly) people in our bird club, that I saw the forth most birds. Jan StJean, Carlos Pedro, and Matt Schenck will always be the top three, the only question is what order they finish in.  They are the best listers in the state. The first two are retired and extremely competitive. Matt works full time at a bird sanctuar and he goes out birding at 4 am all spring before work to get the birds.

   Because the top three birders are unbeatable and I am firmly entrenched in the 4 spot, I have been referring to myself as "The first mortal"  because Jan, Matt, and Carlos are gods (along with Barbara G, but she was injured the first half of the year.)

Stats

   There are roughly 104 weekend days a year. I know I birded about 95 of my days off this year. I know there was a snow day, a rain day, 3 days fishing the Cape Cod Canal, 4 days were part of my vacations (2 each n Maine and Florida) I also birded a lot after work. I chased many rarities after work when they were found during the day. I birded almost every May evening at Swan Point or Trustom. In October I sent at least 10 evenings at Snake Den looking for stupid little brown birds. It is safe to say I birded somewhere between 150-175 times this year for at least two hours (95 of those days were for most or all day)

309 species were seen in RI according to the list I keep track on. I saw 290
290 my number seen (Jan 298, Matt 297 and Carlos 294)
58 species that  didn't see in 2018
32 lifebirds
June 1 the day I reached my goal of 250
8 trips on boats
      3 whale watches (2 in RI, 1 from Gloucester, MA)
      2 Dedicated Pelagics (1 RI, 1 MA)
      2 Trips on a Cod Boat
      1 Trip on the Block Island Ferry looking specifically for winter pelagic species
       1 overnight trip for two days on Block Island

There were 10 species I chased and dipped on. Some were "one day wonders" others like Purple Finch are year round residents in low numbers. I spent the most hours looking for  Purple Finch and Clay-Colored Sparrow for birds I missed. Three of the ten birds I chased but missed in Rhode Island but I saw in Florida (Painted Bunting, Royal Tern, and Black Skimmer)

Of the 10 species I dipped on, I thought two of them would be slam dunk no brainers, Tundra Swan and Black Skimmer. Other than the Purple Finch (only because of the time spent) these bothered me the most.

There were only two species I couldn't go after at all, both because of work (Red and Red Necked Pharalope). Given the choice, I'd much rather miss the bird, then not be able to go at all.

2 other species in Mass that I didn't see n RI (Tropical Kingbird and Trumpeter Swan)
19 species seen in Florida
12 of them were lifers

Total number of species for the year 311

What's next? Well, I'm not chasing every bird after work. That is for sure. I love birding and it is pretty much all I think about. When I'm home I'm studying books on birds or planning trips to exotic destinations. I wrote an article for our bird club newspaper and plan on leading a walk. I won't stop birding. I will be spending more nights fishing close to home as opposed to driving to Trustom four afternoons straight for White Eyed Vireo. So I will not hit 290 for sure.

I want to do more birding out of state. I am going back to Florida again in November. I want to go to Plum Island more than once. I plan on doing some non-bird overnight getaways that will certainly cost me a bird or two. I wanted to go pike fishing in NH and salmon fishing in CT this October this year. I blew off both trips. I didn't get any new birds those two weekends, next year I am going to choose pike fishing.

My main birding goal is to get life photos of birds I don't have photos of and upgrade crappy photos. I have in the neighborhood of 278 species I have photos of. Maybe I can get close to 300 by the end of the year. If I go birding most of my days off and fish most nights, I still think 250 species is a reasonable goal to set, if I were to set a goal. I have seen almost every species that lives in Rhode Island, so other than vagrants I can't get too many lifebirds in RI. I can name almost every bird I need for my "state list". There are about 18 "possible" birds but realistically only about five could/would show up in a year, so I'll be lucky to get a handful of lifers next year as opposed to the 33 this year.

I don't know when I will do another "big year" maybe 2021, maybe years from now (doubtful) but I do love looking for birds. I love hanging out with my birding buddies. There are a few hardcore birders that are out all of the time. I have become close with many of them. I have thanked them on multiple posts numerous times. None of us could see all those birds without reporting and sharing info.

I have far more friends now than I did a year ago. I have way more good acquaintances also. I'm glad Rhode Island has so many good birders that are good people. It is the only state where no matter where a rare bird is everyone can go chase it the same day. Because of that fact, the same hardcore birders show up to see all the rare birds. So for the last time a huge thank you for the help, memories, and friendship to the following-


Jan, Sue, Matt, Alex, Jess B, Mike T, Dick and Marge, Carlos P, Kevin R, Patrick F, Ed H, Linda G, Scott, Richard T, Don H, Barbara G, Barbara S,  Danielle C, John M, Bill T, Amanda P, Dianne A, Dian K,Catherine B, Greg N, Jen L, Dan B, Jenn S, Peter C, Anna Faith, Tom Y, Louise R, Joe K, Wayne M, Dan/Sue, , Wendy, Chances are, if any of you on this list are reading this, we shared at east one memory this year. Thank you

Special Thanks to Laurie Devine, for letting me drag her to chase birds on so many Sundays. She had no idea that was the plan for the day when she would come over and off we would go.

Lapland Longspur  Bird #288

This Western Kingbird was seen four days into my
trip to Florida. To everyone's surprise it hung around
for a while. I went for it 13 hours after
getting home from my flight ( landed in the dark)
Bird #284