It was 4:10 am on December 30th and I was out the door headed south to Octorara Reservoir on the border of Chester/Lancaster Counties. My goal was to hear a Long-eared Owl before the faint hint of daylight emerged through the heavy fog and cloud cover. This is an uncommon bird that usually only wanders into our area during the winter months. I had missed this bird twice last February, and really wanted to put it on my list before ending my Big Year. Since I wasn’t going out on the 31st, this would be the last day of my 2015 PA Big Birding Year, my last chance to add any new species to the year-long list I had started back on January 1st.

On that day, one year ago, I started my personal quest to see how many different bird species I could find in Pennsylvania in one calendar year. I had decided to start this adventure at a local hot spot, Green Lane Park, only 15 minutes from my home in Montgomery County.  I felt a trace of winter in the early morning air, but overall,  it was fair weather for early January, with no snow cover.  My first bird was a striking male Northern Cardinal. After only a few hours, my new list included 34 species-not bad for day one in January!  It was then time to head home for the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner to start the new year!

Big Years are not new in the birding world. Many birders have done them in their home states, and some even dare to do a Big Year throughout the U.S. (check out the film The Big Year starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and Jack Black), and the ultimate, the recently-completed global Big Year completed by Noah Strycker, who, on December 29th, checked off his 6,000th species while hiking in the Himalayas, breaking the previous world record by nearly 1,400 species!  But, it would be a new “test” for me and my birding skills. I really didn’t have much of a plan or strategy, although looking back over the past 12 months, I wish I had! The list of words that describe my year-long quest are fun, tiring, frustrating, appreciative, discovering, wife-support, family-support, new friends, guidance, snacks, water, more snacks, driving, walking, tripping, falling, hot, cold, wet, dark, bright, beauty, weird, snow, rain, sleet, wind, mud, ticks, bugs, briars and finally, exhilarating!

My 12-month journey included traveling over 7,000 miles in the Keystone State, and tallied birds in 28 different counties. I covered rural habitats and urban areas. I explored mountains and valleys, forests and fields and lakes and rivers. My birding treks sometimes started hours before the sun came up,  lasted all day, and once in a while, continued after the sun set.  Along the way I had my share of experiences, funny stories and interesting encounters. For some of these, please scroll back to read older posts The Quest (February, 2015) and The Quest Continues (April, 2015). My travels took me to many out-of-the-ordinary places to see birds, where, on occasion, I met several nice law enforcement officers who were very curious about what I was doing, and sometimes politely advised me to leave (no officer, it’s not a camera, it’s a spotting scope)! I only got Big Blue stuck twice (both were due to the combination of snow/ice and deep ditches) where I needed assistance to get out, and one of those I managed to get the nice guy who stopped to help me in Monroe County, stuck as well! Sorry Larry!  You were a good sport about it! Unfortunately, my birding activities were not all about finding the next new species. there were plenty of those not-so-glamorous moments that most birders would like to forget-mostly due to other natural factors.

As spring rolled into summer, my biggest obstacles seemed to be insects, or simply called bugs after a while. I was constantly picking ticks off me (only a few out of me), trying to swat away a billion gnats that always targeted the inside of my ears, and having my blood drawn by herds of mosquitos and a variety of different horse/deer flies. I was stung by a few “pretty-looking,” wasps and bees, and had the misfortune of stepping on a ground nest of yellow jackets in Cumberland County that sent me running wildly through the woods like a deer being chased by a lion! Did you know that shrieking loudly while running does not scare off yellow jackets? I don’t think a single one heard me. My face-to-face meetings were not limited to police/security officers and bugs.

In early July while looking for warblers in Carbon County, a mama Black Bear with two cubs stopped momentarily to give me a brief stare down (I turned away first), and a camouflaged movement along the side of a trail in Lycoming County was the only thing that prevented me from putting my foot down on a Timber Rattlesnake that never rattled. But most of my flashes came from the lack of using good judgement while caught up “in the heat of the birding moment.” Whether it was the small, freezing cold stream I tumbled in to while trying to cross an ice-covered log in Pike County (that one hurt), or the wetland in Lancaster County where I sunk my boot in mud that was a foot deep while looking for a Marsh Wren. After 15 minutes of trying to dislodge my foot/boot from muck while deer flies chomped at my head and arms, and sweat rolled off my face, I finally managed to get it out, then proceeded to trip, fall on my gut and sink my binoculars in the same stinky grime! After a long, uncomfortable drive home, I was seriously thinking about ending my big year-until a Pacific Loon was found at Nockamixon SP the next day, and I quickly forgot about the man-eating swamp. There were days that I considered uneventful, but most of my excursions always brought back something funny, weird or painful, to share with my wife. She always tried to listen attentively (and seem interested) to my latest bird story, or encounter, while holding back her chuckles.

Throughout the year, there were lost of rarities that showed up in PA (not normally found here) that I chased, too. There was the Harris’s Sparrow in Northampton County in January that the Koch family welcomed birders to see at their backyard bird feeders, a Bullock’s Oriole in February that appeared in a backyard for another winter, only 15 minutes from my home, and a lonely, male Chuck-wills-Widow in Lebanon County in June (on land owned by the U.S. Army’s Ft Indiantown) that returned to the same location, calling each night for a mate. Click below to hear the recorded call of the Chuck-wills-Widow.

A Pacific Loon showed up at Nockamixon State Park in July, and an Anhinga, normally found in FL, stayed several days in October near the John Heinz NWR at Tinicum in Philadelphia, making a few daily flights over the refuge. An adult White Ibis landed in Green Lane Park and put on a good show for many birders. My year ended with two other really good finds-a Western Tanager visiting a backyard feeder in Centre County in November, and a Pacific-slope Flycatcher hanging out in Berks County, just before Christmas-a bird which normally would be found on the western coast of Mexico at this time of year.

                                    An Anhinga (above left) being chased by a Chimney Swift and a Pacific-slope Flycatcher (below left)

My best Big Year birds were the ones I found with a few trips with family members, including my awesome wife, my enthusiastic sister, my birding dad, and a special afternoon with both my kids that were home for the holidays, to join me to see the young Snowy Owl in Lebanon County! And, I can’t forget my always-encouraging mother-thanks Ma! My 2015 PA Big Year was assisted by many people. I could not have found many of the species without the guidance of dozens of experienced birders who recommended some good birding spots and reported many of the rare birds to PA Birds and Facebook. They were also very patient with my many emails and “private messages.” Thank you!

                               Wife Theresa and sister Cathy take a break at a small water fall along the Pine Creek Trail in Tioga County (above). We tried to combine birding with other activities, such as bike rides, whenever possible. This trip gave us great looks at Osprey hunting along Pine Creek (below).

Oh, and by the way, I never got my Long-eared Owl, but did find one final, new bird for my Big Year later in the morning-a male Yellow-headed Blackbird that was among a flock of 50,000+ other blackbirds! My final tally-257 total species. I’ll take that for my first try! What’s on tap for 2016? Stay tuned, and Good Birding!