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PA Big Day Details |
| Date | Jul 09, 2006 | ||||
| Number | 101 | ||||
| # Seen by All | 101 | ||||
| Area | State | ||||
| Time | 0400 to 1900 | ||||
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| 85 Miles by car, 3 miles by foot.Visiting: Long Pond, Stony Hollow Road, Tobyhanna SP, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Cherry Valley, Penn Forest. Species of note: Hooded Merganser (S), American Woodcock (no code submitted), Eastern Screech-Owl (M), Great Horned Owl (M), Chimney Swift (M), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (M), Acadian Flycatcher (M), Carolina Wren (M),Winter Wren, Golden-winged Warbler (S),“Lawrence’s”Warbler (R – not counted in total), Black-throated Blue Warbler (M), Cerulean Warbler (M),Worm-eating Warbler (M), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (M). After breaking 100 twice in June but failing to equal the standing mark of 119, I was traumatized enough to settle for a lower-stakes Pennsylvania Big Day in July (my first June attempt, on Sunday the 4th, was particularly apocalyptic; I abandoned my route early in the afternoon upon receiving unsolicited word of a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Bucks County and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in Berks County, of which I saw both), I limited this attempt to Monroe County- an odd, relatively waterless choice. My success (my goal had been a hundred) surprised me; I wasn’t yet very Monroe-savvy, having never been to several sites on my “route” prior to their respective moments of truth. I had, however, scouted the interesting-looking roads in the county atlas to determine which were gated, impassible, and/or driveways, and I’d been seeing fun northern birds at the less off-Broadway places, so I knew the century mark was feasible if unlikely. I’d need all the territorial passerines. As it turned out, I missed numerous nesters, including a few embarrassments that I’d considered possibilities, but a surprise or two tipped the scales back in my favor. My best bird wasn’t even a species, but a dull female “Lawrence’s”Warbler, my first individual of the coveted hybrid. I was home before dark, having called it a day upon hitting 100. | |||||