It’s a big year for the annual Nemesisbird 4th of July Birding Challenge: It’s an election year in the US (in case you have been under a rock for 9 months), it’s the Fourth year of the 4th of July birding challenge, Hamilton the musical swept the Tony Awards, and the sequel to Independence Day is in theaters. What more could … Read More
4th of July Birding Challenge!
2015 will be year 3 of the 4th of July Birding Challenge, and I have to say this year is a special one for your lovely author. I just got back from 5 months of studying birds in Borneo, and while my experiences and birding over in Southeast Asia were truly unforgettable, I would be lying if I said I … Read More
Borneo Big Day
Hank Aaron, Edmund Hillary, Billy Mitchell: record holders and champions of their respective fields. While a big day of birding isn’t exactly the same as reaching the summit of Everest or holding the highest score in Q*bert, the task of racking up as many species as possible in 24 hours can be daunting in its own right. Make the birding location … Read More
4th of July Birding Challenge! Part Deux
Four score and seven birds ago, the 4th of July Birding Challenge was born (actually, it was last year, but who’s counting?). Since it was such a big hit last year, the rules will remain the same, except for one new twist. There will be two categories of champion: One winner for the traditional “Most 4th of July Species”, and … Read More
Boston Public Transportation Big Day
With final exams looming in the week ahead, two other Harvard birders, Harold Eyster and Eamon Corbett, and I decided to attempt big day in the Boston area. For the added challenge, the reduced environmental impact, and the fact that we didn’t have a car, we decided to do our big day by walking and using public transportation. With a … Read More
A March Big Day in Delaware
Last Saturday, Nate Fronk, Alan Kneidel, and I made a run for the March Big Day record for Delaware. We decided that owling in the morning was pointless due to ~20mph winds, so we left Newark around 5:00 AM. After quick stops at Helen’s Sausage House and Wawa, we arrived at the Indian River Inlet shortly after sunrise. Our first … Read More
Birding Delaware: Indian River Inlet to Bombay Hook
Two Sundays ago, Alex and I, along with Chad Kaufman, Taj Schottland, Steve Brenner, and Mel Torres tore it up in southern Delaware. We didn’t plan on doing a Big Day but instead were planning on a full day of casual, relaxed birding. After a late night of birding and hanging out at Dogfish Head, we started the morning searching … Read More
Delaware Big Day – January 2013
One of the main reasons for our New Year, New Birds trip was to do a January 1st Big Day in Delaware with Tim Schreckengost from Thermal Birding. Tim lives and works down in Delaware right now, and has been a friends of ours for a few years now. The following story was co-written by Alex and Tim and is … Read More
Starting off 2012 the Florida way….
I managed to end my 2011 year list with 439 species, just a few short of my 2010 total. I added 20 species in the last week of the year alone, travelling from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, and down the Atlantic coast to Jacksonville, Florida. Alex and I made a quick stop to see the Snowy Owl at Merrill Creek … Read More