On August 12th Chad Kauffman, Andy McGann, Jason Weller, and I traveled down to Delaware to check out various shorebird hotspots as well as try to boost our personal Delaware state lists. There was also quite a bit of lifer potential for Jason which always makes a trip more fun because I love helping people see a species for the … Read More
Birding Cup Results!
We are excited to announce that the Nemesis Birders won the Birding Cup with 151 species! Read below for a summary of our 24 hours of birding. We started the evening of the the Cup by scouting out areas around Bald Eagle State Park. After some lucky finds, we headed to our starting place and waited until 7pm to twitch … Read More
Somerset County Big Day, Spring 2012
Somerset County Spring ’12 Big Day On Sunday May 6, Jeff Payne, his son, Chris and I decided to do a big day in Somerset County PA. We were shooting for 150, a total Jeff thought would be very hard to hit in this county. We loosly planned a route in the days leading up to our big day, but … Read More
Nemesis Birders live updates from the Birding Cup
As part of the fun of spending 24 hours chasing birds for the Birding Cup, the Nemesis Birders will be periodically sending out updates from the field. Justine’s group, the Loonatics, is competing in the Potter’s Mug competition and will also be posting some updates. Check back periodically to join in the fun and see how we are doing! And … Read More
Birding Cup 2012 – Support Shaver’s Creek and the Nemesis Birders
[dc]T[/dc]his year, several current and former Penn State students decided to compete in the Birding Cup, the annual birding contest run by Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center as a fundraiser for their environmental education programs. This will be the first year that Alex, Nate, Josh or Drew have competed while Ian competed for the first time last year. We are hoping … Read More
Rarity Round-Up: A Four Day Birding Adventure
Click on links throughout this post to see our full eBird checklists and more photos for the locations mentioned! Last week I was sitting around campus with my friends Mark Mizak and Josh Lefever, thinking about the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. We knew we would have four days free and we knew we wanted to go birding. … Read More
Common Chaffinch and Snowy Owl – New Jersey
This morning Josh Lefever, Mark Mizak, and I began what will be a weekend-long birding trip throughout eastern PA and NJ. We first visited the Green-tailed Towhee at Berks County, PA and were able to see it after a few minutes of waiting in the howling wind and extreme cold. Next we tried for the juvenile White Ibis in Hamburg … 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
The (Kunkletown) Big Sit!
On Sunday, October 9, 2011, I conducted my annual “big sit” in my yard. The Big Sit! is a birding event run by Bird Watcher’s Digest, where people from around the world each pick a spot, set up a circle, and stay within that circle for 24 hours and count birds. I have participated in this event for a few … Read More
Allegheny Front Big Sit – 2011
This past Sunday, I held a Big Sit at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch for the second year in a row. The Big Sit is an all-day birding event promoted by Bird Watcher’s Digest. The idea is to pick out a 17 foot diameter circle, and stay in it all day, counting as many species of birds as you can … Read More