Big Day Birding with Team Kowa

ABOUT BIG DAYS...

"CONFESSIONS OF A BIG DAY ADDICT"
by Tom Hince

I know, I know... I’ve heard it all before. Big Days are trivial, and they contribute little to our understanding or appreciation of birds, and nothing to conservation. Well, to nay-sayers I say read on and lighten up!

The objective of a Big Day is to positively identify by sight, or sound, as many birds as possible in one calendar day. Birding is done in teams which must follow clearly defined rules. Efforts are generally focused on a geopolitical region such as a province, county or country, and in most cases focus on the prime spring migration period.

A lot of people feel like you have be an expert to try a big day, but that is definitely not true. This is a great learning exercise for all of us. I can vouch that big days have made me a much better birder. And it isn’t just my identification skills that have been steadily improved.

WHY DO A BIG DAY?

Since I started participating in Big Days, my whole process of observation has changed. When I’m not doing big days, I watch birds with more interest and intensity, and I am much more aware of what birds do - all day long. For me, this has been the greatest benefit. In the end, this has given me a much deeper understanding of all birds - and that certainly is not trivial.

As an example, one common trend in birding is to ignore the commonplace, and seek out that rare oddball. Much of what we talk about, read about, and discuss, is what we want to see or haven’t seen. An unfortunate consequence is that many common and uncommon species are poorly known even by birders with decades of experience.

Big days play no favourites. A black rail and a black-capped chickadee both count as one. Five accidentals on your list will be overshadowed by ten common and uncommon species that were missed. This leveling of the playing field forces you to refocus on breeding and resident species. For all but the best student of bird study, there is lots to learn.

On a Big Day time is your enemy, so efficiency in coverage is essential. On an all out effort you may only have a few minutes in the right habitat for any particular species. You can’t be everywhere at prime activity time, so you have to know in great detail what common birds do all day long.

When I started doing big days in earnest about a decade ago, I quickly learned how little I knew about the habits of many birds. Where did belted kingfishers go in nesting season? How do you find a Cooper’s hawk nest? When do owls stop singing? Where do shorebirds roost?

Over the years, I’ve learned that the best way to find Cooper’s hawk nests is by rising early and listening for their dawn courtship calls, that shorebirds don’t normally roost in sewage lagoons, that certain owls only sing at dawn during spring, and that no matter how many kingfishers you have the week before, they will always be elusive on almost any big day!

Big day birders also learn a lot about the affects of weather. Be it rain, wind, cold or heat they push on, and through the process they learn. Each big day teaches lessons about how birds react to different weather patterns, and because every bird counts, you really notice the affects. This knowledge becomes extremely useful in every birding outing.

Even more critical is that this aspect of birding often appeals to non-birders. In this day and age of excesses, the concept seems to fit the bill. The whole idea is a bit nutty - okay a lot nutty, but maybe that’s why people find it interesting. I think even from afar, people respect the passion and enthusiasm birders have for this hobby, and Big Days are a glowing example.

In short, big days provide a lot of promotion and press for this pastime. This also makes them an ideal vehicle for raising funds for conservation. Many of this continent’s largest conservation fundraisers are built around Big Days. The Baillie Birdathon, the World Series of Birding and the Great Texas Bird Classic are just a few examples.

YOUR FIRST BIG DAY

Your first big day should be something special. As you gain experience, you will spend lots of time planning future big days, but to start I'd keep the planning to a basic level. Experienced big day birders always scout their routes out for days, if not weeks in advance, and adapt the route according to what birds are present at one location or another. But I don't recommend this for novices. To really understand the benefits of scouting, you need to have a big day under your belt, and the thrill of an un-scouted effort is simply impossible to match. You just never know what is around the next corner.

THE ‘ROUTE’

Always, always, always - pick your own route. Spend as much time in the field as possible, and pick sites that have a high diversity of breeding birds. Be sure to select locations that have distinctly different types of habitat such as a grassland, freshwater marsh, bog and fen, shorelines, sewage lagoons, deciduous forest and coniferous forest. Think carefully about the times when each of these vegetation types is most productive, and try to develop a route that maximizes activity at each location. For example, grassland and wetland sites should be visited before sunrise. Open habitats such as these brighten up and come alive with song much earlier than shaded woodlands.

It used to be thought that migrant traps such as Point Pelee were key to Big Day efforts. But in recent years, virtually all of the top Big Day efforts in Ontario have been based upon breeding birds. The key seems to be visiting a wide variety of habitats during the first three hours after dawn, to maximize access to chorus and activity for a wide range of breeding species, particularly passerines. Once established, breeders are easy to 'truth' and build a predictable route around. Waterfowl and shorebirds can be found just as easily during midday when songbirds become tough. This fundamental shift in strategy seems to be common across most of the continent. Our traditional Ontario Big Day route does use several southern migrant traps, simply because these also have southern breeders such as Red-bellied Woodpecker and Orchard Oriole, while adding the possibility of migrants.

Another big decision choosing the date of your effort. Mid May used to be considered prime time for migrant based routes, but the shift to a breeding bird strategy seems to favour late May. The hitch is not being too late, or shorebirds and waterfowl quickly disappear. The other approach is to do a monthly Big Day and this again will stretch your knowledge of the seasonal changes in bird behaviour and activity patterns.

Taking these generalities, tailor your own route based upon your personal experience. One of the most rewarding (and challenging!) aspects of a big day is sitting with your team mates planning a route.

CHANGING ON THE FLY

Some people think its bad birding Karma, but during the day, we always keep a running tally of the list of birds. That way we can review the gaps in the list and talk out possible route changes. By late afternoon, you might find you don't need to visit one or two locations, because you’ve aced these habitats, or you may need to add a habitat type to compensate for some misses. So change your route on the fly and add a new location. It's allowed.

DAY LENGTH

Remember this is your big day, and you can do what you want to... You can spend any amount of time you want in the field, up to the maximum of a full twenty four hour calendar day. If you decide to cut your day short, I recommend finishing early, rather than starting late. Most of us have deprived ourselves of the night world. It is a magical place full of discoveries. If you start your big day at midnight or in the wee hours, you will experience something special to be sure. Surviving the darkness, and watching the world come to life is an experience you will never forget.

PICK THE TEAM CAREFULLY

Big days must be done with friends. But keep in mind that even your most hygienic buddies will start to smell after 24 hours. Of course, you will too. Friends don't have to be like minded, but they should have a sense of humor, particularly when it comes to the shortcomings of other members. It's a good idea to decide up front how you are going to make decisions during the day, or you may not be friends at the end. This also helps to avoid skirmishes and food fights which can take away from precious birding time.

‘RINGERS' ARE NOT A GOOD IDEA

It doesn't hurt to have one or two members who are more experienced, but one expert and three novices is not a good mix. The idea of a big day is to challenge and develop the skills of every team member. Everyone has to identify each bird independently, so it makes sense to have team members of roughly the same skill level, be they novice or advanced. If you are following the local birding guru from bird to bird, and nodding in complicity, you are missing the point. You are also breaking a fundamental tenet of all big days: individual honour is the only referee.

INVITED GUESTS

It would not be unusual for you to find a media representative wanting to join you for the day. This is fine, but they should know that they are along for the ride, and that for 24 hours birds dictate all. I generally instruct media as follows: ‘ You must have a cell phone, before you can get in the car. This is a safety precaution. If we don't get along, we want to be able to drop you immediately at the side of the road, and we want to be sure you can call for help.' I haven’t had to yet, but it keeps them in line.

SAFETY AND DRIVERS

If you decide to do an all out effort, a non-birding driver is pretty much essential. However, it is recommended that you thoroughly brief your victim first. Most importantly, they need to know that a big day can indeed be twenty four hours long, that you may not be stopping to eat, and that birding is the only activity.

KNOWING YOUR COMPETITION

Most people will tell you that big days are competitions between teams of birders. Don't let this scare you off, because they have missed the mark. Big days are competitive, but the competition is between the BIRDS and birders. Remember this is a game of your team versus the birds. You know they are out there, but can you find them on the appointed day? Yesterday and knowing they have to be there doesn't count. Even in an event with lots of teams, never let yourself spoil the day with thoughts of how the ‘competition' is doing. While you are wasting energy on this the real competition is flying over your head, darting across the road, or calling from the brush behind you.

FUTURE EFFORTS

To keep heading up the learning curve, you will likely have to invest more time in scouting and preparation. The bottom line is that ‘them that scouts is happy, them that don't ain't!’

Another strategy is to squeeze more birding sites into the route - and that means saving time. To do this you can make sure all food and liquids are prepared in advance, scout traffic and fine tune route choices, and focus on team work. For example, on our team each team member has specific responsibilities at a site. If it is a scoping stop, Paul scopes left to right, Bruce scopes right to left and I watch the sky for birds in flight.

I would be amiss if I didn’t reference the advantage of a good knowledge of bird vocalizations. This can really increase the efficiency of a team in covering a given area, simply because it is so much easier to hear most birds than see them - in spring, at least. All the more reason to get out there and listen and learn.

A FINAL WARNING

I would be amiss if I didn't provide a final warning. Once you've survived a big day, your whole life may begin to revolve around this activity, your spouse might question you sensibilities, and your non-birding friends will consider you a prime candidate for therapy. None of this will matter, because you'll already be planning your next plan of attack!

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