Update. At a dam.

Well. Cool stuff, my loyal sort-of Big Year buddies. :)


Early Saturday morning my mom and I left for Lake Lanier.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Lanier


Birds seen...


Lesser Scaup #79
Greater Scaup #80 (lifer 306)
Herring Gull #81
Common Loon #82


I still can't upload pictures for some reason, so click on the ebird link to see them.


http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16501786


After we left the dam, we drove to someone's house to see a Rufous Hummingbird. I'd already seen it in November of 2013, but I wanted better pictures and it is a must for a Big Year.


We saw the bird immediately, I took some pictures, snap snap. #84 Then we talked with the couple who owns the house while hordes of birdies ate at their feeders.


http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16501749


Signing off.


I'm trying to figure out the picture thing.

Recent Stuff

Saturday morning I saw yearbirds Ruddy Duck and Redhead. The Redheads are uncommon in Gwinnett and I might not see them again this year. :)


I also saw a roost of Black Vultures. 146 of them.


Today I saw a Northern Harrier! #78!


I have some pictures but I cannot upload for some reason.

Update 1/10

Over the past couple days I've added BH Cowbird, Field, Vesper, and Savannah Sparrows. American Pipit, Rusty Blackbird, Sandhill Crane, Orange-crowned and Palm Warblers. I also removed Pine Siskin from my list.


With cowbird and Rusty, the blackbirds are now official crossed off my list. The only sparrows that remain are Fox and White-crowned.

A Couple of New Birds

Feeling board on a damp and dismal rainy Sunday afternoon. I decided that I wanted some Year-birds. So I got my bike and headed out. I rode around my neighborhood for 2 hours. I went 5.3 miles and saw 52 species. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16239395

New yearbirds included American Black Duck, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, and Ring-billed Gull.

So, as my yearlist sits at a worthy 67, I'll consider the birds I've seen. Seeing as baseball starts in a couple weeks, I'm trying to see every possible bird before then. Of the 67, only 2 are birds that I might not see again. Purple Finch and American Black Duck.

Brown Creeper is a nice bird to have as well. I'm aiming for 80 by the end of January. February will probably be a very boring and un-enjoyable month.

A Summary

Big Years are undertaken in many ways. State big years, ABA big years, and in this case, a county Big Year*. I'll be busy with sports and school and such but I'll do my best.

Gwinnett
Gwinnett County is one of the most populated counties in Georgia and  the pop. is growing. Because of this there is no wild part of Gwinnett County. Fortunately; there are many parks. The habitat is pretty average Suburban neighborhoods, neighborhood lakes, some wetlands, and fragmented bits of forest. It has just enough open habitat to support very localized populations of grassland species. (meadowlarks and Blue Grosbeaks for example) The NE line of the Gwinnett borders Lake Lanier, which is great for gulls and loons.
Goals
I want to see a ton of species, but I want to be realistic. In 2013 I saw 155 species. This year, I'm shooting for at least 155, I think I'll get 165 and I'm dreaming of 175. {predicted number of species: 164}

This blog will sort of be a log of my Big Year.

*Could be considered a Junior Big Year because of my age.