Sorry for lack of early announcement for the Big Sit this year. The reason
is that the official rules for the Big Sit have changed this year and we
now have the option of sitting on Saturday 10/13 or Sunday 10/14. Due to
this new change, I've been watching the weather closely to hopefully make
an educated guess at which will be the better day for a Big Sit.
Currently, it looks to me that Saturday will be better than Sunday given
the expected South winds on Saturday night and Sunday during the day.
However, I plan on holding off on an official decision until tomorrow night
and will post immediately to MDBirding.
All are welcome to come and help out. Our circle is the at the end of
Bayside Road, right in front of the canoe rental shed and behind the
interpretative sign. There used to be a little boardwalk here, but it's
gone now. We typically count from at least 6am to Noon. If the conditions
seem good for night listening, I will try to get there between 3 and 4am.
If you've ever seen posts from Bayside and were wondering what it was all
about, it's a great time to come down because there are lots of people
helping to spot and identify the birds as they fly high overhead trying to
decide if they REALLY want to cross the bay over to the mainland. It's a
different style of birding for sure.
If you're thinking about coming down, don't think you have to sit in one
place all day. As long as a few people are in the circle, the rest of the
group is encouraged to wander around and find more birds. Also, many
people explore other parts of the island, stopping by occasionally to help
out for a little bit. We appreciate all the help we can get. Hans
Holbrook once found a White-faced Ibis in the campground and we took shifts
staying in the circle so everyone could go see it.
Here's is last year's eBird checklist, compiled by Rob Ostrowski with a
brief summary and notes for every species.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S8944087 Over 10 years, we
average about 82 species, but have now seen 162 species from our 17-foot
circle! We've had such goodies as Yellow-headed Blackbird, Eurasian
Collared-Dove, White Ibis, Clay-colored Sparrow, Dickcissel, Orange-crowned
Warbler, and Sandwich Tern, but never a Carolina Chickadee!
Also, this is the same weekend that Rob Ostrowski found a Bell's Vireo last
year on Assateague, so you know we'll all be on the lookout.
Good Sitting!
Matt Hafner
Forest Hill, MD
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