My Big Green Big Day

I decided to do Monday (May 3) as a “Big Green Big Day”. Basically, this involves trying to record as many species as I can in one day within walking distance of my home. (For more on the BIGBY movement, see: http://bit.ly/bGUVxi). The Big Green Big Day differs from my usual local birding walk in that I bird more intensively and make sure to hit all the local micro-habitats.

My previous BIGBY high species count for one day was 74 species on 5/7/09. My goal for Monday was to top this prior record, and try to reach 100 species for the day. My species count for Monday fell in between these two goals. I recorded 88 species on the day. So I beat my old record by 14 species, but fell 12 species short of my ultimate goal of 100 species for the day.

During the day I had nine first-of-year (FOY) species. Each was also a new BIGBY species for the year, bringing my 2010 BIGBY count to 131 species! These new species were, in order of sighting:

Green Heron - BIGBY species #123 for the year
Blue Grosbeak - #124
Orchard Oriole - #125
Summer Tanager - #126
Veery - #127
Tennessee Warbler - #128
Acadian Flycatcher - #129
Gray-cheeked Thrush - #130
Swainson’s Thrush - #131

Here's the eBird report that lists all 88 species for the day:

Location: Indiana University--Cross Country Course
Observation date: 5/3/10
Number of species: 88

Canada Goose X
Mallard X
Great Blue Heron X
Green Heron X
Turkey Vulture X
Cooper's Hawk X
Red-shouldered Hawk X
Red-tailed Hawk X
American Kestrel X
Killdeer X
Wilson's Snipe X
American Woodcock X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Great Horned Owl X
Barred Owl X
Chimney Swift X
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Downy Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) X
Pileated Woodpecker X
Acadian Flycatcher X
Eastern Phoebe X
Great Crested Flycatcher X
Eastern Kingbird X
White-eyed Vireo X
Yellow-throated Vireo X
Warbling Vireo X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) X
Carolina Wren X
House Wren X
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher X
Eastern Bluebird X
Veery X
Gray-cheeked Thrush X
Swainson's Thrush X
Hermit Thrush X
Wood Thrush X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Brown Thrasher X
European Starling X
Tennessee Warbler X
Nashville Warbler X
Yellow Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Blackburnian Warbler X
Yellow-throated Warbler X
Prairie Warbler X
Palm Warbler X
Blackpoll Warbler X
Cerulean Warbler X
Worm-eating Warbler X
Ovenbird X
Louisiana Waterthrush X
Kentucky Warbler X
Common Yellowthroat X
Hooded Warbler X
Summer Tanager X
Scarlet Tanager X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Field Sparrow X
Savannah Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
White-throated Sparrow X
White-crowned Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Rose-breasted Grosbeak X
Blue Grosbeak X
Indigo Bunting X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark X
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Orchard Oriole X
Baltimore Oriole X
House Finch X
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)