Over three months and 162 birds ago, I dreamed of ending our Family Big Year in dramatic fashion: dashing to Colorado, or some other unpredictable location, to find the namesake of our blog, the Pink-Footed Goose. We would be hiking through a snowstorm, exhausted and near giving up, edging closer to the lip of ridge. …
We started off the day driving from Naples heading to the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park. But before we left, we saw a Eurasian-collared Dove on a wire outside our hotel. While driving along the highway, we saw a few egrets in marshes along the side of the road. We kept looking for new …
Valentine’s Day slipped by this year in the mist of weeklong sickness and busy schedules. But as the weekend sun rose, so did we, tired and maybe a little grumpy. If we could at least get an hour in, we would be happy. Still, moving away from those warm blankets was hard. Still, as always …
Today we decided to go on a small trip to find some new species to add to our list. We first decided to go to Tidmarsh in Plymouth to see if we could find any new birds. We didn’t see much for a while except a few Robins and Crows. But after a while, we …
I started off the day driving back from my friend's house, and on the way home, we (Maura and Jackson), decided to stop by the Scituate Harbor Lighthouse to look for a Purple Sandpiper that was spotted there a few days ago. When we got there, we didn’t see anything rare as we hoped but …
As we packed our bags for school, we discussed when we would go back to Portland (ME) to see the rare Great Black Hawk. Maura asked Jackson and I if we wanted to go tomorrow, but we had plans for that day. Then Jackson suggested going today, and sure enough, we did. It was a …
After hearing about the many sightings of a very rare raptor, the Great Black Hawk (native to Central and South America), in Portland, Maine, we decided to go on a last-minute road trip. After a restless sleep in York, we wound our way toward Portland, stopping at a couple of good birding spots, including Rachel …
As I (Fiona) was heading upstairs to read before bed, I heard the distinctive “whoooooo” of an owl. Jackson and I went into the backyard to get a better listen. We wandered through the neighborhood with our headlamps and flashlights and were able to identify the Great Horned Owl by its call. As it flew …
I think this is going to be a VERY big year… January 1, 2019, kicks off our family Big Year. Last year, Jackson (age 13), Fiona (age 10), Trish (grandmother), Maura (mom), and Bruce (dad) embarked on a big year. While we did well through May, we did not track as many birds as we'd …
The Year of the Green Kingfisher 