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ABA Big Year 2017 (2 Viewers)

I know it's been stated that Santa Anna will be behind the wall, and a pretty huge swath of the reserve will be bulldozed. It doesn't really sound like the refuge will really exist any more post border wall. Local folks are also concerned because tentative plans would also cut off most folks from the river, which is obviously going to also affect agriculture in the valley.

Have to say this seems senseless to me. Apparently the rationale is that because the refuge is Federal property, no legal impediments can be raised to the work.
The Rio Grand is not the Amazon or even the Hudson, it is a fairly modest stream by the time it reaches South Texas. The border patrol uses air boats to patrol stretches of the river because it is too shallow for regular outboards. These make hellish noise, so that any migrant even thinking of crossing gets ample warning well before the boat comes into view.
With many miles of other crossing opportunities, it just seems pointless and willful to single out a nature preserve.
 
Well, the New Era has officially begun: the Stolls are racking up the Hawaiian birds. From what I hear, the new ABA checklist will come out in September. I've been trying to decide how to deal with it in my sheets. My current thought is to add all the Hawaiian species at the bottom; that way the Big Years can be compared from both the continental and New ABA standpoints, and I'll add in John's, Laura's and Olaf's lists. Though unofficial, still very, very interesting.
Also, I've added in Bill Rydell's 1992 Big Year.

Joe
 

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I noticed that Yve saw the White-winged Tern in north-central Pennsylvania this morning.

eta: That tern is just a couple of hours too far from home for me to go look for it, unfortunately.
 
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I noticed that Yve saw the White-winged Tern in north-central Pennsylvania this morning.

eta: That tern is just a couple of hours too far from home for me to go look for it, unfortunately.

I just got home from seeing the bird. I saw her name in the signature book.
 
You are too slow in your twitching ...you could have ticked off Yve too if you had got your act together ;)

Turns out I can.

When I was there, I had no idea what she looked like, so I didn't know she was there until I read the book when I signed it as I left.

Your post just inspired me to look up her picture online. It turns out I'd set up my scope right next to her! :-C

Although she left about 15 minutes after I arrived.
 
Technically yes...if any of the folks this year are going to Hawaii they will most likely break the record. Although I don't think they will surpass the unofficial totals logged by the last round of big year birders.

This is assuming of course that the ABA checklist update for the fall is not delayed. I doubt it will be, but this year will be a far larger update than any other they have had to provide since the organization first cobbled together there list.
 
I'll bet we get decisions on all of last year's provisionals, too.
Based on eBird, the Stolls have added 30 or so species in Hawaii thus far.
The 700 Club will be growing, as Gaylee Dean has 701 on eBird and her husband, Richard, is three behind her. I can't yet speak to the number of exotics that may be on their lists. Laura is hoping to get them to send their lists to me for inclusion on the sheets.
I wouldn't count Evan Speck out the running for 700, either, as he has 665 so far. A number of members of the 700 Club kicked into gear during fall migration.

Joe
 
That sound you my have heard was the deletion of Thayer's Gull from everyone's eBird list. I found out when I went to look at the Illinois state list numbers and saw that I'd dropped by one. All Thayer's sighting are now Iceland Gull (Thayer's).
Of course, all the 2017 Big Year birders get to keep Thayer's this year.

In other news, the Stolls racked up 56 year birds in Hawaii.
Joe
 
That sound you my have heard was the deletion of Thayer's Gull from everyone's eBird list. I found out when I went to look at the Illinois state list numbers and saw that I'd dropped by one. All Thayer's sighting are now Iceland Gull (Thayer's).
Of course, all the 2017 Big Year birders get to keep Thayer's this year.

In other news, the Stolls racked up 56 year birds in Hawaii.
Joe

So if the list update to include Hawaii happens before the end of the year, they seem destined for the official record?

I think we can accept retrospective identifications - she is hereby upon your list :t:

I retrospectively identified Greg Miller last year. Having read The Big Year several times, I really was quite excited. (I appreciate that makes me a really sad b#st#rd.)

All the best
 
Do they get to keep Thayers? Seems odd they get to keep that bird and keep the new Hawaiian additions and Cassia Crossbill. If I was doing a big year I would probably delete Thayers from my list this year

This is why I wish the ABA update every year was in January, not Oct/Nov.
 
If I was doing a big year I would probably delete Thayers from my list this year

My view would be that one wouldn't know they were going to do it for sure, and if I'd chased a Thayer's then I'd want it included. But you're not the only one who thinks the way you do: when going through Bill Rydell's book to glean his species list, I found that he had Ringed Turtle-Dove in 1992. He was sure they were going to delist it the next year and decided not to include it (he writes about it in the book). In current practice a birder would have taken it. It's not quite like the Thayer's, which was delisted during the same year; his dove wasn't delisted until the next year. His call, though: 714 it is, not 715.

Joe
 
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