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So....how far would you travel? (1 Viewer)

Q

qmu101

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Hopefully in the right thread here!

Probably a question for the Twitcher's among us but how far would you travel to see a rare bird?

I'm pretty adventurous and like to travel so I'd probably head to a new continent but I'm curious about everyone else :D

So how about it, how far would you go? OR more interestingly, is there somewhere you *wouldn't* go?

Also, Happy New Year all
 
That is going to depend on a range of factors for me.

Is it rare globally? Or does it normally exist in some remote region that would be expensive to travel to?

Is it a common bird, but just normally not present in the region (In my case state or ABA area)?

Is it a lifer? an ABA area bird? Do I need it for my year list?

Is it something relatively unique and cool looking, or is it a drab sparrow or warbler?

What are the odds I am going to see the bird? Is it a skulker that most people spend all day hunting for and miss? Has the bird not been seen recently?

Are there other interesting birds nearby?

So far, since moving to Laramie I have made 4 long distance twitches: 3 2 hour twitches to the Denver area (Ross' Gull, Curlew Sandpiper, and Brambling), and one 6ish hour long distance twitch for Common Crane in Nebraska. I managed to see the gull and Brambling, but dipped on the sandpiper and crane. However I managed to pick up other lifers while searching (Pectoral Sandpiper and Greater Prairie Chicken respectively). I pretty much will only twitch nowadays for something that would be a lifer or ABA area bird, and even then work and money keep my traveling limited to day's travel or less from Laramie.
 
Twitched the tundra bean goose at Beckenham Fen, also western sandpiper at Cley and arctic redpoll at Titchwell all on the same day, round trip of just short of 300 miles.
 
Try to set a 4 hour journey time but now and again something will push me to move the goalposts......Common Yellowthroat for one.
 
My usual criteria is I have to spend at least twice as long birding as driving.

But if someone else is driving then who cares?

Steve
 
It all depends. I've gone 5 hours for a really neat ABA lifer, but usually my limit for a twitch is about 3 hours drive, and about 2 hours for a state bird.

But I'll fly for a long weekend if there's a few new species for NA to pick up as well as some general birding.
 
Off to the Arctic to go connect with Steller's Eiders... So yeah am up for a.bit of travel for a lifer.
 
Driven 9 hours to see the Tufted flycatcher in Big Bend. Problem with living in Texas is that a drive for a rarity in state can be a 30 minute drive or a 11 hour drive! I can get to parts o
f Oklahoma, Louisiana & New Mexico quicker than some parts of Texas!! If I had the money, I'd go any where I could!
 
I've twitched pretty much all corners of the British Isles. I probably wouldn't twitch overseas for anything (well, maybe a Steller's Sea Eagle in Belgium ;))

Mr Lewis obviously hasn't found this thread yet....

John
 
not many UK places I haven't twitched to but IIRC Rosehearty (Sept 99) was an 800 mile round trip, which ranks it as my longest journey for a single bird beating the 720 mile round trip for a day on Scilly (May 02)
 
I'll chase a lifer if it's within a day's drive from where I live. The trip could involve an overnight stay depending on whether I see the bird or not.

In December I drove to New Jersey and back in one day to see a Pink-footed Goose. That was a 17-hour trip, but included five hours waiting for the goose to show up.

In early 2012 I drove to Delaware to look for a Razorbill that had been seen in an inlet for several days running. I didn't see it on the afternoon I got there so I stayed the night. I looked again the next morning but never saw the bird.

Another twitch was an 11-hour round-trip drive between Indiana and Wisconsin to see a Green-breasted Mango. I only saw the bird for about 20 seconds--a lot of driving for just a quick glimpse.

Dave
 
Mysticete said:
That is going to depend on a range of factors for me.

Is it rare globally? Or does it normally exist in some remote region that would be expensive to travel to?

Is it a common bird, but just normally not present in the region (In my case state or ABA area)?

Is it a lifer? an ABA area bird? Do I need it for my year list?

Is it something relatively unique and cool looking, or is it a drab sparrow or warbler?

What are the odds I am going to see the bird? Is it a skulker that most people spend all day hunting for and miss? Has the bird not been seen recently?

Are there other interesting birds nearby?

So far, since moving to Laramie I have made 4 long distance twitches: 3 2 hour twitches to the Denver area (Ross' Gull, Curlew Sandpiper, and Brambling), and one 6ish hour long distance twitch for Common Crane in Nebraska. I managed to see the gull and Brambling, but dipped on the sandpiper and crane. However I managed to pick up other lifers while searching (Pectoral Sandpiper and Greater Prairie Chicken respectively). I pretty much will only twitch nowadays for something that would be a lifer or ABA area bird, and even then work and money keep my traveling limited to day's travel or less from Laramie.
Click to expand...

How about the Basra Reed Warbler? It's quite exotic because the global population tend to be in one area, buuuuut that area is the Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq - so that's probably quite a journey for most of our resident twitchers!

Plus...while an exotic warbler, it's still a warbler so it doesn't *look* exotic, but still one for the checklist! I'd probably go if there were a group tour or something, but I doubt I'd go solo. :eek!:
 
No more than ten miles (well, maybe if it was a real crippler) ...
I only twitched one bird last year (Boney's Gull), and that was in walking distance of home.
Maybe the recession has something to do with it.
 
If one is referring to twitches of individual birds, then I can echo what Mysticete has said. For me, I'll travel furthest (several hours) for lifers, but my threshold is much smaller for ABA or state lifers. Just this week I drove 4.5 hours one way to see White-winged Crossbills in Missouri, a species that was high on my wishlist. Probably my longest twitch, actually.

For state birds, I mostly only chase birds within an hour's drive unless I'm doing more general birding elsewhere in the state. One exception was the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch that showed up at Mt. Magazine last year, about 2 hours from here. That was also a lifer at the time. On the other hand, I never went to see the Tufted Duck that overwintered several years in a row 2.5 hours away, even though it would have been a lifer at the time.

For birding more generally, I love to travel to new places, and I can't think of anywhere in the world that I wouldn't want to visit.
 
qmu101 said:
How about the Basra Reed Warbler? It's quite exotic because the global population tend to be in one area, buuuuut that area is the Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq - so that's probably quite a journey for most of our resident twitchers!

Plus...while an exotic warbler, it's still a warbler so it doesn't *look* exotic, but still one for the checklist! I'd probably go if there were a group tour or something, but I doubt I'd go solo. :eek!:
Click to expand...

Well...that would be a great bird to twitch, but I don't see it showing up within the ABA area soon.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper would definitely have me motivated for a cross country twitch...
 
I only really started twitching last year,even then I only went for the Spanish sparrow in hants and the Junco while I was down there.
I got a few decent birds like the Bluetail and arctic warbler in Norfolk in October but I was going there anyway.
I have a decent(ish) list of twitches but before last year they have all been when I have been passing or on holiday,its pretty handy at times driving for a living.
This year I am going to twitch more,it depends on work although I work for myself and can get out of it at short notice.Will probably limit it to anywhere 4 hours from London,which basically covers the majority of England,with perhaps Cornwall,Devon,Northumberland,Cumbria,yorkshire,lancs being a step too far unless its a British first
 
I might cross the road to see a rare bird , but there is no way I would get into my car to travel 1 mile to see one. Birds have to come to me , I do not go to them.
 
Depends if you mean rare bird as in population, or rare bird as in rarity/vagrant.

For vagrants I try to stick to the rule that I have to be able to drive there and back in a day, but sometimes push it. My record is a c. 4500km return drive with two friends over a long weekend for Australia's first Hoopoe :D
 
Travelling to see a bird, as far as I need to, but travelling to twitch one? I have, in my 'youth' done Fair Isle to Scilly but now it's usually as far as I can cycle.

Chris
 
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