Tired? (1 Viewer)

[TheSeagull]

What has been the most tiring birding session that you've been on? I walked around Gight Woods and that wasn't difficult but I wouldn't have done it again in a hurry, especially as I seen squat. Booked myself in for a guided ptarmigan/mountain hare walk next week though, looking forward to it but I'm a bit nervous incase the rest of the participants are all athletes or something :-O I've never been a sporty person, never seen the point in sport, I can walk an infinite distance without tiring but I can't run a few yards :smoke:

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Don't worry about it....I'll be surprised if you're the slowest one. A good guide will make sure that everyone is looked after. Let us know how you get on!

 

[billsbirding]

It's got to be when I went round Bushy Park on crutches after breaking my leg. It takes a lot of your arms and wasn't helped by the fact that I had a DSLR over my shoulder (can't go anywhere without my camera!!) but well worth it... and I found myself a Little Owl

 

[Drumming Sniper]

My most tiring birding session involved a walk from Cley Coastguards out to the end of Blakeney Point and back. Walking on shingle can be pretty energy-sapping at the best of times but my biggest mistake was in doing the walk on the final morning of a birding break. Acutely aware of the fact that I had to drive back to Gloucestershire in the afternoon, I ended up doing the whole walk at forced-march pace. I've run half-marathons and been to the tops of some fairly high mountains but I can honestly say that they were like a stroll in the park compared to that day in Norfolk!

DS

PS: Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd seen lots of birds but all I managed was a Merlin, a small bush groaning under the weight of recently-arrived Goldcrests, and Bill Oddie and a camera crew!

 

[twitcher93]

In September, we did 13 hours in a car overnight (no sleep), then another hour on a boat for the Orkney Sandhill Crane. A few hours on South Ron and then we did the entire journey back again (once more, no sleep). 28 hours travelling interspersed with a few hours birding, then a couple of short hours in bed on Sunday night and back to work Monday morning! Probably my most tiring birding trip.

 

[Mysticete]

Probably a trip to try to find newts and Western Pond Turtles in San Diego...Developed heat stroke walking up the sandy, poorly laid out, shadeless, and STEEP trail that led out of the canyon. Most aggravating is that while I was regaining my wind from the less bad trip down the canyon, my friends carried on ahead and found nesting American Dippers! Never did see any newts either, although of course birders pursuing the dippers took posted pictures of "weird aquatic lizards"...double ARRGH

 

[Jacana]

I've done the typical "mad dogs and englishmen" thing in Thailand and walked from Pak Thale to Laem Pak Bia (~15km as the spoonbilled sandpiper flies) in the mid-day sun to scan every salt pan for the aforementioned sandpipers, I forgot to take my suncream and was bright red and completely knackered by the time i got back to Bangkok in the evening; much to the amusement of everyone at work the next morning!

never did see those pesky sandpipers :-C

 

[Sancho]

Leaving home in the car/family wagon at 2.30am, with two of my kids in the back, wrapped up and belted in to sleep under sleeping bags, to drive cross-Ireland to Belmullet, for Snowy Owl. Arrived Belmullet/Termon Hill 7.30am, had breakfast ready in the car, kids had a run around, then we strolled off down the fields to look for the owl. Turns out the whole area is covered with lumps of quartz, white rocks that look just like.....Snowy Owls. Wandered up and down the whole area, about 3 km sq., until suddenly if flew up about 50m in front of us and landed a distance away. The kids nearly had canaries, we got lovely views (without hassling the bird), and then went for a swim, and a kip in the car for an hour or two. Drove home and arrived at 5.30pm. Superb day, but I slept afterwards for 12 hours. The kids painted Snowies for a week afterwards.

 

[jc122463]

Two sessions come to mind. The first was climbing Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo. Rather than driving most of the way up like most sane people do, I decided I would hike it all to see more birds. Unfortunately it was so foggy I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face! The only bird I saw the whole hike up was a Whistling-Thrush; not a new species at the time, but now that it's been split I'm happy I got it.
The second was a hike up to Monteverde in Costa Rica. I was hoping to camp so got off the bus at the cheese shop at the base. Unfortunately no one was offering camping because of the rain. I ended up hiking all the way up to the research station at the top in the rain carrying all my gear for a month long trip on my back. Again, not very many birds on the way up. I did get the Quetzal though the next day, so it was definitely worth while!

Cheers,
Benji

 

[redeyedvideo]

A couple of events spring to mind, the Roseharty Short-billed Dowitcher & the Anglesey Sooty Tern were overnight drives with no sleep 'til bedtime but a trek in searing heat to search for Pel's Fishing Owl in South Africa was a death defying experience.

Suffering from a long term back problem and carrying a tripod and video camera must have taken several years off my life but I was up for it again the next day. Unfortunately one of the younger contingent refused to endure the pain again so I live to tell the tale. B


Oh, and the French Wallcreeper twitch was another marathon but well worth it.

 

[ovenbird43]

For me it was probably my winter trip from central Ohio to Michigans's upper peninsula a few years back... I left at 9 pm after a long day of work and drove straight through the night, in rain and snow the whole time. In fact, the rain turned rather abruptly into snow and I slid off the freeway- no harm to me or my car, but the couple hours I spent waiting on the tow truck ate up the couple hours I had planned for a nap! Dawn broke just as I was arriving to the UP, for my first exposure to real northern birds- Snowy Owl, Common Redpolls, Bohemian Waxwings! So I birded all day in the cold and snow, by dusk I was searching frantically for a heard but not seen Boreal Chickadee- I got back in the car, started nodding off as I was driving :eek!:!!! so I pulled into the first hotel for a good 15-hour sleep with the poor little heater on full blast.

Whew, good times!

 

[deansmith]

every tuesday for me is a slog, my last night shift's on a monday get home at 6.30 am tuesday morning down endless cups of coffee and energy drinks then out for 7 fun !

 

[Tree Sparrow]

What has been the most tiring birding session that you've been on? I walked around Gight Woods and that wasn't difficult but I wouldn't have done it again in a hurry, especially as I seen squat. Booked myself in for a guided ptarmigan/mountain hare walk next week though, looking forward to it but I'm a bit nervous incase the rest of the participants are all athletes or something :-O I've never been a sporty person, never seen the point in sport, I can walk an infinite distance without tiring but I can't run a few yards :smoke:

That sounds like fun. Where abouts are you doing it? I'm sure you'll have a great time and I really wouldn't worry about everyone else being fitter than you as I'm sure they won't be.

I'm always tiring myself out as I'm one of those people who always want to climb up the next hill to see what's on the other side. Which is why my OH won't walk with me :-O.

TS

 

[Monahawk]

I remember going on a birding trip with a mate of mine to Dungeness about 10 years ago. He wanted to cover every single inch of ground in the area, which is pretty vast. The worst thing was it was a hot day and I quickly developed a humungus mother of all migraine which rendered me pretty useless, but foolishly I soldiered on. Bloody hell, I couldn't even use my bins or scope and my mate bless him, was oblivious to my plight, but only because I never really let on.
Boy! was I glad to see his car at the end of the day and get home [95 miles away]. I soon recovered but I was shattered for about 3 days afterwards.
Migraines. Don't recommend them.

 

[TheSeagull]

Well tried to book and it was already fully booked, at least I'm not nervous anymore! Think I might take a gentler stroll :-O

 

[mr.sim]

Climbing Cairn Gorm was pretty hard in the driving wind, and was very depressed to return down the slopes having not seen Ptarmigan. Luckily we spotted a group of 4 birds just above the carpark! It seemed a bit like a wasted trip, as the birds were literally only about 500yards from the car, but the climb made us appreciate them all the more!

A recent trip which tired me a little (mentally more than physically) was dipping the Eastern-Crowned Warbler in Durham. 4 hour drive up there, 1 hour looking at empty bushes, 4 hour (very quiet considering there were five of us in the car) drive back! One of those events I wish I could forget, but it's the dips that make you want more...and all was not lost, as I got the Brown Shrike ion Surrey 2 days later!