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Pelagic Birding in Molly and Larry's Big Year Pelagic Birding

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Big Year birders meet in San Diego 2024 Pelagic Trips and a few Pre and Post Pelagic Quickies. Hatteras Pelagic   Have you ever seen a Sooty Shearwater at your feeder.  How about an Albatross?  I didn't think so.   Shearwaters, Auklets, Albatrosses spend most of their life over the seas. they don't come to birders we come to them.   And if you want to find a lot of birds in a big year have to take to the sea. Luckily, Molly and I live on the west coast and have access to some of the best pelagic trips in the county.  The pelagic season on the Pacific Coast runs from June to October.  But this year we got a head start on May 10th in Hatteras North Carolina.   Let's look back.     Hatteras North Carolina May 10th Pelagic #1 Wilson Storm Petrels abounded on the Atlantic  A Big Year is all about planning.  You have to love the planning.    On our  big Spring-Migration trip we did a mini-pelagic/song bird day on May 5...
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Molly and Larry's big Year The Great Northwest June 21 to July 2 2024

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Just back from Alaska Molly at the end of June the weather in Northern California was fine, and chicks were popping out of their nests. It was time to fire up the Bird Van and bird the great Pacific Northwest.  Our route would take us to: 1. Northern California 2. Oregon 3. Washington 4. Montana 5. Idaho  and 6. Nevada in that order.   State #1.   Northern California :  Lassen National Park .   On June 21st we drove into Lassen National Park. It was the first day of our longer sweep of the lower 48 Pacific Northwest for unidentified ABA birds. (As opposed to our just completed Northwest Alaskan adventure)  Our Lassen target was the Black-backed woodpecker in the recovering Dixie fire Zone within the park. We struck out but enjoyed the views of the June fledglings all around us, including the Black-capped Chickadee (right) and the lovely baby American Coot (above). And we did pick up  a Cassin's Finch and a Hermit Warbler (right/above) for the Big ...
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