100 Birds in 24 Hours

Gray Catbird

So last weekend my Aunt Woody, Elissa, and myself “competed” in the North Coast Open.  I say “competed” because we turned out to be the only team in the Open division.  Nearly every other team, minus one Senior division squad, chose to do their Big Day in the Free Style division.  Unlike us, they did not have to have every birder on the team see the bird in order for it to count.  One of those teams tallied 154 species.  Again though, they had no rules.

Our team, dubbed “But No Owls”, was able to see 100 different species in the 24 hour span.  It was the first time that I had ever reached the triple digit mark while birding.  And it was exhausting.  We hit up Oak Openings at 9pm Friday night to see what we could see before it got too dark.  Our first bird of the tourney proved to be a good one on multiple fronts.  The Common Nighthawk is a crazy flyer and a lot of fun to watch.  They have an unmistakable voice which always helps with identification.  As a bonus, they were flying extra low so we really got a good look.  It was also a new bird for the year!

Immature Baltimore Oriole

After maybe 10 minutes of walking around, a minivan pulled up next to us.  A mom and son popped out.  The mother began to ask me if we were part of the North Coast Open when she stopped mid sentence and turned to her son and said, “Look...it’s the teacher from the paper!”  Local celebrity...check.  The mom and son turned out to be Monica and Nate Koszycki.  Although Monica really isn’t a birder yet, her 13 year old son Nate is well on his way to being an all-star.  He has an amazing ear.  He picked out a Field Sparrow and Whip-poor-will like it was his job.  More on Nate for a future post.

After a few hours of sleep, Lis and I met Aunt Woody back at Oak Openings just before 6am.  We picked up some of the Oak Openings specialties, and even scored a decent number of warblers.  From there, we stopped at the quarry in the Hidden Harbor neighborhood off of Angola.  I wanted to see if there were any lingering loons.  No loons, but we did get a Horned Grebe which is still fairly rare this late in the spring.

Next was the usual hot spots out on Route 2.  Metzgers, Magee, and Ottawa weren’t as lively as they were a week ago, but we still tallied quite a list.  We also made stops at Toussaint Wildlife Area and the Camp Perry beach.  I had never been to Camp Perry before so I was interested to see what it would be like.  I was happy to find 10 Ruddy Turnstones on the beach.  I previously had only seen this bird once before.  It was many years ago and it was only one solitary individual.  To see so many at such a close range was really something.

Black-crowned Night-heron

The highlight of the whole day, for me, was the dumpster diving Black-crowned Night-herons at the Marathon station near Davis Besse.  I had heard about these birds from someone on the boardwalk several weeks back.  There is a fish cleaning place right behind the Marathon.  The workers toss the fish guts and other waste into the dumpster after they are done getting the fillets.  Sea gulls are naturally expected to be hanging around such a place, but Night-herons?  Really?  Yes really.  Check out that picture!  Plus, the Night-herons turned out to be our 100th bird for the day.  I couldn’t ask for a better ending.

The end of the school year is rapidly approaching.  Although I’ll have more time on my hands, I probably won’t be birding as much.  Ruby will only be going to the sitter a couple days a week, which means Daddy and Ruby will be hanging out much more during the next few months.  I’m looking forward to this time with my daughter.  Hopefully trips to the park will allow both of us to enjoy what nature has to offer.  Happy birding!