Addendum

 

The Big Day started in Port Aransas, where it usually does.  Judy and I aren’t there, we’re still at Sandpipers 170 miles south.  Judy stayed here, I went there; this is not something Judy wants to do.  A Big Day.  I’ve described it before as “Like having fun, but different.”  Judy agrees.  So really the Big Day started the day before for me.  I drove to Port Aransas (with a stop at Snoopy’s for an early dinner).  I checked into a room and slept for three hours before meeting Jon at midnight.  I wanted to be well-rested.

 

You know it’s really Jon’s Big Day.  He plans it.  We both do it, we both look and listen, but he spots way more birds way faster than I do.  There are other people that help as well.  People call and text during the day to say what they’re seeing and where.  Usually we don’t divert much from our itinerary, but by the end of the day when we’re scratching out every last bird we can before dark, those calls and texts really help.  There was a fair amount of dashing back and forth that last hour or two and we got some cool migrants as a result.

 

A whole bunch of year-birds for me.  A few year-birds for Jon, but he’s already doing a Texas Year, so he’s been hard at it since January 1^st.  One new Lifer for me; the Whip-poor-will.  Good to get that one.  Now I still need to hear one call.  I may have to go a little farther east for that.  Maybe Georgia.

 

So, as I said before, a good Big Day, but throw in an extra 350 miles of driving for me to pull it off this year.