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Joining this story a bit late?  Click here for part one.  Click here for part two. … The delicious mojito that I gulped down with lunch had sufficiently numbed my poor, sore butt enough that getting back on the bike caused no pain.  We three insane Swarovski Triathlon Hawks made our way back through downtown [...]

Joining this story a post late?  Click here to read part 1. After our slow start to the day we were amazed when, while waiting for Clay’s flat tire to be repaired, Brian counted up our list and realized we had tallied 94 species.  We had thought we were doing much, much worse than that and our [...]

Higbee Beach.  The 2nd Avenue Jetty.  The Beanery.  The Meadows.  Hidden Valley.  The Hawkwatch Platform.  Any birder who has ever visited Cape May and many who have not will recognize these place names that are iconic in the birding world.  All of them were on the route of the Triathlon Hawks, our Swarovski Optik-sponsored team [...]

We had agreed that our Queens Big Day, after lasting all day and encompassing many great birds, would finish where it started, within the friendly and familiar confines of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.  We three intrepid big day birders, me, Doug Gochfeld and Heydi Lopes, joined again by Shane Blodgett, would try to fill in [...]

After spending all day birding exhaustion was setting in as we, that is, Doug, Heydi, and I, made our way to the coast in the hopes of getting some good coastal species somewhere out in the southwesternmost portion of Queens, the barrier beach peninsula, Breezy Point.  Doug had scouted the area the day before and [...]

When we left our three crazies, Heydi, Doug, and I, we had just finished our morning on the coast and were heading to Forest Park to start working on adding forest species like wood-warblers, vireos, and thrushes to the day list.  Doug had foolishly wisely turned driving duties over to me because of my familiarity [...]

When one does a birding big day a host of difficulties can arise that destroy one’s chances at getting a great number of species.  Traffic, weather, a lack of migrant movement, and just plain bad luck can all conspire to limit the number of species one spots.  But some days the opposite happens.  A decent [...]

By the time you read this blog post I will already have spent nine hours zooming around my home borough desperately trying to see as many species as possible during a Queens Big Day.  But it is not as if I rushed out of the house this morning and ran willy-nilly from park to park [...]

With many, many, many apologies to Wallace Stevens, who does not deserve what I am about to do to his most famous poem, here is my take on the Superbowl of birding, which has been covered almost exhaustively already by my teammates on the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, Andrew, John, Christopher, Mike, and Nate.  So, without further ado, [...]

By the time this blog post publishes I will be in a minivan with Andrew and John heading north and east to compete in the Super Bowl of Birding!  Along the way we will likely be stopping to look for previously reported rarities so hopefully we will have lots to blog about upon our return.  [...]

Our legions of fans and followers can relax and the rumors of our demise can be put to bed: the Bloggerhead Kingbirds are going to compete in the Superbowl of Birding VII.  Though internal dissension almost destroyed our team before we could get it off the ground this year (Who knew that the color and [...]

This report on The Razorbills’ day at the World Series of Birding was submitted by Hope Batcheller, the impetus behind the New York State Young Birders Club.  In it she details the day’s efforts, efforts that were hopefully supported by at least some 10,000 Birds readers (you can still support the team for more info [...]

This guest post is written by Hope Batcheller, a young dynamo in the New York State birding scene.  In it, she asks for support for The Razorbills, a team of five keen teenage birders (who probably don’t want to be referred to as “keen”).  Please support them, because, well, teenagers who are not mugging little [...]

When competing in a birding competition a team of birders will undoubtedly experience blissful highs whenever a new bird, especially a good new bird, is sighted.  With those highs, however, come the lows whenever an expected bird is missed, especially when it is a good bird.  Our Superbowl of Birding team, the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, were [...]

…of birding. Tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd, is the Superbowl of Birding, a twelve hour contest in the bitter New England winter, a race against the elements and time to score the highest possible score by seeing more and better birds than all the other teams.  The Bloggerhead Kingbirds, the crack bird-blogger squad that Christopher has [...]

On the next to last weekend in January, when the cold wind is blowing snow and ice and there is nothing I’d rather be doing than reading a book while curled up on my couch under a blanket and a cat or two , I’ll be birding.  Not only will I be birding, but I’ll [...]

Though Mike has already put up a post about our Montezuma Muckrace experience so much happened during the loooong day of birding that there is plenty more to post.  It was a great day and Will, Jory and Mike were tenacious teammates: it’s unusual for four people, much less birders, to be in a somewhat [...]

This weekend two-thirds of the 10,000 Birds triumvirate participated in the 12th Annual Montezuma Muckrace. I’m pleased to report that we lived to tell the tale. Corey and I, accompanied by ace birders Jory Langner and Will Raup, ushered in a shining new era of competitive Big Day birding, the debut of the 10,000 Birds [...]

That’s right, for the first time ever 10,000 Birds will field a team in a birding competition!  The annual Montezuma Muckrace, scheduled for the end of next week, will be our inaugural event.  We can’t wait!  Our squad, composed of four guys hoping not to make fools of ourselves of the finest birders in New York [...]

I don’t know what is wrong with me. After a wonderful day last Saturday doing a Big Day in Queens I decided to do another Big Day upstate this past Saturday with Will from The Nightjar. The last two years when Will and I have done the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club’s Century Run we ended up [...]