The Big Sit! Big Birding Fun on 10/11/09
Posted by Administrator | Under Recent Field Trips Tuesday Nov 3, 2009
Birding is, and always will be, a fun activity. One of the most fun types of birding is the Big Day, where you count as many birds as possible in 24-hours.
To take that challenge even further, some folks decided to invent the Big Sit, which is a Big Day conducted form a 17-foot diameter circle. You pick one place and see how many bird species can be observed from that location during a 24-hour time period.
On Sunday, October 11, birders gathered atop Hawk Watch Hill at the Ashland Nature Center to take part in the Big sit event for the third year in a row.
We started at 3:45am, listening for birds of the night. Great-horned Owls and Screech Owls made territorial calls, while migrating Snow Geese, Great Blue Herons and many songbirds called as they flew overhead. Great conditions for bird migration made the day very exciting, and our species total added up quickly. By 8:00am, we had observed 50 species!
Throughout the day, families and Delaware Dunlins members visited the hill and helped to spot birds. Great birds like Blue-headed Vireo, Merlin, Wood Ducks, and Hermit Thrush made for memorable sightings.
A total of 140 people, including at least 40 youth birders, visited and took part in the Big Sit during our 17 hours of observation. We finished with a total of 82 species, which placed us 10th out 200 teams participating worldwide.
For the official results, check out the Big Sit site(team name is Twitching Talons in Hockessin, DE):
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/bigsit/userconsole.php?action=results_2009&id=statistics
Check out our special Big Sit video, with highlights from the day!
http://animoto.com/play/00gclntORqsGWd2KJBXFNw?autostart=true