Nick Komar’s “Biggest Year” in USA Birding - 2023

I flew from Minneapolis to Boston on the morning of Sunday, June 25, 2023. I arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport at 2:15 PM just as Irene Fortune, Gregg Goodrich and Anna Troth arrived from Colorado. They had signed up for a tour of northern New England to be led by local guide Eric Hynes. Eric lives in central Maine. He grew up in Massachusetts and then  moved to Maine where he became  a birding guide. He recently had been living in Telluride, CO, where he created his own guiding company called Box Canyon Birding. I got to know him when I co-led a field trip to San Miguel County during the 2019 Colorado Field Ornithologists convention in Montrose. He reminded me that we first met much earlier when his Field Guides grouse tour crossed paths with my Quetzal Tours grouse tour on Rabbit Ears pass about ten years ago. Eric now leads tours around the world for Field Guides. He had just returned from guiding in Finland. He picked us up in a rented minivan at 3 PM and off we went. This was very

I returned home from Alaska on   the morning of June 10, 2022,  feeling somewhat fatigued. Yes, I had been birding practically nonstop since April but that was not the issue. And I flew home from Anchorage on a red-eye flight via Salt Lake City. That wasn’t it either. What was dragging me down was a cold I had picked up in Gambell. I had not been sick in years, since before the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. Just in case I tested myself for COVID and lo and behold the test result came back POSITIVE. I had COVID! Fortunately, my symptoms were mild and I was already recovered. After informing the group I learned that two others developed symptoms and tested positive. Both made full recoveries. It was time to review my progress with my Big Year.   Alaska was quite productive. Forty-five year birds including fifteen (!)  ABA Code 3+ species. I had now seen 31 of these rarer species, mostly vagrants. My goal was 40-50 Code 3+ species for the year. This was an excellent accomplishment becau

Gambell, AK, is a small whaling village at the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. About 600 people live there. A lodge is available for visitors. Our birding guide Aaron Lang, owner/operator of Wilderness Birding Adventures, arranged for our group of 7 to stay there. He and assistant guide Steve Heinl had access to the kitchen area and prepared our meals for the 6 days we stayed there. Both guides are very knowledgeable about all Alaskan birds. Steve is among an elite group of five people who have seen more than 400 species of birds in the state of Alaska. Both Aaron and Steve are highly respected in the birding community and both serve on the Alaska Bird Checklist Committee. Aaron also serves on the ABA  Checklist Committee. Our group included Sue Riffe, Tom Hall, Michael Costello, Sandy Winkler, Lori Pivonka, Oliver Komar and yours truly, Nick Komar. Most of us arrived late morning on June 4, almost a full day later than planned because low cloud cover over Gambe