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

I had hoped for a dozen new Year Birds during my four days in Puerto Rico. But I’m leaving with just one new species, the Ruddy Quail-Dove. Special thanks to Alf Wilson who drove me this last week. We had some special moments. The most memorable was speeding out to sea in a two-seat jet ski to check out Brown Boobies perched on a buoy several miles off Cabo Rojo. As I rode the plane back to Orlando on the evening of Dec 3, I pondered my next move.   My South Pacific adventure would begin on December 6 so I had an opportunity to score some more lower 48 species on December 4 and 5. I am six species away from 700 species in the lower 48 contiguous United States this year.    I considered my options.    If I could score three in these two days I might be able to get the three more at the end of the month when I return from the South Pacific.    Little Gull    was showing well in Buffalo and Cleveland. A Pink-footed Goose was sticking in New York...

Today is my third day in Puerto Rico with Alf Wilson, and I finally scored my first new bird for my Big Year in the USA and Territories: Ruddy Quail-Dove (828) calling at Bosque Estatal Sosua in Sabana Grande. We are headed to the eastern end of the island tonight with one full day to go before flying tomorrow evening to Orlando from Aguadilla, located at the northwest corner of the island. Tomorrow will be a somewhat frantic day. I would really like to return from this trip with at least 4 new birds. 

[i welcome this first entry to my Biggest Year Blog submitted by Nicholas Alexander Komar, my 29 year-old son and occasional birding partner. If anyone else wishes to write a cameo essay as part of this blog, you are welcome to do so, either by submitting it to me by text (970-449-3645 or email (mocinno65@gmail.com), or by using the comment field. - Nick Komar] I’ve  been closely monitoring my Dad’s Big Year progress. Every morning I log into eBird, find my Dad’s profile page, and look through his newly submitted checklists from the previous day. This lets me vicariously go birding to all the amazing places his journey takes him, while also making sure my Dad hasn’t succumbed to his crazy ambitions. At this stage in Dad’s Big Year, I know he has to grind for every new species. There is only about 6 weeks left, and the list of available targets is dwindling. Living in Texas the past 5 years, I’ve learned that the Winter is a good time for Mexican vagrants to show up along the southe...

I hadn’t been home to Colorado in over a month. My flight from San Jose to Denver on Southwest Airlines arrived at 1 AM on Monday, November 13, 2023. The next shuttle to Fort Collins was not until 5 AM so it would be another uncomfortable night in an airport. I had time to check my status in the competition categories that are tracked in eBird and ponder my next moves.   My primary competition category is USA and Territories. Marshall Iliff had told me that his team of eBird programmers would eventually create this category but that it would not happen soon. So I couldn’t track my progress in that category compared to other eBird users but I think it is safe to assume that I was at the top of the ranking by at least 25 species. My species count of 824 was well on my way to my goal of 900    species for my “Biggest Year”. I still had trips to American Somoa and the Mariana’s (Guam, Saipan, Rota, etc) planned for December. I had pushed these trips back from October to enabl...

Pelagics and me—we don’t mix well. We are like fish-oil and water. It all started when I was 17 and got very seasick off Cape Hatteras. As you will see in this chapter, my issues with pelagic boat rides continue. I arrived at Fort Lauderdale Airport at about 11 PM on Thursday, November 10, 2023. Beto Matheus had reserved a 21-foot boat from his boat club for Saturday morning, November 12.    Based on his experience taking the boat out just a few miles offshore from West Palm Beach earlier in the year, he expected to find some decent pelagic species. My target species were Cory’s Shearwater, Audubon’s Shearwater, Black-capped Petrel and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel.  My early arrival gave me an extra day to chase any rarities that may have been discovered in Florida. In fact, a Fork-tailed Flycatcher had just been discovered near Panama City Beach. Unfortunately, the distance was too great for a 1-day road trip. Beto texted me to say that he had also reserved a boat for Friday...

I spent all day Monday, October 30, 2023, at Tres Rios Overbank, an impressive riparian preserve   in Maricopa County, on the outskirts of  Phoenix, Arizona. Equally impressive was the cloud of mosquitoes that chased me away from the site at the end of the day. The Northern Jacana had moved on from its favorite patch of water cress. Consolation for missing another staked-out target vagrant was a Brown Pelican (rare in eBird) loafing on a sand bar with     cormorants on the principal water retention pond near the entrance to the facility.   I left Tres Rios about 6 PM and began my long 2000-mile journey. My next destination was Big Bend National Park in Texas. Nolan Walker, a young birding guide from Arizona, had stumbled upon a Nutting’s Flycatcher at the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook along the Rio Grande River a couple weeks earlier and it was being reported almost daily. Most of the observations were from the morning when it would vocalize. I would have liked to...

Kathy Kay and I made a valiant effort to chase the Garganey at Arcata Marsh on Thursday, October 26, 2023. The Garganey, a small duck that had strayed from Asia, didn’t show but Kathy picked out a drake Eurasian Wigeon among the many hundreds of waterfowl present. On Friday, October 27, 2023, we tried to chase another Asian vagrant, Common Greenshank, without success.  This is a large sandpiper similar to our Greater Yellowlegs, but with greenish legs.   A close encounter with a Barred Owl was a consolation for missing the Greenshank. We arrived at the harbor at Half Moon Bay at 6 AM Saturday, October 28, 2023, in plenty of time to board Alvaro Jaramillo’s organized pelagic. I was looking forward to meeting Alvaro for the first time but it turned out he was guiding in Chile or somewhere. Instead he had arranged for several experts in sea bird identification to accompany us and serve as leaders for the group of 20+ birders. Among the experts were Steve Howell and Peter Pyle, bo...