Marcia’s Big Year…aka Marcia's 365

Guest series by Marcia OBara

Follow along this year as Marcia travels around the US in search of birds and freedom in the "Roadrunner!"

My Big Year is a work in progress. Believe it, or not, there are rules for Big Years. Most Big Years are V-E-R-Y expensive, require a year of your life and include frantic flights and land travel to cram in as many species as possible. According to the ABA website, in order to submit my total the year must start at 0000 on January 1 and end on December 31 the same year. The birds must be countable and be seen or heard by me in order for it to count.

Are you wondering who sets the Big Year rules? The American Birding Association, of course. The very same ABA that splits and lumps species and rules on rarities. So I won’t be submitting my stats to them.

My Big Year will break some of the rules. Mine is intended to reward myself for a long life of caring for others. It is designed to be a reasonable cost, no expensive air flights, and a laid-back effort to see as many birds as possible in 365 days of travel by RV, foot and electric bicycle. My intent is to visit most of the states east of the Mississippi as well as some southwestern areas. I may even get to Canada a few times. All in the ABA area, but the rule breaker is that mine will start on April 1, 2019 (maybe starting April Fool’s Day is not the best idea?) and last for 365 days– at least that is the plan as of February 20, 2019.

Here are the rules I have set for myself:

• If heard-only it must be a species I know or be so obvious that I cannot miss
• If others with me see or hear a bird, I will not count it unless I also do so
• I will eBird every sighting, I will try to submit one or more lists every day
• I can and likely will hire local guides (unless they insist on taking me out just for the fame that will come of helping me)
• I will bird in the RV, walking or on the electric bike – or in planes, trains and automobiles
• In the case of rarities, if an eBird reviewer does not agree with a sighting I will keep it on my private list, not on the trip list – but I reserve the right to blog my displeasure
• I will not play recorded calls or songs unless not in breeding season. For rare or endangered species no recordings at all
• I will spish, squeak and make all manner of weird mouth noises, guaranteed to be irresistible to all birdlife in the vicinity

I will drive my 24’ class C motorhome. I have named her The Roadrunner. I will not tow a car, so good-bye to The Bird Car. She has been a great companion to me and I will miss her. My new ride will be a Pedego Interceptor electric bicycle, an adventure in itself.

The Roadrunner!

I will look for as many nature or birding festivals as I can find along my route. More eyes = more birds. Birders I meet will be the best source of bird finding info. I will also ask those following my Facebook page for advice.

The very kind and generous folks at Tucson Audubon have offered to let me blog on their web site. I will also have a closed Facebook page called Marcia365. If you visit and request to follow me I will accept.

I am new to blogging so I will try to keep it interesting, and take pictures. I am hoping my bird photography skills improve or you will all be treated to photos of me dumping the waste tanks.

My early trip will start in southeastern Arizona, head out to New Mexico and to Roswell NM (can’t bird all the time) for some alien viewing. Then to Austin TX for Golden-cheeked warbler and Black-headed vireo. Next stop will be FeatherFest in Galveston. Looks like a great festival there.

I will head for Ohio (bet you can figure out why!) with a swing through the southern states and a visit to my sister.

After 10 days at the Biggest Week in American Birding (I plan to enter the best bird tattoo contest), I will head to New York, and the Buffalo area. The Allegany Nature Pilgrimage will be my next stop and it will be so nice to see old birding buddies and see the wonderful hardwood forests of southern western New York.

Follow me here and on my Facebook page if you are interested. My blog postings will always be after I have left an area and I will not blog about specific locations or dates. Dang it, broke the rule already with festival mentions.

I would love for you to follow my adventures. Join me and let’s see if I can hit 500 species (not my real goal, but every birder so far has asked me my target number) in 365 days!

About Marcia
Marcia OBara has been a birder since 1984. What started out as a little trip across the country after retirement has evolved into a rather unconventional Big Year.

After 48 years as a nurse, Marcia will travel across the eastern US in an RV, trying to visit as many birding festival as possible and birding every day for 365 days! She does not have a goal, but 500 species would be great.

Marcia has been an active member of Tucson Audubon for the past 5 years, joining in for field trips, volunteering for festivals and events as well as at the Paton Center. She has participated in Christmas Bird Counts, cuckoo surveys and her favorites, Elegant Trogon surveys. She was pleased to be offered the chance to blog about her Big Year here and hopes the Tucson Audubon members and other readers will enjoy reading about her adventures. She is also on Facebook in a closed group, so visit Marcia365 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/Marcia365/) and ask to join!

Welcome and I hope you enjoy.