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ABA Area Big Day Record Broken
by Ken Behrens
EDG Birding Team – from left to right: Cameron Cox, Ken Behrens, Pete Hosner, and Michael Retter.
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In the late hours of April 19th, 2008, a team consisting of Cameron Cox, Pete Hosner, Michael Retter, and myself stood in darkness at the Port Aransas Birding Center on the Texas coast. Although our hoped-for Least Bittern failed to vocalize, elation permeated the exhaustion that had set in after a grueling 24-hour big day. We had seen 260 species of birds in the past day to set a new big day record for the ABA area.
260 species of birds in a day
The quest that ended in Port Aransas had begun a long time before. Each member of the team has a long history of birding Texas, and is a longtime veteran of the Texas Birding Classic. While the Classic is a fantastic challenge, the strategy when pursuing as many birds as possible over 5 days is quite different from any single big day route. The Classic is also restricted to the coast, and doesn't include the Hill Country of central Texas - an area essential to any attempt at an ABA area big day. While racking up totals well over 200 species on single days of the Classic, we couldn't help but think of how many we might get on a true "big day".
In April 2007, a team that included Cameron, Pete, France Dewaghe, and I converted our long-ruminated thoughts of assaulting the record into action. The day was fantastic until we made a late afternoon stop for Horned Lark in Calhoun County. Despite being parked well off the road, we were sideswiped by a careless driver. Hours on the phone with the rental company, police, insurance reps, and a long and expensive taxi ride followed. Incredibly, we had tallied 251 species before the accident brought us up short. Breaking the record would have taken tremendous luck, but it was frustrating for the day to end as it did. All of us wanted another shot.
The team assembled again in 2008, although Michael was swapped for France, who was unable to escape work. This year, we spent weeks scouting much more extensively, particularly in the Hill Country. We also decided to add the lower Rio Grande valley to our route - starting there at midnight. This addition to our strategy was the main difference between our route and that of the previous record setting run.
When April 19th rolled around, everything was in place. The investment of countless hours of strategizing and scouting now rode on the caprice of Texas bird migration. As the clock hit midnight, we were stationed near the Rio Grande, and quickly heard our first owls and Paraques. Even though night migration has little bearing on how many birds are on the ground the next day, we were encouraged to hear the sky full of the calls of migrating Dickcissels.
A quick and highly successful nocturnal run through "The Valley" left us confident and elated, but with a long drive ahead of us. Hours into the drive, just when we were all having difficulty staying awake, a deer decided to liven up our morning by throwing itself in front of our vehicle. For a few moments, we feared a recapitulation of the previous year's frustrating end to the big day, but a quick examination of the car revealed only a smashed headlight and a slightly crumpled fender. The loss of a headlamp was far from debilitating, so we continued into the night. Although our lonely headlight attracted the interest of local police, the car was fine; we had made a very lucky escape from a potentially big day-ending disaster. The adrenaline rush of the collision did more than gallons of Red Bull to ensure that the team was alert at sunrise.
Dawn found us in the wonderland of the Hill Country. Although it is always frustrating to speed through such an area on a big day, I had been able to thoroughly enjoy it while scouting. This area holds a bizarre mix of birds unlike anywhere else in the US. Acadian Flycatchers and Yellow-throated Warblers sing from the lush river bottoms while Rufous-crowned Sparrows and Canyon Wrens preside over the sparsely vegetated, rocky heights. In addition to being one of the world's most remarkable natural playgrounds, the Hill Country is perfectly suited for a big day, offering a huge variety of birds, most of which are impossible to find elsewhere during the day. Our route ran superbly, and we were pleased to pick up some bonus species like a late Hermit Thrush and a Lazuli Bunting that flew into a feeding station just as we were pulling away.
Streaking across the swath of dry sub-tropical brush that separates the Hill Country from the coast, we scanned the skies until our eyes burned. Although we had to cross this area quickly, it held birds that we needed. Most of the scrub species fell into place quickly, but migrant hawks proved more difficult. Eventually we picked a Sharp-shinned Hawk out of the sky after numerous Cooper's. Late American Kestrels and Northern Harriers were great to see, as these birds were on the verge of leaving in favor of more northern climes. Small stock ponds held a good variety of lingering ducks and migrating shorebirds.
The brush country behind us, we launched into the coastal segment of our day with renewed vigor. Our first stop was Tule Lake, which is graced with incredible numbers of shorebirds throughout spring migration. There was probably nowhere else on the route where we added so many birds in such a short time. A couple of stops for stakeouts were quick and successful, and our ceaseless scanning paid off when we spotted a single Franklin's Gull and a mixed group of Broad-winged Hawks and Mississippi Kites floating overhead.
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Willet - one of many shorebird denizens of Tule Lake, where we spent the most productive 10 minutes of the big day. Ken Behrens
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As we drove into Corpus Christi, the burning question on all of our minds was "will there be enough migrants?" Blutcher Park was our first migrant spot, and the scene was initially frightening; there seemed to be no migrant passerines. As we checked more carefully, though, most of the understory species fell into place - from Swainson's and Kentucky Warblers to thrushes. A Clay-colored Robin that had been in the area for weeks was an excellent addition to the list. Although the ground-dwellers were much in evidence, more arboreal birds were almost non-existent. At the end of the day, Black-throated Green was our only Dendroica, and we didn't find a single Empidonax flycatcher. We had scraped together just enough migrants. A solid day of migration could have given us the record by a wide margin, while we would have fallen short on a worse migration day.
The beaches and roads of Mustang Island were packed due to a sand castle festival, and the ferry across to Aransas Pass had a long wait. Fortunately, we had foreseen this potential problem, and left a second car on the other side. We walked on, bypassing the long vehicle line, and were soon across and squeezing into a significantly smaller car. On the bright side, this car had two functioning headlights! In Rockport, we completed our suite of ducks, and even added an unexpected Bufflehead. Other bonus birds were a lingering Brown Thrasher and LeConte's Sparrow.
Working our way north, we entered the riverine forests north of Port O'Conner, which seemed remarkably lush after the arid stretch we'd been in since leaving the Hill Country. With a little effort, we turned up American Crow and Red-bellied Woodpecker in this habitat.
With a hazy sunset swirling across the western sky, we rocketed towards Calhoun County, the place that would make or break our big day run, and where the previous year's attempt had met its doom. Our destination was a cluster of rice fields that we had scouted for freshwater shorebirds. The first scan seemed to spell disaster; water levels had dropped drastically, and the previous day's hordes of Hudsonian Godwits seemed to have vanished. Slowly, however, we teased new species out of the acres of muddy rice fields. Least expected was a Wilson's Snipe that flew overhead calling just as we lost enough light to search for godwits.
Having averted disaster in Corpus and Calhoun, we knew we were very close to a new record. Throughout the day, we had been tracking our progress using a laptop. A post-dusk tally found us one bird shy of history. This was probably the high point of the day, as we were now almost assured of the record. All of our hard work, including long weeks of scouting, strategizing, and little sleep had paid off.
We tied the record with a gratifyingly vocal Black Rail. A ghostly Barn Owl a short time later clinched the record. Remarkably, Black Skimmer was still absent from our list. Apparently all the skimmers had been pushed off the crowded beaches and causeways of the coast. We knew of a breeding colony near Rockport, and soon after pulling up were relieved to hear the odd honking call of a skimmer cutting through the sultry humidity of the coastal night.
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Black Skimmers - If we had seen any during the big day, they might have looked like this. Ken Behrens.
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Unsuccessful attempts at a couple other birds brought us to the Port Aransas Birding Center, where we whiled away the last few moments of our record-setting day. Exhausted enough that our need for sleep trumped our need for food, we settled into a hotel for some hard-earned rest.
The ridiculous number of birds that can been seen in a day in Texas clearly illustrates what a priority the conservation of key areas in that state should be - particularly the fast-disappearing migrant stopover sites along the Gulf of Mexico. We have joined Houston Audubon in an effort to raise money for land acquisition near the Bolivar Flats. To learn more, visit our website with Houston Aubdubon.
The EDG Team owes a debt of gratitude to many people. First, and most importantly, thanks to our sponsors: Nikon Sport Optics and Birding America. Thanks also to Wildbird Magazine. Though not a sponsor this year, they sponsored all of us during many years of Texas Birding Classic competition. We are also very thankful for the information provided by the birders we met while scouting. Their advice was critical at several points during the day.
The team has already talked about returning to Texas to try to best 260. The question always remains "how high can the record go?"
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