My Big Month - Day 1

One of my good birder friends had been telling me about this movie for some time that had something to do with birding. So in the depths of our long (long) winter, I finally got to see it and found it both funny and inspiring. "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin and Jack Black is the story of some serious birders who devote an entire calendar year to birding -and specifically to spot as many different species as possible. Believe it or not, this is something people do in real life. If you see the movie you might think the lengths they go to are embellished, but from what I know it is quite true to life. But unlike the characters in the movie, I'm not ready to quit my job and spend my life's saving's traveling all over the country. However it did give me the inspiration to do my own "Big Month!" I've made up my own rules but basically my first and foremost goal is simply to be out birding every single day during the month of May. I'm going to attempt to do this all at Palmer Lake Park -though I really can't predict where I might end up in order to be out every single day. Also, though I will try to document a total number of species for the month, I'm not necessarily out to see the most numbers I can. For me, it will be about "being out there" every day during what I would consider the most glorious month of all for birding in Minnesota. To keep things do-able, my blog posts for the next 31 days will feature only one photo. It will be my favorite photo for whatever reason strikes me that day. It might be the most interesting bird I saw, or it might just be a nice photo of a common bird.

My pick for my very first day is a returning bird I've not seen since last season -a Brown Thrasher. I actually heard it long before I saw it and the beautiful song struck me as something out of the ordinary. At first I thought it was a Gray Catbird but as I listened, I started to pick up on notes or phrases being repeated twice. This is a dead giveaway for the Brown Thrasher and I followed the sound in order to finally spot him. None of my photos turned out that great today as it was extremely overcast and dark. In fact it had been snowing most of the afternoon while I was at work, but nothing stuck to the ground thankfully. Anyway, I was most happy to see this bird today and was the highlight of my visit.

Total species seen today: Brown Thrasher, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Canada Goose, Mallard, Wood Duck, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, Mourning Dove, Sandhill Crane, Bald Eagle, and One Unknown Species.

Conditions: 37 degrees and overcast with rain sprinkles.