The Big Year Podcast

Birds are dinosaurs.  I’ll say that again.  Birds are dinosaurs.  Yes, birds, in fact, split off from a common non-avian dinosaur long before the asteroid hit 66 million years ago, and were flying the skies of our ancient planet while T-rex ruled the earth.  In fact, they shared the airspace with the pterodactyls, and out competed them.  The birds took took out the pterosaurs long before the last days of the dinosaurs.  All 11,000 modern species of birds that soar the skies today, were descended from the group of ground dwelling, seed eating, beaked, feathered dinosaurs, capable of powered flight, known as the “crown group” in the family tree. These birds made it through the apocalypse of the astroid strike that caused the extinction of all the non-avian dinosaurs, including our favorites from Jurassic Park, T-Rex, Vleosorapter and Stegosaurus.   In the original Jurassic Park, Dr. Grant famously compared a Vleosorapter skeleton to modern birds, pointing out that their bones were hollow and their pelvis was turned backwards like a bird.  Of course, he was scoffed at, and in fact many paleontologists  in the late 20th century, like Dr. Grant, were in the minority.  Ornithologists were actually amongst the last holdouts.  In the early 1900’s biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, famously knowns as “Darwin’s Bulldog,” for his dogged defense of Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection, proposed that birds were, in fact, dinosaurs and that Archaeopteryx, the first known bird, was a transitional species between dinosaurs and modern birds.  Yet, decades later, this obvious fact fell out of favor amongst scientists and ornithologists, who lacked the imagination to see what was so self-evident to Huxley. In 1994, when Jurassic Park came out, the perception was beginning to change.  Then, in 1996 the first feathered dinosaurs were discovered in China.  Suddenly the bird-dinosaur connection became a fact that no one could ignore.  Birds were and are dinosaurs.  Which brings us to today’s guest, paleontologist Riley Black, author of many books, including “When the Earth was Green,”  and “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.”  I recently finished her book “The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs,” and as I was listening, one thing became apparent early on, Riley’s history of the dinosaurs was in many ways a history of birds, from the first feathered dinosaurs, to the first that discovered flight, to our modern birds of today. And on October 27, 2026, her newest book, “Tyrant Lizard Queen” will be published in print and available as and e-book or as an audio book, which is my preference.  The book is available for preorder at your favorite digital book store, and I can’t wait to begin listening. So while I wait for publication date, it’s time to travel back in time about, oh I’d say, 120 million years with Riley Black and learn just how, where and when birds evolved from dinosaurs.    Reptiles, dinosaurs and birds, oh my!   If you want to take a deeper dive into both dinosaurs and the origin of birds, I highly recommend reading or listening to Riley’s other books, “When the Earth was Green”, “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs” and “The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs.” I would also suggest you check out the books of Neil Shubin and Steve Brusatte.      

Welcome birders to fall migration and a new episode of The Big Year Podcast, with me your congenial host, Robert Baumander.   It’s the time of where the phrase, “there’s no birding like shore birding” comes to mind.     In fact, I’ve written a little song to commemorate the Occasion:   There’s no birding like shore birding.  There’s no birding I know.  Every little sandpiper is amazing.  Every little plover is divine. Nowhere can you can you get that birdy feeling When you are see-ing a Snowy Plover   There’s no birders like shore birders They smile at the sea shore Yesterday they told you, you had missed the bird Today you’re back to get your Lifer Plover And you’re heart’s racing for more   Just yesterday down at Turkey Point Beach in Norfolk County, I enjoyed a young, migrating Red Knot, mingling with a Semipalmated Sandpiper and a few Semipalmated Plovers.  Closer to home, we had shorebirds and sandpipers in farmer’s fields, especially sod farms and flooded fields.  First up, here in Brant County, was a Short-billed Dowitcher, and over a dozen American Golden Plovers at our local sod farm. Baird’s Sandpipers came next, followed by everyone’s favorite fall migrant, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  The dowitcher was a new county bird, species 248, finally landing me in the top five all time for Brant County in just under six years.  Hey, I like numbers, I like lists and lists of numbers. Anyway, all of us avid birders here in Brant County got our first looks at the buff-breasted last year at this time, and we were lucky enough to get one again this year too.   In fact, I got see it with two of my favorite local birders, Ellen and Jerry Horak.  And wouldn’t you know it, the more obsessive half of the couple, Ellen, just happens to be my guest today.  A nice little bit of Serendipity, if you will.  In fact, after a winter trip to Costa Rica, it was Ellen’s 601st species of the year.  Again with the numbers. I had a year like that in 2016, when Sue and I went to Panama for a week in January.  That was part of my Birds and Blue Jays Big Year.  That year I was traveling with the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club on all their Major League road trips.  It was a true North American Big Year.  We saw 229 species during our week in Panama and I counted 483 in the ABA Area, ending the year with a combined 665 species, and a back that would put me in the hospital just two months later.  In fact I spent three weeks in the hospital, ending my consecutive daily eBird streak at over 800 days when I spent a couple of days in a windowless intensive care unit.  Ellen and Jerry’s third consecutive Big Year was a Canada Big Year.  As you know from last season, Ellen and Jerry began with a Brant County Big Year in 2023 counting over 200 species, followed by an Ontario Big Year in 2024, where they finished in first place with over 330 species. If you haven’t listened to that episode, go back and catch up, and and you’ll be ready for this newest installment.  For 2025 they hit the trifecta, ending up first in Canada with 431 species, joining the exclusive 400 club for Canada.  This is he equivalent of the 700 club,(no not that one), for the ABA Area.  The 400 club includes Neil and Andrea MacLeod, who set the bar with 457 species in 2018. The Sandy Komito of Canada, Bruce Dilabio, the current record holder with 480 species, has topped 400 species four times.  David M Bell who’s 435 species ranks him fifth all time for Canada in a single year had has topped 400 twice.  Other members of the 400 club include previous guest Gavin McKinnon, who had back to back 400 plus years, including 425 species last year, only six species behind Ellen and Jerry.  Rounding up the 400 club, we have Rain Saulnier and Jacob Stasso with 406 and Monica Nugent,(405).  Oh, I forgot me!  I had the record for all of one year in 2022 with 458 species.     The newest members of the 400 club, Ellen and Jerry, are also part of the even more exclusive 431club.  Only eight birders have ever topped 430 in a single year, here in the Great White North, with our friend Bruce having done it twice.   Well, enough with number crunching, which is, as you may guessed, is a favorite activity, if not obsession of mine, and on with the show.  

It’s my birthday and I’ll bird if I want to bird if I want to.  You would bird too -  if it was you.   Welcome to the birthday edition of the Big Year Podcast. Well, the only thing that makes it a birthday edition is, well, because it’s my birthday.  I’m Robert Baumander and I’m 66 years old today.  Do you like numbers?  Of course, we all do.  So, here’s a little birthday math for you. I was born on the 16th in 1960, and 1+9+6+0 is 16. How about that.  Hey, it’s my birthday, and I’ll add if I want.  As birders, how do you celebrate your birthday?  Me, I watch the backyard birds while sipping a morning coffee, then hope that my birthday wish of a rare bird alert comes true.  So far, not so much. Any hoo I’ve spent much of the dog days of summer birding in my back yard and building a mini green house and rock garden.  And lots of baby birds are fledging from the trees. Just this week, there was a baby Downy Woodpecker, baby Common Grackles, and House Sparrows.  I’ve seen young Baltimore Orioles, Northern Cardinals, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and even a recently fledged Black-capped Chickadee.   Out in the wilds of Southwestern Ontario there are still moments of excitement to be found, as a couple of rarities dropped in for a visit during the past few weeks.  In Hamilton Harbour, along with a group of excited birders, I was able to enjoy watching a Brown Pelican.  Very rare sighting for Ontario, and in fact I only saw my very first one last year along the Niagara River in Fort Erie. Perhaps this is the very same bird.  The other great find was even more personal, a Eurasian Collared-Dove, right here in Brantford.  Again, I had only ever seen one in Ontario, way back in 2018.  That’s how rare they are in these here parts.  A couple of weeks ago our very own Eurasian Collared-Dove showed up in a local back yard and the homeowner was gracious enough to allow visitors to come see it.  So, what have we learned over the years from The Big Year Podcast?  Well, the life of a birder seems to be long drives followed by brief but beautiful experiences in the middle of nowhere looking for a bird that might not be where you hoped it would be or might not show up at all.  Someone once said, birding is not always about the birds you see, but often the places where the birds take you.  The places you might never have seen if not for the birds. Yes, there is more to birding than Big Year Birding.  Yes, there is something to be said about the thrill of the chase and the discovery of one of the rarest birds you’ve ever seen.  But then, once the Big Year is over, there is the return to the purest form of birding.  Just you, your binoculars and the birds, somewhere in the woods or a park or even, where I sit right now, in your own backyard. Well, I’m not actually in your backyard, but you get the idea. For me, and many others,(especially those of us with ADHD), birding quiets the mind,(when not chasing rarities), and lets you take a step back from the noise and chaos of life.  The quiet of the woods, only broken by birdsong is what makes birding truly special. It’s not the bird, it’s the journey.  Well, sometimes it is the bird.  So, was that too much?  I mean, really, that just sounded a little too sentimental for me.  I was trying to end on a lighter note and I just sounded like I was trying to be profound.  Well, maybe I wasn’t trying to sound profound, so I hope it didn’t seem over the top.  I think I really did from the heart.  Well, the brain.  Certainly not the heart.  The heart can’t do anything more than pump blood and get clogged arteries.  It’s the brain where thoughts and words come from.  Sorry for waxing a bit philosophical, but hey, it’s my birthday and I’ll wax if I want to. And with that as I sit here, enjoying my backyard birds, about to head out to go birthday birding with Sue, then for a free birthday latte at Starbucks, let’s meet our guest for today’s episode: Tarik Shahzad is a Chicago birder who broke the Cook County Big Year record in back to back years.  We recently spoke about his Big Years and birding along the shores of Lake Michigan.   Enjoy!

Yes, once again, I am back on the road again.  Welcome back to the Big Year Podcast, I remain and am still Robert Baumander and you’re well, you.  And thanks for being you and taking the time to listen.  Today we’re taking a little break from Big Year Birders and talking to a few birders I’ve met on the road and talked to over the past year.  I think you’ll find their stories fun, interesting and maybe even a little bit inspirational.  Of course, my favourite questions when meeting birders in the field, are, “Have you seen the bird?” and “What was your spark bird?”  I spoke to birders from as far south as Point Pelee National Park, and as far north as Thunder Bay.  I even have a special guest at the end, that you’ve heard about but have never heard from.  And now, against my own personal desires to keep talking, I’m going to keep this short and just get on with the show.

A hardy welcome to summer birding and the return, after a break for migration, of The Big Year Podcast.  Seems silly of me to tell you the title of the show, since you must have known it when you clicked on the podcast to begin with.    Today, we have two guests.  Our first guest is Tobin Brown, who did a Nebraska Big Year, and broke the previous record for birds seen in the state for a single year.  And our second guest, Brooke Showan will tell her story of having found, through serendipity, or just really good bird spotting skills, the Whooping Crane many of us drove to northern Ontario to see, just as I was finishing up the previous episode with Roberta Bondar, where we discussed her involvement with the Conservation efforts of the Whooping Cranes in North America.   As reported in my May 1 episode, I drove north to Bruce Mines to see the wayward bird, but did not have the chance to talk to the birder who initially found it, reported it to the International Crane Foundation, and became a bit of a local celebrity for her amazing discovery, less than an hour’s drive south of Dr. Bondar’s home in Sault Ste. Marie.  I was able to catch up with Brooke, early in May, and I think you’ll enjoy the story of her own Whooping Crane adventure.     I had a good migration season, beginning with a little cheeky movie parody of 50 Shades of Gray, called 31 Shades of Yellow, and shared some of my favourite yellowish warblers and vireos each day of May on Instagram.  But it was May 2 when we had the first highlight of migration, when a White-faced Ibis showed up in my local patch, right here in Brant County.  It was species number 245 for my county list and a bird I never expected to show up locally.  It was the second Brant County Lifer of the year, the first being a Ross’s Goose in March.   On May 7, I was fortunate enough to see a Bell’s Vireo, another very rare bird for Ontario, not far from home at Lakeside Park in Kitchener.  A couple of days later a Western Cattle Egret showed up in Norfolk County, not far from the Long Point Bird Observatory, another fine place for birding during migration season.  That same day the first of many Summer Tanagers reported in May, landed on Woodstock Avenue just around the corner from Long Point.   At Point Pelee one of the most coveted warblers of spring migration, a Worm Eating Warbler, made an appearance on the Sanctuary Trail at the north end of the park.  Worm Eating Warblers are never guaranteed during any given migration season in Ontario, and in fact I missed seeing one during my own 2022 Big Year.  Worm Eating Warblers nest south of the Great Lakes and any seen in Ontario are what birders call “overshoots,” likely due to weather or just plain old navigation errors.    What one might call the most unexpected bird of the season, was a Willow Ptarmigan that showed up at Rock Point Provincial Park. Too bad it, it being seen at Rock Point, that it wasn’t a Rock Ptarmigan, as I’ve never seen one of those. But for many of the people at Rock Point that day, it was either a Lifer or at least an Ontario Lifer.  For my friend, Andrew Keaveny, who has been on a previous episode, it was an Ontario Lifer.  He had been birding nearly all his life, had seen well over 400 species in Ontario, but was as excited for this bird as he was for the Whooping Crane.  And by the way, if you haven’t listened to Andrew’s episode, please load it up after this and have a listen.  Oh, and it would help a lot if you’d like, subscribe, leave glowing reviews and share this with your friends and family.     So, now that we’re all up to date, please have a listen to the stories of Tobin Brown and Brooke Showan.   Here’s a bonus section for you to enjoy. I enjoy listening to the music from the movie, The Big Year.  The soundtrack album is nice, but does not include all the songs that we heard in the movie.  I was able to put together a playlist, including all the orchestral pieces from the movie, by Theodore Shapiro and all the songs that I could download from Apple Music.  I even tried to put them in order of when they appeared in the movie, more or less.   Track 1:   The Code Writer Track 2:   Minor Swing performed by Django Reinhardt Track 3:   Carpe Annum Track 4:   Day One Track 5:   The Devil Never sleeps performed by Iron & Wine Track 6:   Bostick Sneaks a Peek/Bird Bait Track 7:   Fallout Track 8:   Let it Shine performed by Jeremy Fisher Track 9:   Pitkin County Turnaround performed by Steve Martin himself on banjo Track 10: The Shrike Track 11: Welcome to Attu Track 12: Rustic Bunting/Western Tanager Track 13: Viva la Vida performed by Cold Play Track 14: Attu/The Great Spotted Woodpecker Track 15: Come Fly Away performed by Jeremy Fisher Track 16: I like Birds by performed by the Eels Track 17: Snowcocks Track 18: Golden Plover/Ruby Alive/Freak Blizzard Track 19: Ultrasound Track 20: Great Gray Owl Track 21: Final Stretch Track 22: Face the Abyss Track 23: A Very Big Year Track 24: Coda Track 25: This Could All Be Yours performed by Guster Track 26: Ornithological Pursuits (Played over the final credits).   There are some incidental tracks throughout the movies that play mostly in the background, but are not a major part of the story, like Bing Crosby’s Silent Night or Auld Lang Syne performed by Guy Lombardo, plus some more obscure tracks that only an audiophile would be able to dig up.  You may also want to include Surfin’ Bird performed by The Trashmen.    

The year was 1969.  I was a month shy of my ninth birthday.  It was way past my bedtime, though it was only 10pm.  In my memory of the event, it was the middle of the night.  Along with my family, gathered around the black-and-white television in my parent's bedroom, we watched the broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing.  At 10:56pm EDT time we witnessed, along with the rest of the world, a grainy, gray-scale image of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface and say, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Neil left out a single syllable,  word, “a”.  He had meant to say “That’s one small step for A man.” That man being him.  Still, it didn’t matter to anyone watching or listening at the time.  The universe had changed.  Humans from earth had stepped foot onto another world.   Thousands of kids at the time wanted to become astronauts and join the space program. I wasn’t one of them. Yes, I loved all things space, watched Star Trek, and followed every NASA launch.  I remember Skylab and Mir, the Space Shuttle and Hubble.  I geek out on videos from the International Space Station and have followed the Artemis program for years, finally seeing Artemis II launch, orbit the moon and splash down safely this April, nearly 55 years after Apollo 17, splashed down in December of 1972, ending human missions to the moon for over half a century.   My life took a different path in 1969, having watched the Miracle Mets win the World Series and see them celebrate on the field, on that same black-and-white television in my parents bedroom, a couple of months later.  I chose to pursue a life that would eventually get me on the field at some nebulous future date, when a team I was involved with won a World Series.  I made it to that dreamed of future from my childhood in October of 1992, as I ran onto the field when the Toronto Blue Jays won their first World Series.  Today’s guest, on the other hand, did everything in her power to become an astronaut and earlier that same year, flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery, mission STS-42, as the first neurologist and Canadian woman in space.  I even crossed paths with Roberta Bondar when she threw out the first pitch at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game, soon after her shuttle flight. Two people from very different walks of life, with two very different goals, take different paths and end up in the same place all those years later.  But it didn’t end there.  In 2022, when I was up in Sault Ste. Marie, I discovered that Dr. Bondar was born there and they had celebrated her shuttle mission with a flower garden built into a scale model of the Space Shuttle Discovery.  The following year I heard she was giving a talk about her new book, "A Space for Birds", and I knew I had to go.  This time it was two birds, not Blue Jays, that brought us back into the same space.  After the talk, I spoke to her agent and we made arrangements for this very podcast. I’ve come a long way from that kid who loved space but wanted to live a childhood dream of winning a World Series, and Dr. Bondar has travelled to exactly where she wanted to be.  To fly in space.  Each of us, in different ways, didn’t just wish and hope for these things to happen. We focused our lives and energies toward our goals.  My mother used to say, “if wishes were horses, we would all ride.”  That was an important lesson to learn as a kid.  Don’t wish, do.  In an era when young people think that “manifesting” a dream will just make it happen, the people who are successful at achieving their goals, like Dr. Bondar, put in the hard work.  Me, I just got lucky. Stop the presses!  In a wonderful bit of serendipity, just days before this episode was due to air, with Dr. Bondar on the podcast to talk about Whooping Cranes, an actual Whooping Crane showed up in Northern Ontario.  The next morning I hopped in the car and drove 6 hours north to the small town of Bruce Mines, and along with a who’s-who of Ontario birders, waited until sunset to see this intrepid young female.  She was born of wild parents at the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin. After being released, Sinclair,(yes they get names and band codes), she joined a group of adults who migrated to Florida for the winter.  Her spring migration home to Wisconsin went slightly of course and she has joined a flock of Sandhill Cranes in Northern Ontario.  I was lucky enough to share the experience with many of my birding friends who also made the trek to see this intrepid traveller, who will hopefully contribute to the future of this endangered species.    So join me, along with Doctor Roberta Bondar, as I live my life long dream to talk to a real, live astronaut about space, birds and A Space for Birds.         Extro.  

The Big Year Podcast April 1, 2026   It is April 1, 2026, I’m Robert Baumander and welcome to season 4 of The Big Year Podcast.  My 4th season?  Really?  So glad to be back again.  Miss me?  It’s been an exciting journey and this season promises to be the best ever.  Maybe. Or not.  I’ll let you be the judge, when it’s all said and done, but boy am I looking forward to some of the guests I’ve already lined up.  In addition to Big Year birders, you’ll get to hear from a real live astronaut, who is involved in bird conservation and a paleontologist who will educate us on which of the dinosaurs that survived the great meteor impact became the birds we know and love today. Last time you heard my voice, I was settling in for winter, and beginning work on my book, The Trans-Canada Jay Highway.  I was planning to stay local for the winter, focus my ADHD brain on just writing, and this podcast, but word of an amazing rarity in Montreal Quebec hit the birding world in January.  It was a very unlikely visitor from across the pond, a European Robin.  Wowzers.  That was a bird I wanted to see.  I waited a few days; one, to make sure it was sticking around and more importantly, for a good weather forecast that wouldn’t have me driving through a blizzard or looking for the bird in minus 40 temperatures.    After a seven hour drive, including a slow trek through Montreal construction traffic in the rain, I arrived at a quiet, snow covered neighborhood, to find a small group of excited birders who had just found the robin.  Everyone in the neighborhood was welcoming to all of us who came to see their celebrity bird, including one woman who was putting seed out for the weary traveller.  When another birder showed up shortly after I arrived we both looked at each other, with the merest glimmer of recognition, but couldn’t quite place from where.  It was Josh Gant who figured it out.  Josh was a guest on this very podcast, talking about his New Jersey state Big Year.  He also drove 7 hours to get to Montreal.  We arrived within minutes of each other and got to celebrate this amazing once in a lifetime bird, together and with other birders who had made the trek to Montreal.  None of us, however, had travelled as far as the European Robin.   European Robins are not related in any way to our American Robins.  European Robins, I discovered, are in the Old World Flycatcher family and American Robins are thrushes. Our robin’s name was given only because of their similar red breast.  Many birds that are known as robins also sport this feature.  A better name for our robin would be Red-breasted Thrush.  So, the European Robin is not a thrush and the American Robin is a thrush.  And don’t get me started on all the other “robins”. Moving on.   Today is not just an exciting day for bird lovers, and lovers of birding podcasts, but also space exploration.  Artemis II is on the launchpad, with four astronauts, including  Canadian Jeremy Hansen, and is scheduled to blast off at 6:24pm this April 1.  As someone who is old enough to have watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and is nerdy enough to build NASA Lego sets, including the Artemis, this is an exciting day.  As for this episode, my guest is Josh van der Meulen.  You might know him, might have birded with him, but may not know his Big Year story.  If you remember back to last season,(and if not, why not?   I urge you to go back and take listen), I spent an hour or so talking to Andrew Keaveny.  Back in 2012, Andrew and Josh were doing Ontario Big Years.  I was a birdy-eyed beginner doing an ABA Big Year.  I relied on both of them to help me find birds when I was birding in Ontario, while they competed for Ontario Big Year supremacy.  I likened their competition to that of Kenn Kaufman and Floyd Murdoch’s 1973 Big Years.   Though it was a competition, Andrew and Josh kept things civil between them and even birded together and helped each other along the way.  I was on the scene when Andrew missed the Townsend’s Solitaire and found the only Red Knot of my Big Year, thanks to Josh.  14 years later, both of them are good birding buddies, who I’m always glad to run into, usually when stalking a rare bird.    So, now that we’re all caught up, let’s once again travel back in time to 2012, which seems to be the nexus of modern Big Year birding, and get on with the show.  

Welcome to another episode of The Big Year Podcast.  I’m  your host and guide to the world of Big Year birding, Robert Baumander.  It’s December 1, 2025 and you’re listening to the Season Three Finale. That’s right, l have been blathering on now for nearly three years.  When I began this podcast in January of 2023, with my big year birding mentor, Sandy Komito, I had no idea where this would lead. Actually, I’m not sure exactly where this has lead me, other than to accomplishing a desire since childhood to host my own talk show.  Back then I wanted to be the next Johnny Carson.  I could never have imagined that I’d end up a bird nerd talking to other bird nerds about their nerdy birding.  And I could have never done it without the wonderful community of birders I’ve met over the years.  I waited 51 years to finally find a group of people that I really felt comfortable around.  And that includes my family and work colleagues. There’s an old line, often attributed to Groucho Marx, saying he would never join a club who would have someone like him as a member.  I felt that way for most of my life.  But now I am grateful to be a member of this club.  November was another great month of chasing rarities here in southwestern Ontario.  October ended with a Western Cattle Egret, Gray Kingbird and Little Blue Heron.  And just as the calendar turned to November,  a Razorbill showed up near Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto.  I raced to Toronto the next day and joined a very large group of excited birders to see this rare visitor from the east coast. Next up were Cave Swallows.  These birds, who breed in Texas, have a weird migration route that brings them over Lakes Erie and Ontario.  We don’t see them every year, but they have been pretty dependable in the fall of late.  I drove to Point Pelee National Park to see them this year and were joined by Jerry and Ellen Horak, who needed them for their ongoing Canada Big Year.  Ellen will be joining me shortly, as her attempt at three consecutive Big Years is the subject of this episode.  A couple of weeks later another dependable fall rarity showed up, a Black-throated Gray Warbler. Easy on the west coast but only one or two show up here in Ontario each year.  This one was in Port Colborne near the shores of Lake Erie.  The next rarity was a Rufous Hummingbird.  Earlier in the month I had driven two hours north of my home in Brantford to see one coming to a back yard feeder, but was a day late and a tank of gas short, as there had been a winter storm the night before and it either left or didn’t survive the night.  Lucky for me, another one showed up closer to home, near Hamilton, and the homeowner was gracious enough to grant birders a visitation with their female Rufous Hummingbird.   November ended with a sighting of a Townsend's Warbler.  One had been seen in Norfolk in September and I was able to get a brief look at it, but no photos.  So the chance to see and photograph one was chirping to my ears.  With the help of local Brantford birders Bill and his daughter Sarah, we were able to find it and I got my photos.  The Townsend's Warbler was an Ontario Lifer, number 385.  And I added a Pacific Loon up in Barrie, to round off the month. As I mentioned last month, I had never been much of an Ontario lister each year, and had never seen more than 285 species, that being in 2022. So, though I am by no means doing an Ontario Big Year, I have been chasing quite a bit and with the rarities that have shown up this fall am at 297 in 2025.  So I think it will be a busy December for me, so I can hit at least 300 once in my life here in Ontario. A trip up to Algonquin Park later in the month might just get me there.  I’ll let you know next year.   So without any further ado, or even dipity doo, lets get on with the show and get to know one of my favorite Ontario birders, Ellen Horak, sans Jerry.       And that concludes part of one of the 3 year big year adventures of Ellen and Jerry. I met Jerry on January 1, 2021 in their front yard in Glen Morris Ontario.  I had just moved to Brant County and figured the best way to learn my new patch was to do a Brant County Big Year.  I was standing at the edge of their property, watching Evening Grosbeaks at their feeders.  It was a great bird for the county to start my big year.  Jerry came out and we had a nice conversation that morning and as the year went on Sue and I kept running into Ellen and Jerry any time we were chasing Brant County rarities.  Over the years we have become good friends, along with a number of other local birders.  I don’t have many friends, and am not much into socializing, but hanging out with birders is as close to therapy and friendship as one can get.  This podcast helps too.  And for that I am thankful.   I hope everyone has a great winter of birding, especially the winter listers.  I’ll be back in 2026 with Ellen and perhaps Jerry to look back on their Canada Big Year.  But the  first episode of season 4 will be a sequel of sorts, to my talk with Andrew Keaveny, and his 2012 Ontario Big Year.  He was in competition with another young birder, Josh Vandermeulan.  You’ve heard from Andrew but next season you’ll get to hear ”The Rest of the Story.”  

It’s a rainy day in Birderland. It’s October 30, 2025 and I am writing this on night before Halloween.  I won’t claim that this is going to be a spooky episode, but there are one or two scary birding stories from our guest Liam Ragan.  Liam broke the record for a Vancouver Island, British Columbia Big Year, but beyond that, he does a lot of fine conservation work out west, for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory.  His job gave him the freedom to travel around the island while also allowing him to go after his Vancouver Island Big Year record. But enough about Liam.  Time to get back to me. As you may have ascertained, I just love talking about birds and myself, not necessarily in that order.  If I didn’t cut out all of my personal stories, these podcasts would be twice as long, and nobody wants that.  That being said, and the reason for a two month gap between episodes, is that I have been on the road birding nearly every day since the end of August.  On August 29, I finally got my first Wilson’s Warbler of the year at Long Point and later that afternoon a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at in the sod fields of Brant County.  A week later I was back at the Long Point Field Staton for a very rare Townsend’s Warbler. That same afternoon I rushed to Staynor, Ontario for a Ruff. All the while I was planning my trip out west to see the Whooping Crane migration for the first time, in Saskatchewan.  That had been a dream trip of mine since beginning birding in 2012.  I had seen Whooping Cranes where they winter in Texas, in Wood Buffalo National Park, where they breed in Northern Alberta and in between, a couple of others in Florida and Michigan.   Finally, on September 30, 2025, after a four day drive, I saw my first flock of migrating Whooping Cranes in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, just north of Saskatoon.  I met up with my friend Gavin McKinnon and his birding group and we all got to enjoy these marvelous, but endangered birds.  I then headed down to Grasslands National Park, but made a stop in Swift Current for a Broad-billed Hummingbird that had been visiting feeders and Josie’s back yard.  This bird went north instead of south and was enjoying the cool autumn weather of southern Saskatchewan.  Alas, it’s fate is unknown, as it likely never found its way back to the southern United States.  The next morning I got to Grasslands National Park as the sun was coming up and after an hour found what might have been the last remaining Burrowing Owl in the park.  The rest had headed south for the winter.  Back in Ontario, I’ve been seeing fall specialties like Red Phalarope and Nelson’s Sparrow and chasing rarities like Purple Gallinule, Western Cattle-Egret and Little Blue Heron.     With those birds I surpassed my best Ontario species count ever.  We also had two super rare birds, a Graces Warbler, which I was a day late for in Algonquin Provincial Park and a Gray Kingbird in Chatham-Kent.  I wasted no time with that one and raced down the highway to see it.  A new Lifer for both my Ontario,(386) and Canada,(496) lists.   I am exhausted from all the driving, chasing and even just recounting of these stories, not to mention editing this very podcast.  So, it’s time to relax, clear your mind of birds and chases and lists and such and listen to Liam Ragan’s story of his Vancouver Island Big Year, where he will recount his stories of birds and chases and lists and such on this very podcast.  He even has a few scary tales from the west coast of Canada, as is fitting for a Halloween episode.  So, Happy Halloween, happy birding, and may the Ravens and crows stay away from your eyeballs, while you enjoy yet another episode of The Big Year Podcast. Links: https://friendsofmidway.org/explore/wildlife-plants/birds/albatrosses/laysan-albatross/wisdom-the-albatross/ https://www.birdability.org https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/21/that-time-the-us-almost-went-to-war-with-canada-218881/

It was the perfect way to begin The Big Year Podcast On the Road, Again, with discovery of a very rare bird, right here in my backyard, near Cambridge, Ontario.  A young birder by the name of Nathan Hood found a Spotted Redshank, a rare visitor lost on its way back from Eurasia.  Almost every birder I know in Ontario, from within 2 to 3 hours drive, has shown up to see this amazing rarity.  It’s September 1, 2025 and I t's hard to believe summer's nearly over and that fall migration is really underway.  It certainly got started in a big way with this Spotted Redshank.  While I was there, I talked to a couple of birders, including Nathan Hood, who found the bird and a local Waterloo birder who lives close by.  He told me he’s not a chaser but couldn't pass up seeing an incredible rarity, so close to home.  This is only the third or forth sighting of this bird in Ontario.  It was also a big deal for those birders doing doing Big years, including Ellen and Jerry Horak doing their Canada Big Year and Jude Szabo, on his Ontario Big Year.  They were there early in the morning, long before I arrived.  I was glad to have made it by late morning and get to see, photograph, record videos, and talk about this amazing bird with many of my birder friends.  But, before we head back out on the road, just a quick update on me.  And no, it’s not about the bloody Wilson’s Warbler.  I finally saw a juvenile at the Long Point Field Station on August 29, so we can finally put that one to rest.  However, about a week ago I was set upon by an angry, vicious mob of… Yellowjacket Wasps. These wasps are a predatory social species of wasps, recognized by their small size and black and yellow striped abdomen and painful venomous sting. The morning began, innocently enough.  Our neighbors were replacing their fence and Sue asked me to remove a birdhouse before the workers tore it down.  I trotted out with a screwdriver bit on my drill and proceeded to take the retched old bird house off the fence.  As I removed the second screw, the birdhouse fell to the ground.  What I didn’t know was that instead of birds nesting in the house, it had become a Yellowjacket home.  They were not happy.  When I reached down to pick up the old bird house the enraged wasps attacked me.  I began yelping for help as my hands were repeatedly stung.  Wasps, unlike bees do not leave their barbed stinger in your skin, so they can sting you multiple times.  Once the first wasp stings you it releases a pheromone, alerting other wasps to engage in the attack.  I tried to run away from them, screaming, “Why are they after me?” as Sue tried to calm me, but I was, as the old saying goes, “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”  Now the wasps were stinging my ankles through my socks as I was desperately trying to swat them off.  I probably got a bonus sting on my hand from that maneuver.  Finally, the wasps had made their point and went back to regroup with the others and find a new base of operations from which to strike.  I quickly took two Benadryl, and lay down, hoping that would work and I’d be better in a few hours.  No such luck.  Fifteen  years ago, I was bit by an ant in Florida and went into anaphylactic shock.  When returned home my doctor prescribed an EpiPen.  I’ve had to carry it with me at all times since then, getting a new one every 18 months or so.  And I had never needed to use it.   Many people, over time, forget to get fresh EpiPens or just figure if they haven’t needed it in a decade, why bother with the expense.  My wasp attack is why.  Around 15 minutes after the battle ended, I started to feel swelling in my mouth.  Not good!  My throat felt like I had just eaten a big spoonful of peanut butter.  I reported my condition to Sue and she rightly said, “That’s not good.”  It was time.   I was getting pretty agitated, as was the case first time this happened.  I warned Sue I was going to be a bit crazy.  Well, relative to how crazy I normally am.  I sent Sue to grab my EpiPen and she handed it to me.  I held it near my leg and froze.  I gently as possible told Sue she had better do it.  She did it.  After a sharp sting, no worse than anything the wasps did to me, the magical elixir began pumping through my veins and Sue went off to call the ambulance, with me chattering at her, impatiently from the other room. The fire department arrived first, followed by the paramedics.  They shot me full of Benadryl and off we went to Brantford General Hospital. After a brief assessment, I was brought quickly into a treatment room, since they would rather I not suffocate in their triage department in front of multiple witnesses.  I was taken care of by a very nice nurse, whom I assume worked their way through college waiting tables at Red Lobster, since every time I answered a question, they responded with “perfect,” as though I had picked the chef’s favorite dish from the menu.  After a doctor was consulted, off screen, I was given the obligatory steroid injection,(lucky for me I am not scheduled to be competing in any sanctioned sporting event), and spent the rest of the day in my hospital bed, trying to sleep, but was continuously annoyed by one guy who was watching a video on his phone, with the volume loud enough to be heard throughout the room, another guy talking loudly on his phone right next to me, and the moaning guy on the other side, who screamed every time they tried to stick a needle in his arm. Suffice it to say, I survived yet another medical ordeal,(I have a standing reservation at the Brantford General Hospital emergency room), and I am slowly recovering.  The itchy, scratchy rash has finally gone away, and now its a matter of time before the wounds heal.   Enough about me.  So, let’s now head out on the road, again.  Presented in no specific order, sit back, relax, don’t let the wasps bite and enjoy the stories of some of the birders who were kind enough to let me distract them from the serious game of spot the warbler, during, mostly, Spring Migration.