When someone mentions that they are doing a Birding “Big Year,” immediately thoughts of the famous 2011 movie “The Big Year” with Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin come to mind. However, my Merced County “Big Year” might be best called a Casual Big Year. While my primary birding destinations will be in Merced County, I will not be attempting to track down each and every rarity that is reported there.
Beginning of Year eBird Statistics:
Life Merced County Species as of 12/31/2020: 178
Life List GOAL by 12/31/2021: 235
Year List Goal by 12/31/2021: 225
2021 Species Updates as of 1/5/2021
Life List = 178
Year List = 96
Jim’s Smugmug Merced County Big Year Album
eBird Hotspot Checklist Anecdotal Posts
The Undiscovered Country
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 186Year List = 140 Whereas this title may bring to mind either Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Gene Roddenberry’s Start Trek VI, it is merely a reference to the Eastern Merced County grasslands that I had never ventured into before. I again scoured eBird for recent reports … Continue reading The Undiscovered Country
Birding Between the Storms
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 183Year List = 122 Seeing a break between storms, I reached out to Rich Brown and Dale Swanberg to see if they wanted to explore the San Luis Reservoir State Recreation areas. I was hoping that something unusual would show up with the unsettled weather … Continue reading Birding Between the Storms
BIRDING THE MERCED RIVER
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 179Year List = 99 HENDERSON PARK Nestled next to the Merced River, surrounded by riparian trees and home to a myriad of ornamental evergreen and deciduous trees in an open setting, Henderson Park was our target for the morning. COLLEGE CREDIT FOR BIRD WATCHING – … Continue reading BIRDING THE MERCED RIVER
