This is the fourth Big Year tour of 11 tours for the year I am doing with Wildside Nature Tours. The tour officially kicked off with a 30-minute drive to the famous Magee Marsh Bird Trail. This is the same boardwalk that gets so much attention in May during Biggest Week in American Birding.…

Day 6. Trip 3 of 11 with Wildside Nature Tours. Short update tonight. I am bushed. Today was better with 114 species for the day. Trip total stands at 181. Year total up to 337 now. Highlights today included the sighting of a bobcat bounding across the road in a flash at Anahuac NWR! And…

I cannot believe it is already Day 5 of our Big Year Tour with Wildside Nature Tours! The week has gone so fast with great places to explore, fabulous birds, and terrific places to eat. It has been a grand experience. I looked at radar and decided to head directly west this morning. Our first…

Today is the fourth day of my third Big Year Tour in 2016 with Wildside Nature Tours. Here is a quick summary of today’s adventures. When I looked at the hi-def composite NEXRAD from University of Wisconsin this morning at 5:15am I changed our day’s itinerary.   So we left Lake Charles and headed directly…

Quickie update. We birded in Sherborne WMA on the north side and had a great time. The forest was full of vireos: White-eyed, Yellow-throated, and Red-eyed Vireos. Hooded Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats were vocal. And we saw several flocks of Indigo Buntings. The Painted Buntings that often move with Indigo Buntings were not seen, but…

We got off to a fun start with 127 species so far. And enough new birds to bring the grand total to 317. Not too shabby. And we are having a blast! Yesterday we took a swamp tour by boat. Alligators? Yes!   Here is one of several Summer Tanagers   Bird highlights from yesterday…

Next week I’m running off to Peru for an exciting riverboat cruise on the Amazon River with Wildside Nature Tours! This week I’m in Yardley, PA working on plans for next year’s tours. Just you wait and see! Of the 11 Big Year tours, 2 are already complete–Southern California & Florida. Big Year total stands…

Another week whooshed by! And El Niño strikes again with cooler weather and heavy rains. We saw a total of 159 species despite the inclement weather.   Our first full day of birding started out with an unexpected bird! Soon after we arrived at Viera Wetlands I heard a King Rail call. And then we…

Today was the last full day of birding on the Florida leg of the Big Year Tours itinerary with Wildside Nature Tours. Check out our other tours at BigYearTours.com. We saw 94 species of birds today while covering Tampa/St. Petersburg, Lakeland, and North Orlando. Today was beautiful and sunny! And we enjoyed every minute of…

We got a very early start this morning at 5:00am and headed west across Florida. Our first destination was Bunche Beach. We checked along the entrance road for the Mangrove Cuckoo that was seen yesterday but we dipped on it. At the beach we walked both directions with no success for the American Flamingo that…

Day 4 of Florida Big Year tour with Wildside Nature Tours. Pouring rain. Soggy. Drenched. But happy. We birded the southeast portion of the State from Delray Beach to Hollywood. Normally it is hard to park in the small lot at the amazing wetland, Wakodahatchee. But it was raining hard enough that we had the…

Today was the second full day of birding. We started in Ocala National Forest and our last birding stop was Joe Overstreet Rd and landing near the center of the State. We had dinner at a good Cuban restaurant in Port St Lucie and arrived at our hotel this evening near Delray Beach, Florida. Today…