birdspot

My “fiscal” year has come to a close, and the Big Year I was not doing is done. I will keep traveling through the end of the calendar year, however, and perhaps even after that. I have a lot of work to do: drawings to make, stories to pen, 4 sparrow species to find before 2012. I will begin by posting drawings and by making thanks to all of the wonderful people that showed me any form of support this year (even an answered email would often make my day).

This drawing – my apologies for the low-res phone photo of it – traveled with me for a good portion of the year. I was trying to get it to its new home in Rhode Island, but until now I couldn’t stop in the state due to scheduling and whatnot. Today I finally dropped it off and said goodbye. I had come to think of it as a good luck charm of sorts, carefully wrapped and hidden in the back of my car on multiple trips across the country. It is a largish drawing, and was a significant commission for me, so it was also a reminder to take care of myself and the car to try and ensure nothing happened to it. In other words, it was ridiculous that I kept it with me instead of crating, insuring, and shipping it, though I loved that it was always there in the back of my beater Subaru, a remembrance of a beautiful place and people I cared about very much.

For my first round, then, I send gratitude to the Ahearns for their patience and for (inadvertently) helping to finance an amazing experience.

Image: Little Compton, RI. approx. 30 x 18″, pen on paper

I am happy to announce that I will do a live interview with Bird Calls Radio tomorrow, Saturday Oct 22, at 3pm EST. You can listen on air or via the internet, and we will be taking phone calls (be nice!) if you are interested. Link: Bird Calls Radio

A quick update: through car repairs in four states, and another long haul across the country, I am now in Connecticut! I surpassed my mini goal of seeing 500 species in the lower 48, and am now on the final stretch of the year. My year list stands at 907, 525 for ABA North America. Much more importantly – the numbers were not my goals – the knowledge I have gained from spending 11 months (not done yet!) in the field, and the people I have met from all facets of the avian/human world, have truly inspired me beyond expectation. Thanks to Towny Dickinson for the portrait photo.

Once I settle down, I will start telling stories… please be patient with me! I keep my facebook page updated with photos on the fly, so to speak, so have a meander over there: www.facebook.com/Birdspot in the interim. Drawings soon, I promise.

With some (amazing) support and a little bit of luck, in a week I will begin my last big push across the country and back. From mid-September through to November 1, I will transect as much of the fall bird migration as I can, making a beeline across the middle of our country to maximize a few previously missed opportunities (e.g. the Rocky Mountains), then hopefully experience some of my first-ever Midwest shorebird migration, and then lastly wind my way up the East Coast: Cape May, then onto NYC and New England. I forewent (is that a legitimate word?) Spring migration in order to bird Belize and Costa Rica (tiny fiddles of sympathy, I know), and this hurt my year totals for the ABA Lower 48 from a Big Year standpoint. However, as I repeat over and over, I am doing a different sort of Big Year: one with fewer borders, one in which I am trying to learn about birds on a deeper level, one in which I am trying to make drawings as I go along. My goals have been pretty steady this year: I have seen 492 species in the lower 48 states, and 875 in the “world”; I would like to blow past 500 ABA for the year. I suppose this proves that I have not entirely succeeded in killing off my inner obsessive lister!

Image: Snowy Plover sketches

On a serious note, I need to scrape up some change to get my rear back to the East Coast for fall migration, so for a limited time I will be offering T-shirts and mugs of selected drawings. CHECK IT OUT HERE.