Rules of the Bird-a-day Challenge

Rules are simple:
Every day you add a new bird that you see or hear (not on the television, in a book or on the internet) to your list of birds for that date. You may not repeat the same bird or skip a day. Any non-caged, non-captive, free flying bird is allowed; that is except for a chicken. We're not sure why chickens aren't allowed, but we accept the rule and live by it!
The Prize:
At some point during the year "you will be unable to see or hear a new bird" to add to your list. When this happens you have completed the race and have established for yourself a mark to try and better next year. During your attempt to go deep into the year you will undoubtedly see many more birds than you would have if you hadn’t attempted the challenge. Pat yourself on the back and know you did your best.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

May 4 - Bank Swallow

We had rains coming in the morning that would last most of the day, so I made a quick trip to Harrier Meadow and DeKorte Park early. After checking to see the Harrier feeders were full, I took a brief walk out the trail. On the walk I saw a Grasshopper Sparrow near the first blind, but never got a great look, only pieces of the bird as it sat in some woody groundsel after flying up from the grass. The rains started and I made a quick trip to DeKorte and walked around the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve. Many Yellow-rumps were there as well as 6+ White-crowned Sparrows, 1 Indigo Bunting and a very wet White-eyed Vireo. After dinner the rains ended, I took a walk at DeKorte again. hundreds of swallows were flying low all around. I stood on the Kingsland Overlook among the midges and let the Barns, Trees and Rough-winged Swallows fly within a foot of me as they devoured the bugs. I was so close to some of the swallows I could here their wing flap and bill snapping closed on bugs. Pretty cool. I took a short walk out on the boardwalk and saw 2 Bank Swallows, always a tough bird for me. That's my bird-a-day.
Posted by Americanchris at 2:19 AM

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