On this episode I catch up with Victor and Ruben Stoll as they recover from their record breaking 2022 Lower-48 big year. I had a chance to meet them at the Lake Forest Park, WA Red-flanked Bluetail stakeout last March, and they caught a shower and a few hours of sleep at our home before heading to a Westport Seabirds pelagic trip.
You can see their eBird profiles for more details. Ruben eBird Profile Victor eBird Profile
You can also find them on facebook. Victor on Facebook Ruben on Facebook
To hear about Tiffany Kersten’s 2021 Lower-48 big year check out The Bird Banter Podcast #122 with Tiffany Kersten.
We talk about Jerry Cooper’s book: Birdfinder: A Birder’s Guide to Planning North American Trips on the episode. It was fun to hear that other birders have found this book as helpful as I have over the years. I really think that Victor and Ruben should think about writing an update to this book. They certainly have the first-hand experiences to do so. The 1995 book is out of print, but you can find it used at Buteo Books.
I’m not sure but I think this is an article about the high wind storm the Stoll’s encountered on their chase to see the Garganey in Montana in May.
It sounds like Victor and Ruben have as high a regard as I do about Michael Todd, a previous podcast guest and Tennessee birder who was on episode #124.
As always, if you have suggestions for podcast guests, please let me know using the Contact form here.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
Tag: lower 48 big year
The Bird Banter Podcast #121 with Will Brooks and Jason Vassallo Additional Information
On this episode Will, Jason and I talk about their 2021 big years. Jason did a 2021 Lower-48 States big year and Will did a 2021 Washington State Big Year. Will broke the record for Washington getting 376 species, and Jason saw the 9th highest lower 48 states total ever while visiting most states, 21 National Parks, many other areas of natural beauty, and trying to keep it fun and not too stressful. It sounds to me like both accomplished their goals exceptionally, and it was really fun to have good friends on the show to talk birding.
Below are links to related and I think interesting information.
Jason’s Instagram feed, @jason2012bigyear. Check out not just the great photos but the dialogue too.
Here is a Wikipedia page that gives more than you may want to know about birding big years. It is incredibly current and well done.
Here is a Seattle News 5 video about Will’s year.
This is a local newspaper article about Will’s big year.
This is Will’s first podcast with lots more background and here is Jason’s first podcast.
Thanks for listening and reading.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast Episode#27 with the McQuades- Additional Information
I had an absolute blast recording this episode of The Bird Banter Podcast. Both Tammy and Dave McQuade have the energy you’d expect from a couple doing their 5th consecutive lower 48 Big Year, and have a great story to tell. Maybe the most interesting part of the episode to me was hearing about their new boat that they use for pelagic trips on the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike many west coast pelagic trips, where large flocks of birds are relatively easily found, in the gulf the birds are found in much smaller numbers, and congregate around bait fish, so it’s easy to miss them. Dave and Tammy have the solution. A fast boat with super powered radar that can detect a single bird as small as a term from two miles away. Then with their fast boat they can race over to see the bird. They can cover over 300 miles in a single day of birding.
Here is a photo of the boat:
This is the radar:
They are exploring what they call ABA birding’s last frontier, the relatively unbirded gulf waters.
I also talked about several other birder’s big years in the podcast introduction. Here are some links to those that I know of with websites or blogs:
https://www.facebook.com/david.mcquade.96
https://www.facebook.com/david.mcquade.96
Dorian Anderson’s blog from his bicycle big year.
Christian Hagenlocher’s The Birding Project page: .
Blair Bernson’s blog with details of many of his 50 state saga:
Olaf Danielson’s Big Year Blog:
John Weigel’s 2019 Big Year blog
The book I mentioned outlining a strategy to find 650 ABA birds on a budget is
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Birdfinder: A Birders Guide to Planning North American Trips
by Jerry Cooper. You can find it used on Amazon.
Noah Strycker wrote the book Birding Without Borders, available anywhere books are sold.
I am currently working on competition only with myself for Pierce County and Washington State Big Years I have no illusions about “winning” either year, but am enjoying getting around and finding what I can. By starting each year fresh, it gives incentive to get out to lots of places and go birding.
I currently have found 202 species in Pierce County, after Levee Pond dried up just in time for migration and yielded 5 FOY shorebirds this week, and 291 Washington State species for 2019. I am aiming for >300 this year, and it is pretty reachable with at least one more Pelagic trip planned and an Eastern WA trip set for early Sept that should yield a few new year birds.
Here are photos of some of the Levee Pond bonanza seen this week. From top to bottom, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, and Semi-palmated Sandpiper.
Until next time, good birding and good day.