I ran another Big Day at Montrose today, May 21. My first Big Day on May 8 yielded 103 species in 5.5 hours, split between 4.5 hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Today I started at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 10 for the morning shift, and again from 4 to 5 p.m. for the afternoon shift, so I started and ended at the same time and did the same number of hours as my May 8 attempt. I ended up with 103 species, the same as last time. I couldn’t have picked a better day to do a Big Day as Montrose was loaded with birds. I haven’t seen passerine numbers like this in some years. Every tree and shrub seemed to be dripping with warblers. Here’s my complete list:

I had 98 species in the morning and 5 more when I went back in the afternoon. The 5 additional birds I had in the afternoon were Cliff Swallow, Black-crowned Night-Heron, American Coot, Northern Parula, and White-throated Sparrow. Unlike last time I checked the Golf Course Pond, which added the Night-Heron. I also had 24 species of warblers, which is the best I’ve done at Montrose in a long time.

I did a Big Day at Montrose on Thursday, May 8. This is the first Big Day I’ve ever done there. I’ve wanted to do a Montrose Big Day for a while but I either didn’t have the time or the weather wasn’t right. Today was different. I had the time and the weather cooperated. Last night’s south winds brought in a lot of birds, which is critical because doing a Big Day at Montrose depends almost entirely on migrants. I had no stake outs waiting for me, but there were a ton of migrants to work with. The only difference between today and any other day I bird Montrose is that today I 1) stayed longer and 2) paid close attention to every single bird I saw. I started at 5:30 a.m. and had to leave at 10 a.m. I went back out in the afternoon between 4 and 5 to check the beach for gulls and shorebirds. So I put in 5.5 hours, which is meager by Big Day standards. The area I covered included the beach, dunes, meadow, Magic Hedge, peripheral plantings, and east end of the harbor, and I walked between these areas. I ended up with 99 species in the morning and added 4 more in the afternoon for a total of 103. Here’s my list:

I had decent shorebirds for the day. Going back out in the afternoon actually pushed my total to 100, the Willet being #100. Passerines were fairly strong in general, especially sparrows, and especially White-crowned Sparrows. Catharus thrushes were well represented too. I ended up with 17 species of warblers and I had to work hard for most of them. None were abundant. Vireos were poorly represented and wrens weren’t much better. You always miss things on Big Days though. Still, I think 120 is possible at Montrose on an exceptionally good day in May.