Unofficial Big Days – Field Trips

Under Field Trip Chair Bonnie Ott and, from 2010 on, with Co-chair, later Chair Joe Hanfman, the following were run: 15 Big Day field trips (1999-2013), three Little Big Days (2011-2013), ten Sparrow Big Days (2003-2012), and a single Half Day Big Day (2016).

The highest unofficial Big Day field trip total of 119 species in 16.0 hours on May 3, 2003 was established by a nine-member team of Bonnie Ott, Ralph Cullison, Karen Darcy (Heffernan), Kevin Heffernan, Emy Holdridge, Nancy Magnusson, Daryl Olson, Jo Solem, and Helen Zeichner.

Each year from 2013 to the present at least one official Howard County Big Day has been run. These official days, however, stand on the shoulders of a series of 15 annual unofficial Big Days (1999-2013), 14 of which were organized field trips. These trips were planned to serve multiple purposes:
1. Provide an enjoyable day in the field during the peak of migration;
2. Expose participants to a specialized, perhaps unfamiliar, type of birding; and
3. Determine the county’s potential maximum number of species that could be amassed by one group on a single spring day of intense birding.

Of the three goals, number 3. was the most problematic. Field trip efforts have constraints that a small focused Big Day team does not face, i.e., a large number of participants and their vehicles (even with carpooling), a date chosen several months in advance generally limited to the Saturday before or after May Count, and neither an ability to avoid certain weather conditions nor the opportunity to take advantage of predicted migratory flights. During the initial years, not only was there no limit on the number of participants, but birders could opt to leave at one or more points during the day, although they were encouraged to stay the entire day. This flexibility expanded the number of individuals who were able to investigate this type of birding. When the number of birders approached 20, however, maneuvering people and vehicles became both unwieldy and, potentially, unsafe. Beginning in 2004, the participant number was capped at 12. Deciding on a morning meeting location was challenging as there was a need for parking for multiple cars at an ungated/open gate location where some vehicles could be safely left for at least half a day, and adjacent restrooms were almost a necessity. These Big Day field trips had access, by permission, to the University of Maryland Farm (UMDCF) swale, and, most years, Ralph Cullison obtained permission for the group to cover the Alpha Ridge Landfill.

Because it would have been impossible for every member of the group to hear or see every bird, usually at least two, sometimes three or four experienced birders were designated as leaders, usually on the morning of the count. For a species to be added to the total, it had to be seen or heard by at least one leader and a minimum of two other people. As a safety measure for the multiple vehicle caravans, species seen while traveling between sites, except when stopped at traffic signals, were not counted. This rule, unfortunately, made for some missed species. There was no prohibition on receiving information from non-participants; however, many of the trips took place prior to eBird (or its widespread use) and many during a time when cell phone contact was neither ubiquitous nor technologically dependable. People in areas along the Patapsco River, the Middle Patuxent River, and at Annapolis Rock Road were often out of reliable contact. Sometimes information was gleaned from a lone birder, but those interchanges tended to be infrequent. Any Big Days held on the first Saturday of May also dealt logistically with the Sheep and Wool Festival at the Howard County Fairgrounds. Tens of thousands of people attempting to access the event essentially gridlocked portions of MD 32, 99, 144, and exits from I-70 for some distance in all directions from the site during much of each weekend day.