Foley Feeder Frenzy To say the year so far has been anything short of remarkable would be an understatement. Never would I have previously considered states like Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama to be states with fantastic birding – though obviously that was a misconception as the second half of Week Three
Dowitchers Galore The Gulf Coast – known for its year-round warm climate, fantastic winter birding and… snow? Seriously? Yep, that’s right. Snow. Before departing on this adventure, as November and December began to get colder and colder back in Michigan, I kept reminding myself that I only had so much more
Big Bend & The Valley Covering 1252 square miles and containing more than 80 different trails, Big Bend is a truly massive and spectacular place, and my allocation of a single day was… laughably insufficient. Now, I knew I wouldn’t even begin to scrape the surface of this massive National Park
Albuquerque Following the beyond-exciting kick-off my year in southeast Arizona, I was admittedly left a tad spoiled. Not every state will the century mark be easily attained as it was in Arizona, let alone a total tally as high as 173 with 50 Lifers – that said, New Mexico remains, in
The Big Day After 18 months of preparation, the time for my 2025 adventure has finally arrived – and in typical “me” fashion kicked it off with a “Big Day”. I met Timothy Burkhardt at his house on the morning of the first to join him for his traditional Pima county
So It Begins As I write this before settling in for the night on New Year’s Eve, I am confronted by the exciting reality that the trip I have spent the last year and a half looking forward to is finally here. Tomorrow morning when I wake before dawn and head
Return To Form July would prove to be a unique month, only bringing in four year birds: all four were Lifers, all four were shorebirds, and two were exceptionally rare birds. The first actually came in late June, though some documentation has it having arrived in Michigan in May
Recovery While June would prove to be a month of recovery, I wouldn’t have guessed as much on June 1st when a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck was found at Gallup Park in Washtenaw county. I made the drive for the bird, which was not a Lifer but did bring me to 304 for
Right Out The Gate If April was the month when my Big Year truly became ‘big’, then May was the month where it became silly. Make no mistake, through April I was having an incredible year. I ended April at 235 species for the year, though that 235 was largely a
The Question Reflecting on my 2022 Big Year, it really wasn’t until April that the year became big. Of course, as with the first three months, I still adamantly maintained that I wasn’t doing a big year, but by this point I definitely had myself set on the goal of breaking
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
