Big Sit

On this coming Sunday, I will be participating in the The Big Sit! (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/funbirds/bigsit/bigsit.aspx), a birding competition where birders across the world sit in their own 17-foot diameter circles and count all of the birds they can find. This year I will be counting from a 17-foot circle in my yard. The yard record for The Big Sit! is 49 species, which I achieved last year.

I'll be sure to post more about this after the sit!

Here is the bird list from two years ago:

1. Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
2. Canada Goose Branta canadensis
3. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
4. Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
5. Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
6. Cooper's Hawk Accipiter cooperii
7. Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus
8. Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
9. Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
10. American Kestrel Falco sparverius
11. Merlin Falco columbarius
12. Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
13. Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
14. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius
15. Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
16. Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus
17. Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus
18. Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
19. Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
20. Common Raven Corvus corax
21. American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
22. Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
23. Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapilla
24. Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
25. White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
26. Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
27. Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa
28. Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
29. Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis
30. Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus
31. American Robin Turdus migratorius
32. Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
33. European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
34. Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
35. Tennessee Warbler Vermivora peregrina
36. Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata
37. Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus
38. Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina
39. Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla
40. Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
41. White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
42. Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
43. Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
44. Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
45. House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
46. Purple Finch Carpodacus purpureus
47. American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis
48. House Sparrow Passer domesticus
49. Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus (not sure why this is at the end of the list...)