About Me

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Mission, Texas, United States
I'm Tiffany Kersten, a professional bird guide based in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. I spent 2021 traveling, birding, and gifting personal safety alarms to women birders I met on the trails along the way during my Lower 48 States Big Year. In 2022, I founded Nature Ninja Birding Tours, offering customized private tours in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.

Friday, June 25, 2021

Midwest Trek: Wisconsin to (almost) Montana

 June 12

I flew in to Minneapolis midday on the 12th, picked up my rental car ($100/day is now the standard price for a compact or economy car…), and headed to camp at Perrot State Park, where I found one of only two campsites in all of southeastern Wisconsin State Parks available for the Saturday night. I situated my tent, showered, went for a short walk, and called it a night. I’d have an early morning ahead of me - up at dawn and a two hour drive to Kirtland’s Warbler. 


Year List: 636 


June 13


Now, let me tell you about Kirtland’s Warblers. I spent two field seasons while in college surveying for them on the Chequamegon National Forest, and not I, nor anyone else on the field crew, heard or saw a Kirtland’s Warbler either season. There had been a pair found the previous year, presumed breeding, so they increased their survey efforts ten-fold, and it was marginal habitat. 


Somehow, in the twelve years that passed since, I never went to see this species on their breeding grounds. It’ll be a lifer for me! 


I arrived around 7:30 am to coordinates along a public road, that someone who had seen them last year had given me. (Before anyone asks, no, I’m sorry - due to the high publicity of my blog and the sensitivity of the species, I’m not sending along coordinates.) I heard two individuals singing before I even got out of the car. It took me over 30 minutes to finally see one, and over an hour to get any good digiscoped footage. Eventually, I realized there was a distant third bird singing. Two males squabbled back and forth for a while in a territory dispute. I managed to get identifiable video of the colored bands on two of the birds: Red over red; silver over green and orange over blue; silver over green. I'll be reporting them to the bird banding lab! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=18rjnahzLTlniqznGjp5aj2sKBPosyPmh


I headed to Buckhorn State Park where I would be camping for two nights, meeting my youngest brother, who I hadn’t seen in eight years - since he was in high school. 


Year List: 639


June 14


I returned with my brother to the Kirtland’s Warbler spot, just 20 minutes from where we were camping. He’s always been into nature, and I was extra excited to see how eager he was to see these birds! Having repped Swarovski in Maine, I still had three extra pairs of Swarovski binoculars in tow, so I lent him a pair for the day. 


After going to see Kirtland’s Warblers, we headed over to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, where Whooping Cranes nest. We saw several pairs of Whooping Cranes, and I pointed out Eastern Phoebes and Red-eyed Vireos to my brother as well. When we got back to our campsite he said, “Well, I guess I should start an eBird account…” 


We sat around the fire that evening, made “hobo pockets” - a new concept for me - and caught up on the last eight years, and it felt great to reconnect with him. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1b4ryUj-hcIqM2pz3XyBiVZrj_Cdw5LmX

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1WYreEqK9quPAY_h4zxKzwqGmLcd01OTL

June 15 


Up at 5:00 am to scoop up my friend Alex up in Minneapolis around 8:00, to head north to Sax-Zim Bog! We went for a known Connecticut Warbler and got him within 15 minutes. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=16Bs3jm9CD7c9l1PY1_i6YS60hE3cTkCW

Tried a spot for LeConte’s Sparrow, and dipped. Headed over toward tiny town Inguadona where we finally got Canada Warbler after trying in various places early afternoon. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=11oTKMufyexl3uvquQQYNZFnLtFHYQxYt

Next, we headed to Lake of the Woods County where we scouted a site in daylight for Yellow Rail (checking visually to see which areas the habitat is best), went and set up camp at a city campground 20 minutes away, went back for Yellow Rail near sunset - and heard it calling immediately upon leaving the vehicle! How crazy lucky and unlikely. I took a few video clips for audio. We spent about 30 minutes listening and driving down the road in search of LeConte’s Sparrow - dipped again. Once darkness had settled in, we headed back to our campsite. It had been a long day! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1pcwrq4IFrJPTd1euOarcTJuV4DfExwxjhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1kBpbSbo9h2RCvW0eZv1_wWILizmlfSWY


June 16


North Dakota bound! Lots of Big Year planning is about weighing pros and cons, internally conducting cost/benefit analyses and risk factors, and I’d decided that going for Baird’s Sparrow in western North Dakota seemed a better bet - and cheaper - than flying to Denver and driving to southern Wyoming to try to get them there. There’s been a massive drought in so many parts of the United States this year - and I’ve been seeing it for myself in many places already this year. Birds are not in some of the places they “should” be, and many are much more restricted in their breeding range this year, Baird’s Sparrow being one of them. 

On our trek to Almost Montana, we picked up Red-necked Grebe (after dipping on a few spots, they were everywhere we looked later on, also par for the course for a Big Year), Ferruginous Hawk (after expecting to see one at a known nest, and dipping, one flew right by the road later in the day), and finally we made it to Little Missouri National Grassland mid-afternoon. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1g1m3Jcgk520cM9RpTIlwHlZ5w9PlbDu8

We had tried to come up with a camping plan that was convenient, but the truth is, there was no campground within 30 minutes of the grassland where we could easily access after sunset and come back again for the Baird’s at sunrise. So, we winged it, killing a few late afternoon hours on two mile hike in Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and sitting around at a pavilion there doing some computer work. (Alex, amongst many others - Christian, Dorian, too many others to keep track, have helped me with tweaks in the remainder of my Big Year planning, and I am very thankful - it takes a village!)  


We got to the grasslands around 7:00 pm - it was pretty windy, but winds had died a little in the last few hours. Sunset was 8:40 - we’d have to work quickly, driving down the road and listening at various points — driving fast enough to cover the distances we needed to, but not driving too fast or stopping to quickly to hear the birds. Sometime around 8:00 pm, we heard a bird singing not too far from the road. We walked a bit off the road, and it flushed to a nearby grassy area - half-buried and half-teed-up, singing its little heart out. 


Whew. Once again, a moment that could have or might have been pure joy, slightly dampened by the sense of stress relief. I was getting anxious about Baird's Sparrow- I did not have a backup plan to get it elsewhere, should we miss it on this trip. Slightly dampened joy does not make it less of an amazing experience, just a different one. The last 5.5 months have been so absolutely incredible (I was only “knowingly” doing a Big Year for the last four months), but as with anything truly incredible, it includes a myriad of emotions interspersed throughout. It was a life bird for me! I’d tried for a wintering one a decade ago in Patagonia, Arizona with no luck. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1uIZLetPPFdmfLcUYUYoUeSOoXCo43baJ

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1jPAwqcKtimCUNiKc_T7GvVUfFJ2Y6OIl


We camped at a campground near Dickenson, North Dakota, arriving after sunset and leaving at sunrise. We were heading back to Minneapolis, with one final, fairly stress-free target. Sprague’s Pipits had been seen recently, displaying, just two miles off of the highway back to Minneapolis. They winter in a park 20 minutes from my home, but if I could get them now, that would just be one less bird to worry about, come chase season in the fall. 


Year List: 642


June 17

Sprague’s Pipit took just a handful of minutes to find, five minutes off our path back to Minneapolis. The distant, twinkling song came raining from the sky. I’ve never gotten great looks at this bird - in the Rio Grande Valley, protocol is to walk through a field and flush them - and I wouldn’t today either. 


We stopped by a Le Conte’s Sparrow spot, where third time was a charm! I’d never gotten great looks at this bird- the other two times I’ve seen it were fleeting looks at an Orange-ish bird. This one perched up, singing his heart so long from the same place, that after enjoying it for half an hour, we had to leave him while he was still right there giving amazing looks. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1LN40dCFBxGFlR__KdhJ4Op5Xaw_DZICx


Off we headed to Minneapolis. 


Year List: 644


Monday, June 21, 2021

Washington State

June 9 

My friend Christian and I went birding early, looking for Black Swift at Lake Sammamish. We got to the state park when they opened at 6:30, and immediately found swifts over the far hillside. Most appeared to likely be Vaux's Swifts (which I'd gotten on January 2nd in Louisiana), but we thought we had picked out a couple of Black Swifts amongst them. We drove out of the park and over to the hillside where we had seen them, and found them feeding not high above the trees. What incredible looks at a life bird! You could even see the white on the front of the faces of the males. Once again, not winning any photo contests by not carrying a camera, but I managed documentation shots digibinned with my iPhone through my Swarovski binoculars. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1OVuoF3AMIAQQsFvGAYfAJ0s4gD2y0D5w

Later, we went back into the park in search of a Cassin's Vireo (which we never found), and found a very strange Common Yellowthroat which sounded very much Ovenbird-y, throwing some of the best birders for a loop with the recording. Upon leaving the woods, we came back to the lake and I was incredibly surprised to have a Shawneen Finnegan sighting! There may have been some squealing and a lot of laughter. I usually get to see her at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival which was cancelled last year. She was there leading a VENT tour along with Victor Emmanuel himself. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1vG9DBqGRcTkMGJET-Y0lsgKA7iAl6c3i

Christian headed off to work, and I made my way up to Mount Rainier in search of Sooty Grouse. It was midday, so I figured I'd probably end up going for a hike and enjoying the afternoon, before focusing on the grouse later in the evening hours, when fewer people were in the park. After stopping at the visitor center and talking with a ranger, he confirmed my decision to hike first and Sooty Grouse later. While driving down to lower elevation to find a hiking trail, I  turned the first corner and a car was stopped in the road - there is no shoulder on this road. Having to wait, I  noticed out of the corner of my eye, they were looking at a pair of Sooty Grouse right there! The male was displaying and courting a female just a few feet away from it, though she appeared generally uninterested. I found a spot to turn around, parked back up in the parking area, and walked down with my scope. I refound the male across the road (yikes) in a nearby tree on the slope below me, making him approximately eye level. I spent an over an hour watching him feed and display (and feed and display, simultaneously), standing on the side of the road with occasional cars wizzing past. I could have done without the roadside location, but the experience was still incredible. The extent to which these birds do not fear people is unreal. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1pM87ByRPCAh7CEQDziKW7LhtyktQWauY

Year List: 631

June 10th

After spending another night in Seattle, I headed to Sequim Bay State Park, to set up camp before heading to do some seabirding. I found a bayside campsite, parked in it and got out, walked around a bit and realized there was a different site I  liked better. I backed up and...bam! I'm not sure what I hit, but the vibration of the entire car told me it wasn't good. There was 9 miles on this car when I  picked it up, and I was using my own insurance. It was today that I learned that one of the new fancy technologies in cars is that they rumble when you're about to hit something. Whew! Such a relief.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1fam0kI4hWmkdYmKALlamHAOFfETqYk1v

 A walk down to the boat launch area produced a few Pigeon Guillemots (which I  would continue to accidentally call Black Guillemots for the duration of the trip - so strange that I literally went from seeing Black Guillies in Maine to Pigeon Guillies here!) and a singing Cassin's Vireo in the nearby scrubby area. 

I picked up some Pad Thai and egg rolls for lunch in Sequim, and headed for a picnic lunch at Marlyn Nelson County Park. It had been raining on and off all day, and I had to wipe down the picnic bench seat with my beach towel. I was starvingggg! One of my biggest struggles of this year is remembering to eat - and eating enough - with how busy I've been and how many distractions I have! I  had to buy smaller jeans on this trip, because I've lost so much muscle in the last several months. Time to prioritize eating more! I opened the egg rolls, and sauce, and pad Thai...and they forgot to include utensils!!! Clearly, the eating of the egg rolls is self explanatory, but after scrounging around my rental car and realizing there was nothing at all that could possibly serve as a utensil, I wound up using the little cardboard flap on top of the egg roll box as a makeshift spoon. I should clarify, I used ALL of the flaps, because they quickly got too soggy to be useful anymore. I did some scanning of the water with my scope, and picked out a few distant but identifiable Rhinoceros Auklets

Next stop was Ediz Hook, where some Tufted Puffins had been reported within the last week. Although I    spent a few hours at this location, the best I could do for new year birds was a few dozen Harlequin Ducks. West coast seabirding is one of the places I've felt most out of my element, having spent very little time here. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=16SFVtN0F91xXHapvavH3tTsWV6XGENB2


June 11th 

I met David and Tammy McQuade at 9 am at the marina in Sequim, for an attempt at finding Horned Puffin on Smith Island, a few hour boat ride from Sequim. I'd planned my trip around their invite to join them on the boat and was really hoping to get this bird for my Lower 48 Big Year! They only rarely wander into the Lower 48 and are usually only found in Canada and Alaska. The weather was not looking in our favor to begin with, and we were right. We were on the water about an hour before the captain said we'd need to turn around. The extra bummer is that we weren't even able to pick out a Tufted Puffin from Protection Island. I'd have to hope to see Tufted Puffin on a return visit to the Pacific Northwest. 

I'd fly out tomorrow morning to Minneapolis. 

Year List: 635

Friday, June 11, 2021

Acadia Birding Festival

June 3 

Day 2 was the beginning of more local trips, within about an hour’s drive of Acadia National Park. My co-leader and I carpooled together to Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge. Driving through some open fields lined with scrub on the way, I picked up my year Bobolinks at 60 mph. I eBirded an incidental checklist for that spot, and made a mental note to try to get a photo or video of these guys at some point in the coming days. Repping Swarovski, I unloaded my binoculars, scope, and three extra pairs of binoculars for participants to use.https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1NTIC3hogd8Y7XPbAL43Ahrl7rcmgFbR3
Bobolink a few days later near Portland. 

We had a great walk, with Common Eiders also new for the year. Once we finished the walk, I gifted all the participants Birdie alarms  and explained my project. (If you'd like to purchase for yourself, follow this link: https://bit.ly/3khhTt4, and use code TIFFANYKERSTEN10 for 10% off - 10% of the sales also goes toward funding my project!) The women have been really receptive to my project and it’s been really rewarding to have these conversations with women and to feel like I’m making a difference. 


After finishing the guided walk, I headed over to Ship Harbor Trail within Acadia National Park, in search of a possible late Purple Sandpiper. No Purple Sandpiper, but I did hear a thinly-sounded Bay-breasted Warbler singing, which was new for the year. I’d taken off out of Texas just before some of the later migrants came through, and I’m also still needing Canada Warbler. 


June 4


No new year birds on the morning walk at Sears Island, but I did walk Blagden Preserve in Bar Harbor, successfully finding (in typical flyover fashion) a few Red Crossbills that were reported there the day before. It’s important to know the flight call of this species in order to find it - a rich double chip note. I had barely made it 100 yards into the preserve when they flew over, and it sure was a beautiful space. Now what? Go back to the hotel and take a break? Keep walking? Although I was still not recovered from getting in at 2 am and the few hours of sleep I got before the Bicknell’s trip the first night, the walk was too beautiful to pass up. I found myself in literal tears over how beautiful it was - watch for another blog post in the near future outlining my revelations with this. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1-KyNIj0Y95gxCvzg4ODMrLb2k9ixbg7G

Blagden Preserve, Mount Desert Island, Maine


June 5 


Today was the day so many guides and participants were waiting for: the pelagic trip with over 100 participants on board! We would head over to Petit Manan Island as well as several other neighboring islands in search of Razorbills, Atlantic Puffins, and more! Arctic Tern was new for the year, and after checking a few islands, we were able to scrounge up a few Great Cormorants as well! I’d hoped to happen upon a Roseate Tern on this trip, but there weren’t any, so I would have to plan for my backup with that at Scarborough Marsh when I go to look for Little Egret on my way to Boston in a few days. 


After the boat trip, several guides gathered for brunch. Lobster Benedict yes please! My year has been a bit bipolar - most times spending very, very carefully, with a handful of Swarovski trips thrown in, where my meals are covered. These Maine guides are characters! Bill told a story about driving in a snowstorm and watching two snowshoe hares hop side by side down the street in front of him - until he suddenly realized it was the back two feet of a moose! The hilarious stories kept coming from all sides of the table. I realized how isolated I’ve felt over the past year, living alone and dodging covid. The company and camaraderie of this week has felt great. 


In the afternoon, I co-led a trip to Otter Cliffs, where we had a very quiet afternoon walk with only 17 species. Yikes! 


Evening plans included another social meal in Bar Harbor. What a strange world it feels, to finally be vaccinated and have life start feeing a bit more normal again! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1IEY2S0pU6VjjS7etRu7V3edBJat4Ckcj


June 6 


The final day of the festival, and no new year birds for me today. I co-led a field trip to a place called Pretty Marsh, within Acadia National Park in the morning, and to Otter Cliff again in the afternoon. I gifted Birdie alarms to all the women in my group at the end. 


I’d made plans with new friend and Portland birder Doug to look for the Little Egrets that have been hanging around the Portland area for several years now. I set at 3:15 alarm for my final night in Acadia National Park. (I highly recommend the Seawall Motel if you’re planning a visit!) I’d drive the 3.5 hours first thing and meet him at 7 am to try for Roseate Tern, Saltmarsh Sparrow, and Little Egret. 


The final count of alarms gifted during the festival was 19. I’d one left to carry for myself the rest of my travels these coming weeks, and I’d wished I had brought more with. I’ve now given away 60 alarms for the year - with 70 at home remaining to be gifted! 


June 7


Up well before the sun, I drove down to Scarborough to meet Doug. Our 7:00 am meeting spot was supposed to near-guarantee Roseate Tern, but none were to be found. We headed over to look for Little Egret at Scarborough Marsh and found Saltmarsh Sparrow flying through out scopes, but no Little Egret. Then we tried for the Little Egret up closer to Portland, also with no success. At this point, Doug needed to leave for work. 

Recognizing I wouldn’t make it to the airport on time, I changed my flight from today to tomorrow, and from Denver as a destination, to Seattle. The Yellow Grosbeak was gone from Colorado, which had been my main reason for going there. 


I headed south about 45 minutes for yet a third Little Egret that had been seen there recently. Nothing there either, so I headed to look for Roseate Tern again at the Pine Point spot in early evening. After sifting though the dozen terns there, I’d only found Common and Least. Finally, a Roseate Tern flew in, landed on a sand spit for a few minutes, and then wasn’t seen again. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1tUXnh2Uo1kKAdiOi5VFVZXlLnZC6C88p

Next back to Scarborough to check those sites again. Scoping white birds distantly against a dark marsh with the sun lowering, I finally came upon a bird with two distinctively long white plumes!!!! Only the head of the bird was showing when I first located it in my scope. Over the next minute or so, it walked over and out from behind a bank in the marsh. Nooooo…the bird was speckled with blue, making it the assumed Little Egret x Tricolored Heron that’s been present for a few years now. 


In the evening, Doug and I went to go look for Northern Saw-whet Owls at a location outside of Portland where an adult and a fledgling had been banded recently. We walked around a natural area with lots of long grass- tick haven for sure. We heard some calling in the woods, and saw a silhouette in the dark against a slice of light from the moon. We both gathered together, and shined a light on the bird. I gasped almost audibly. I'd forgotten that the juveniles look like some crazy rare owl from the tropics! Saw-whet is a bird I've never seen, and only heard, and I was definitely not expecting my very first experience to be seeing a juvenile! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1NJFdHi8RMtE3Bk6xKDmVoIOJZXWjrP1F

Juvenile Saw-whet Owl near Portland, Maine 


June 8 


Doug and his wife Alex were gracious enough to host me for the night at their place, and my plan for the morning was to try all the Scarborough Marsh spots, while Doug tried the Portland spots before beginning work for the day. Neither of us had any luck, and around noon I headed to Revere Beach in Boston, where several Manx Shearwaters mysteriously hang out at the beach and sometimes fly over the beach homes. 


I got to Revere Beach and parked along the beachfront, scoping for about 30 minutes. Just as I  was about to accept defeat (it sure had been a rough couple of days!), I saw some low-to-the-water seabirds flying in from very distantly over the ocean. I  drove further south down the beach, popped out of the car, threw up my bins, and there they were, eight of them just hanging out together on the water near to the beach, full of people on the first summer weekend. So strange! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1p0Kf9QW1nvotQfjyYpZOva0XqNgnfWoE

I drove the 20 minutes to the Boston airport, and flew in to Seattle, where I would be meeting my friend Christian. 


Year List: 629 

Thursday, June 3, 2021

Bicknell's Thrush!

After heading home to tend some obligatory homeowner tasks and cuddle with my dog, Puppet (who turned nine on June 1st), I  finally was able to get my covid shot - J&J being put back on list of options made it easier for me to get vaccinated, rather than having to make sure my schedule worked to put me in the same place two separate times for a follow-up shot. 

Sitting at home feeling unwell with side effects (one day of mild hot and cold flashes and about two and a half days of rather significant lethargy), I watched sadly as my Yellow Grosbeak window of time collapsed - one had been seen at a feeder regularly, at a very inconvenient time which left with me deciding between getting vaccinated or chasing - and I chose vaccination. There wouldn't be time to go after getting vaccinated, because I was heading directly to the Acadia Birding Festival to lead field trips there. 

June 1

After some weather in Dallas cancelled the first of my three leg journey to Bangor, Maine, I rescheduled and planned to fly to Boston, picking up a rental car there. I  was originally scheduled to leave McAllen at 6 am; my new flight was at noon, and I wouldn't get to Boston until 10 pm. It was a four hour drive in the dark, in the middle of the night, up into the mountains in the middle-of-nowhere Maine, to my hotel in preparation for leading the Bicknell's Thrush pre-festival trip. At 2:03 am, I made it to the hotel (where a call-ahead resulted in them giving me the room number and leaving the door unlocked for me) and was in bed by 2:15 with a 5:45 alarm. Not, however, without first waking up in a panic shortly before 5:00 am, thinking I'd overslept, with the realization it was light out. I'd forgotten how early sunrise is in New England in the summertime and had been anticipating being woken by an alarm when it was still dark.

We had an intrepid group of nine participants meeting at the ski lodge at Saddleback Mountain, and as co-guide Michael and I were waiting for the full group to assemble, a Black-throated Blue Warbler was singing in trees adjacent to the parking area. 

Our group fully arrived, and we were welcomed by the lodge staff - and promptly loaded into three ATVs to be driven to near the top of the mountain. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1OglEeu6j7OyPrwOOIivHzCekkOvDNnF-This was a first for this opportunity, as every other year of the Acadia Birding Festival, participants had to hike all the way up, and all the way back down. (By the time we made it back down at the end of the day, I was very thankful we'd gotten the ride up, and I can only imagine those on the trip who were twice my age were twice as thankful!) 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1z0YXiEby0ZrHWHhs57ypfesGvvzGUzNX

As we ascended up to the very tops of the mountain (and walked the 'saddleback' ridge that gives Saddleback Mountain its name), several Bicknell's Thrushes were calling. At one point, we could hear three individuals calling from the same location! We were definitely at the intersection of some territory lines. Somewhat frustratingly, none of the Bicknell's were very obliging, and our group had gotten fleeting looks at a few of the individuals. In total, we tallied eight individuals. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MlWQHw5ajXtgLLhpd7r3UcU_6aExk_aL

Atop the mountain and above the treeline, we rested about half an hour, listened to some more Bicknell's calling, snacked and hydrated, watched a Northern Goshawk careen through the sky over the treetops below us with a Sharp-shinned Hawk harassing it, and chatted and connected with one another. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1qCtqHcspi2T51q2KZUDygFMXDtuSKJf4One by one, I made my rounds and chatted with each of the women, explaining my project and gifting each an alarm. 

We carefully made our way down the mountain (steep in some parts with slippery gravel!), enjoying great looks at Boreal Chickadee and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Magnolia Warbler, and American Redstarts on the way down. 

It was a 3.5 hour drive into the Acadia area for the leader's dinner - I  headed straight there after getting off the mountain. From there, ten minutes to the Seawall Motel. I threw my belongings in my room, and headed to the ocean 1/8 mile away, anticipating a year bird to be sitting on the water, waiting for me. I  was right. Black Guillemots there were. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1YDWPCBSVD0c1Z7o1DnWmUgqMgPGSQMqU

The number of times this year that I've been moved to tears over how pretty something looks or how beautiful it sounds has gotten to be a little absurd.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ByHs23K4sqLyURziGJYnpcpsmpne5mAS

After more than a week with no new year birds, it sure feels great to get back at it! I'm looking forward to four more full days of guiding and more year birds on short order! Off to bed with an incredibly full and thankful heart. 

Every trip I've taken this year has changed who I am as a person, in the very best of ways. More on that soon. but for now, bedtime. 4:30 alarm set. 

Year List: 617