Field Trip Wrap-Up: The Phoebes Big Sit
Saturday, October 8, 2022 • A.D. Barnes Park • Report by Ana Lima & Elizabeth Gushee • Images Courtesy of Ana Lima, Roxanne Featherly & Michele Louden
Thirteen birders gathered at A.D. Barnes Park for Phoebes Birding’s first Big Sit on an overcast morning October 8, 2022, joining the international Big Sit birding event. Strategically located at Picnic Area 3, under towering Oaks and fruiting fig trees and near the large pond, we were able to observe a whopping 48 species from our 17-diameter circle from 7:30am to 12pm! Among the crowd-pleasers were Black-throated blue warbler, Painted Bunting, Northern Parula and Baltimore Oriole.
What’s the Big Sit, you ask? The Big Sit is a free, non-competitive event held around the world since its inception in 1992 by the New Haven CT Bird Club. It’s typically held in early October; a great time to catch migrants coming through South Florida! A Big Sit is like a Big Day or a Birdathon in that you’re counting birds, but there’s a catch: all the birds counted must be seen or heard from within the boundaries of a circle no more than 17 feet (5.2 meters) in diameter. Read more about the Big Sit at www.thebigsit.org.
Image by Ana Lima
We chose to have our Big Sit at A.D. Barnes Park, a great location for this event. The park is home to many bird species year-round due to tree canopy, fruiting trees, and water features. In the spring and fall, many migrating birds stop in the park to rest and refuel on either their journeys to their breeding grounds (spring) or wintering grounds (fall).
The location did not disappoint! Despite several brief light showers, there were birds flitting about in the canopy the entire morning, including several chatty Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Bue Jays, Palm Warblers, Black-throated Blue warblers, Northern Mockingbirds, and a Black-and-white warbler.
We also had the chance to observe Gray Kingbirds and Eastern Kingbirds perching in a nearby Australian pine tree, allowing for the opportunity to compare and identify the similar species.
Working together as a team, Roxanne Featherly kept a running list of species that the group observed on a dry-erase board set up in the circle, while newcomer Min Zaho allowed women to use her scope to better observe birds. Miriam Avello kept the eBird list, which was later shared with Big Sit organizers.
All-in-all our first Phoebes Big Sit turned out to be Big Fun! Lots of birds, lots of laughs and lots of good memories. Can’t wait until the next one!
Birds We Saw
Egyptian Goose - 5
Muscovy Duck (Established Feral) - 7
Red Junglefowl (Domestic type) - 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) - 15
White-crowned Pigeon - 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 2
Mourning Dove - 4
Common Gallinule - 3
Killdeer - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 1
Great Egret - 2
Tricolored Heron - 1
Cattle Egret - 2
White Ibis - 37
Black Vulture - 4
Turkey Vulture - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker- 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
American Kestrel - 2
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet - 2
Red-masked Parakeet - 8
Eastern Kingbird - 1
Gray Kingbird - 5
Red-eyed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 7
Fish Crow - 1
Purple Martin - 16
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4
European Starling - 15
Northern Mockingbird- 9
House Sparrow - 3
House Finch - 1
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Boat-tailed Grackle - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 2
Tennessee Warbler - 2
Common Yellowthroat - 1
American Redstart - 2
Cape May Warbler - 3
Northern Parula - 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 2
Palm Warbler - 10
Pine Warbler - 1
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Prairie Warbler - 1
Northern Cardinal - 3
Painted Bunting - 1