Home - Big Year Birding

Welcome to Big Year Birding a site devoted to Birds as seen through the eyes of Ethan and Ingrid Whitaker. We are a Maine couple preparing for a 2024 Big Year across the continental United States!

Follow Us By E-Mail

Our most recent Blog Posts:

The Odd Couple

November 29, 2023

https://youtu.be/rYwAh7CMEvo Those of us of a certain age remember a 1970s sitcom called "The Odd Couple." The show was...

Spotted Towhee in Maine

November 21, 2023

November is an interesting time for birding in Maine. Virtually all of our summer birds have packed their bags and...

Lobster Trap Birding

November 14, 2023

To quote from my favorite television show . . . "Winter is Coming!" In Maine - it has dropped into...

Assateague Island National Seashore

November 2, 2023

Last week Ingrid and I visited my baby sister and her husband at their vacation home in Delaware. It was...

Purple Gallinule in Maine

October 21, 2023

January 2011, my son Bradley and I took a trip to southern Florida and the Everglades. This was a couple...

Dickcissel in Maine

October 20, 2023

Ingrid filmed a Dickcissel this afternoon near a community garden in Brunswick, Maine. This charming visitor from the Midwest United...

Cashes Ledge Pelagic

October 16, 2023

Cashes Ledge is an underwater mountain range, about 70 miles off the Maine coast, roughly halfway between Bar Harbor and...

Ingrid gets a Hudsonian Godwit

October 11, 2023

Ingrid and I are approaching our 10th anniversary. Her youngest daughter just had a beautiful baby boy. Last month we...

American Pipits in the Wrack

September 28, 2023

When most of us hear the term "Beach" we think of pristine sand . . . ideal for sun bathing...

Swainson’s Hawk in Maine

September 27, 2023

Wedding Anniversaries come around once a year . . . thank God. Each year: I have to remember the Anniversary....

European Non-Birding Vacation Continues

September 9, 2023

Day 3 of our two week European Holiday did not disappoint. Today we visited the sights of London . ....

Ravens of the Tower of London

September 8, 2023

Ingrid and I are in Europe on a non-birding vacation (gasp). Our first stop was the Tower of London...

Peregrine Falcon Shuffling the Deck

September 2, 2023

Yesterday, Ingrid and I visited Morse Mt (Seawall Beach), a nature preserve owned and managed by Bates College . ....

Birds of Leah’s Rock

August 30, 2023

Ingrid and I live beside a saltwater river along the coast of Maine. Even though we are a good ten...

2024 Big Year Preview

August 25, 2023

Check out our Big Year Preview!!!!

Marbled Godwit in Maine

August 24, 2023

Today Ingrid and I drove down to Hills Beach and Causeway in Biddeford Pool, Maine . . . one of...

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Dogfights

August 21, 2023

Ingrid and I have five hummingbird feeders scattered around our yard . . . each one could easily accommodate a...

Haikubox

August 11, 2023 1 Reply

In mid-June our Haikubox was delivered after what seemed like an eternal product backorder. I ripped open the box like...

Shorebird Migration Has Begun

July 31, 2023

When I first started birding, I figured that birds migrated north in the Spring and migrated south in the Fall....

White-winged Crossbill

July 23, 2023

Each winter, Ingrid and I hope to locate a White-winged Crossbill high up in Maine spruce trees. Some years we...

2024 Big Year Planning Continues

July 19, 2023

With our 2024 Continental USA Big Year now just 167 days away . . . Ingrid and I continue our...

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks – Ten Years Later

July 8, 2023

It was Wednesday May 30, 2013 and Ingrid and I were driving up to Bar Harbor for something called the...

Philadelphia Vireo

July 4, 2023

PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. If you are in a...

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Maine

June 29, 2023

Last night Ingrid were watching "Hijack", an Apple+ series that we highly recommend. In the middle of a particularly dramatic...

Loggerhead Shrike in Maine

June 25, 2023

This morning Ingrid and I were enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning, drinking coffee, reading the paper and complaining about politicians...

Our Bird Quizzes:

Read about Ethan’s Maine Big Year in his Book: Every Bird in Maine

And Ingrid’s Children’s Bird Book: What’s That Bird? A Kid’s Guide to Backyard Bird of New England.

Big Year Birding Blog – for – 2023, 2022, 2021 (Maine Big Year), 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

Check out Our Apps for Birders

Go Birding!!!!!

Big Year Birding

A Maine Couple Planning their 2024 Big Year across the Continental USA