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:

European Non-Birding Vacation Continues

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

Ravens of the Tower of London

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

Peregrine Falcon Shuffling the Deck

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

Birds of Leah’s Rock

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

2024 Big Year Preview

Check out our Big Year Preview!!!!
Read More

Marbled Godwit in Maine

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

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Dogfights

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

Haikubox

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

Shorebird Migration Has Begun

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

White-winged Crossbill

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

2024 Big Year Planning Continues

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

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks – Ten Years Later

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

Philadelphia Vireo

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

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Maine

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

Loggerhead Shrike in Maine

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

Black-backed Woodpecker Chick

I’ve read that Maine is the heaviest forested State in the union . . . not sure how they measure...
Read More

The Great Crested Caracara Chase of 2023

If you live in central Florida or southern Texas, you may have seen a Crested Caracara picking at road kill...
Read More

Prothonotary Warbler and Richard Nixon

Today Ingrid and I saw a Prothonotary Warbler at Hinckley Park in South Portland . . . the third time...
Read More

First Pelagic Trip of the Year

Ingrid and I love bird watching at sea . . . and I'm not sure why.   Its hours of...
Read More

Memorial Day Birding

As spring migration wraps up . . . Ingrid and I did a bit of birding over the long weekend....
Read More

The Excitement of finding a Louisiana Waterthrush!!!

Ethan . . . I wish I could experience the excitement of finding a rare bird with you . ....
Read More

Black-necked Stilt

Early in the summer of 2022 a Black-necked Stilt appeared in a salt panne adjacent to busy Route One in...
Read More

Blackburnian Warbler

Reid State Park is one of Maine's jewels . . . 770 acres of sand beaches, rocky shoreline, salt marshes...
Read More

Two Weeks Left In Spring Migration

Spring migration in Maine continues and Ingrid and I are exhausted.  Both of us are up before dawn (and that...
Read More

Hunting the Northern Waterthrush

Yesterday, I went hunting for a Northern Waterthrush . . . and found it . . . in the wrong...
Read More

Countdown to 2024 Big Year:
0
Years
:
0
Months
:
0
Days
:
0
Hrs
:
0
Mins
:
0
Secs

 

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!!!!!