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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!

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Our most recent Blog Posts:

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

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...

Black-backed Woodpecker Chick

June 24, 2023

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

The Great Crested Caracara Chase of 2023

June 10, 2023

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

Prothonotary Warbler and Richard Nixon

June 3, 2023

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

First Pelagic Trip of the Year

June 3, 2023

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

Memorial Day Birding

May 30, 2023 1 Reply

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

The Excitement of finding a Louisiana Waterthrush!!!

May 27, 2023

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

Black-necked Stilt

May 26, 2023

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

Blackburnian Warbler

May 19, 2023

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

Two Weeks Left In Spring Migration

May 16, 2023

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

Hunting the Northern Waterthrush

May 12, 2023

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

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

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Go Birding!!!!!

Big Year Birding

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