When I tell my friends about my Maine Big Year and they look at the photos . . . there is a certain romanticism about the whole thing.  What they don’t know is how much effort goes into getting some birds.

For instance a Black-headed Grosbeak that has been visiting a park in Portland took me twelve visits and probably 20+ hours before it appeared briefly on a fence and I snapped this “fabulous” photo.

On Friday I stood in the cold for four and a half hours watching a feeder waiting for a Yellow-throated Warbler which never showed up.

And then today I walked for two miles on an ice covered trail using branches to keep from falling to get a Northern Shoveler.  My legs are still tensed up.

Tomorrow its back to the Yellow-throated Warbler feeder.