My March BiGBY List

The Big Green Big Year (known as BiGBY, for short) challenges birders to compile a Big Year list without the aid of fossil fuel-burning vehicles. It offers at least three advantages over traditional Big Year counts: increased knowledge of the birds of your neighborhood, increased physical activity, and increased energy conservation.

This report continues my monthly tally of species observed on a BiGBY being conducted in Buchanan Township, Michigan. It consists of species seen from my house or yard or while engaged in Walking or other modes of Self-Propelled transportation that originated from my house (i.e., no fossil fuels were burned in recording any of the species on this list). In the following list, species recorded for the first time this month are indicated by an asterisk (*), those not seen in or from the house or yard are italicized, and the date each species was first observed during the month is indicated in parentheses:

Canada Goose (2nd)
Mute Swan (2nd)
Wood Duck* (18th)
Mallard (18th)
Redhead* (26th)
Ring-necked Duck* (18th)
Greater Scaup* (28th)
Lesser Scaup* (18th)
Bufflehead* (19th)
Hooded Merganser* (18th)
Wild Turkey* (31st)
Pied-billed Grebe* (26th)
Great Blue Heron (16th)
Turkey Vulture* (7th)
Cooper's Hawk (2nd)
Red-tailed Hawk (11th)
American Coot* (18th)
Sandhill Crane* (26th)
Killdeer* (13th)
American Woodcock* (13th)
Ring-billed Gull (2nd)
Mourning Dove (1st)
Belted Kingfisher* (13th)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (5th)
Downy Woodpecker (1st)
Hairy Woodpecker (2nd)
Northern Flicker (27th)
Blue Jay (1st)
American Crow (1st)
Tufted Titmouse (1st)
Black-capped Chickadee (1st)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1st)
White-breasted Nuthatch (1st)
Eastern Bluebird (14th)
American Robin* (5th)
European Starling (2nd)
Yellow-rumped Warbler* (5th)
American Tree Sparrow (1st)
Song Sparrow (4th)
Dark-eyed Junco (1st)
Northern Cardinal (1st)
Red-winged Blackbird* (5th)
Common Grackle* (9th)
Brown-headed Cowbird* (31st)
House Finch (5th)
Common Redpoll (1st)
Pine Siskin (27th)
American Goldfinch (1st)
House Sparrow (2nd)

Personal highlights included an American Woodcock peenting behind the barn on the 13th, a pair of Sandhill Cranes soaring high over the house on the 26th, a female-plumaged "Oregon" Junco beneath the feeders on the 26th, and a pair of Wild Turkeys scrambling across the backyard on the 31st.

TOTALS:

March BiGBY List = 49
March Yard List = 46
New to BiGBY List for 2008 = 21
New to Yard List for 2008 = 21
2008 Cumulative BiGBY List = 51
2008 Cumulative Yard List = 48

Previous monthly reports for 2008: January, February.