Geeking out at Biggest Week

It has been a whirlwind week- going from Flora-Quest to the Biggest Week in American Birding.  Greg Miller and my good friends the Cornetts are all spending quality time on the Magee boardwalk, seeing old friends like Dawn and Jeff Fine and making new friends.  The one thing we all have in common is birding...

Greg Miller love to use his special birding phone apps.  

another common interest is the latest phone applications for birding.  Greg is addicted to Sibbley's guide and Twitter.  I have been totally absorbed in learning how to post to E-bird with Bird Log.  It makes keeping a list fun! I never dreamed I would be the one keeping the day list for our birding trips.  Dawn Fine  (center right) is  the unofficial queen of blogging who has done much to make birding a more social event and encouraging new (and old) bird bloggers.

 Twitter is a game changer at these birding gatherings.  Now when a rare bird is seen, many of us know within minutes.  There is no more waiting until the end of the day to find out we missed a Kirtland's Warbler on the boardwalk.  Now we can run right over and meet up with a couple hundred hopeful birders.

Eventually, with any luck... someone else will re-find the bird.  Like today, when the bird  (and an adoring crowd) moved from the back side of the boardwalk to a big open field.

The Kirtland's Warbler teed up in a Cottonwood tree, giving great looks to a huge audience.  Thanks to "Twitter" reports on our cell phones,  Greg and I were right there. It is remarkable that this entire crowd was there to see one bird.  But then again, it was the rare Kirtland's Warbler- which is no longer Greg's Ohio nemesis bird.  Congratulations Greg and the other 200 plus people who probably saw this bird for the first time!