Prepping for the World Series

Is "prepping" a word? In any event, our team met last night to plan our route for the World Series of Birding this year. Our team is covering only Ocean County. This is a pretty large area with a variety of habitats. We have beaches, salt marshes, forests, pine barrens, bogs, and access to the best grassland habitat in NJ. Our plan is to start at 3:00 AM and bird until around 9:00 PM. We've planned stops along the way that take in all types of habitat. Ocean County has a great selection of breeding birds that we hope to find including Hooded Warbler, Yellow-Throated Vireo, Upland Sandpiper, Horned Lark, American Kestrel, Grasshopper Sparrow, and both Waterthrushes just to name a few.

So how do I think we'll do on Saturday? Last year, we had 135 species with almost no migration conditions. This year, the forecast calls for rain which could potentially stifle migration and maybe even the bird song. Our route is a little different than last year and we're going to try to track down some of the breeders that we missed last year. My hope is to do better than last year, even if it's by only one species. My gut tells me that if it rains a lot, we may find less birds than last year. Either way, we'll have fun doing it. I don't expect to get any lifers on the WSB, but there is one potential spot for a Barn Owl! That would be a lifer for me and it's on my mental list of "most wanted" birds.

So wish us luck, pray for good weather, and if you're participanting I wish you wonderful birding!