Soon after Chris O’Neal awoke last New Year’s Day in his Gwinnett County home, he heard a blue jay calling — bird species No. 1.
Earlier this week, he saw a flock of migrating sandhill cranes flying overhead — species No. 255.
Since Jan. 1, O’Neal, 28, has been pursuing a birding “Big Year,” trying to beat the statewide record for the number of bird species seen or heard in Georgia for a calendar year. With only a few days left in 2013, it’s unlikely that he’ll beat the state record of 331 species.
He has, however, achieved another goal — setting a Big Year record for Gwinnett with 158 species.
“I never expected to locate the number I found, so I am overjoyed,” said O’Neal, a statistician.
A Big Year, sanctioned by the American Birding Association, is an informal competition among birders to see or hear the largest number of bird species within a calendar year and within a specific geographical area — county, state or entire nation.
The Big Year achieved fame a couple of years ago when a Hollywood movie by that name portrayed three men on a quest to see who could identify the most species of birds in North America during the year.
“After seeing the movie (and reading the book on which it was based), I thought, ‘I can do that,’” O’Neal said during a chat this week.
He also said:
- "(Some of) my most prized species included a scissor-tailed flycatcher near Cartersville, a Ross's goose in Suwanee, a long-billed curlew in Altamaha Sound and a red crossbill in Dawsonville."
- "Of all the birds I found, 54 were first-time sightings."
- "One of several adventures: On a boat trip on the Altamaha Sound with the Georgia Ornithological Society, we stopped at Egg Spit to search for shorebirds. … I was the first to disembark. The water was supposed to have been shallow, but I happened to find the one deep spot and plunged into the water up to my chin. Unfortunately, I was (carrying) my camera; it was damaged beyond repair from the water."
He’ll be looking for more birds this weekend. “My Big Year is not over until 11:59:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve,” he said.
IN THE SKY: The first major meteor shower of 2014, the Quadrantid, will be visible Wednesday through Saturday nights, with a peak of 120 meteors per hour on Friday night. Look north after dark, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer.
The moon, new on Wednesday, Jan. 1, will be a thin crescent in the west at dusk on Thursday. Venus is in the west at dusk and sets about two hours later. Mars rises out of the east around midnight. Jupiter rises out of the east at dusk and is visible all night. Saturn rises out of the east a few hours before dawn and will appear close to the moon just before dawn Sunday.
