The 2012 Big Sit Results!

The Metro Munchers at their Big Sit circle in Harrison Twp, MI.

The annual tailgate party for birders known (officially) as The Big Sit! has been held each October since 1990 under the auspices of The New Haven Bird Club (the organization that holds the trademark to the name The Big Sit!). If you're not familiar with the concept of a Big Sit, this link has a good explanation. Basically Big Sit participants spend as much of 24 hours as they can stand bird watching from inside a 17-foot diameter circle in some birdy spot.

In 2012, there were 233 registered Big Sit circles worldwide, most of them in the United States and Canada. But there were also circles in Panama, Sweden, Mexico, and South Africa. The braggin' rights for highest species count among all North American Big Sit circles in 2012 goes to to The No Bullsitters who were sitting at Cape May Point State Park on the southern tip of New Jersey. They had an astounding 132 species! Wow!

There were Big Sit circles in 40 of the 50 US states, begging the question of what the heck is WRONG with the 10 states with no Big Sit? [AR, HI, KS, KY, WY, TN, RI, NM, NV, MT]. A few of these have hosted Big Sits in the past so perhaps it's just a matter of not submitting their results. Here is a list of all the registered circles for 2012. And here is a link to lots of other stats for the 2012 Big Sit.

Here at Bird Watcher's Digest we love The Big Sit so much that we've been the promoters and data keepers for it since the 2002 event. Four years prior to that the good folks at Swarovski Optik became the sponsor of The Big Sit's only annual prize: The Golden Bird Prize. The Golden Bird Prize is a $500 cash award given to the winning team to apply/donate to a conservation cause/organization/project of their choice. Here's how the winning team is selected: At their annual winter meeting, the New Haven Bird Club randomly chooses a North American bird species from among all the species recorded on all the North American Big Sits. Then all the Big Sit circles that recorded that bird species are placed into a hat and one lucky team's name is drawn as the winner of The Golden Bird Prize.

The species selected for the 2012 Golden Bird Prize was the sedge wren. From among the Big Sit circles that saw a sedge wren on the 2012 Big Sit, The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge "Wingers" lead by Dwight Cooley, were selected as the winners of The Golden Bird Prize. 

The sedge wren was the species selected as The Golden Bird for the 2012 Big Sit.

The Wingers had a very "wrenny" Big Sit, recording four wren species among their total: house, sedge, Carolina, and marsh wren. The Wingers plan to donate the $500 prize money from Swarovski Optik to the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge Association. This association, established in 1998, is an advocate for the Wheeler NWR complex and the National Wildlife Refuge Association. In addition, they sponsor and support many conservation and education projects on the refuge.

The Wingers have held a Big Sit at Wheeler NWR in Alabama for many years.

Congratulations to Dwight Cooley and the Wingers for their winning effort at Wheeler NWR in Alabama during the 2012 Big Sit. The 2013 Big Sit will be held on the weekend of October 13, 2013. You can watch the official Big Sit web page for announcements and the opening of registration.

I'm going to write about our own 2012 Big Sit here at Indigo Hill in one of my next posts and explain how we doubled our fun, if not our list of birds. Until then, stay birdy my friends.

Wild Sauce

Our local HEB ran pork butt for $1.00 per pound the other day and I bought several for grinding up to mix with venison to make some summer sausage. While grinding the pork butts I cut enough lean strips from one of the butts to make pork bits and rice for our evening meal.  While trying to come up with a sauce to glaze the pork in I made a spicy sweet and tangy red sauce that was one of those accidents that turned out so good I had to write it down and remember how to make it.  Everyone that has tasted the sauce so far has asked how to make it so here is the recipe.  Hope you enjoy it, Wild Ed



Wild Sauce


1 cup ketchup

1 cup cider vinegar

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dried chipotle pepper flakes

2 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes

2 cups water

Mix all ingredients well and bottle.



We have been making Wild Sauce, BBQ Sauce and Chutneys to hand out as small Christmas gifts to friends and family this year.  We are going to get together with both sides of the family and our kids and their families this year and be able to enjoy them all.  I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas and get to spend time with those you love.  God bless each of you in this new year and God bless Texas, Wild Ed

Texas Cranberry, Cherry, Orange Chutney

With the holidays coming up we are preparing foods for the family Christmas feast get together.  Each of us brings different dishes to my Mom's place for a combined Christmas Eve feast.  Some family members are famous for certain dishes and others are famous for just showing up to eat.  It is probably that way in your family also.  As for me I just bring what my Mom asks unless I have something going on the smoker or have made something special.  This year Mom wanted me to bring Cornbread dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce.  We are also bringing some fresh tamales as they are a Texas Tradition.

I did not want to bring just canned cranberry sauce so I came up with this recipe for a wonderful chutney. I thought some of you might like to try it on your holiday table.  The last ingredient is optional and try just a little in a small sample to decide which way you like it.  I found I prefer just a little vinegar in my chutney but others like to leave the vinegar out.  Which ever way you like it sweet or tangy it beats the heck out of canned cranberry sauce and puts a wonderful smell in the house when cooking.  I hope each of you get to share a Christmas feast with your family, Wild Ed

Cranberry Cherry Orange Chutney

2 bags fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 small oranges diced

1/2 cup dried cherries

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1 cup orange juice or water

Zest from one small orange.

Apple Cider Vinegar to taste (Optional)

Combine all ingredients except vinegar in a large sauce pan or pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until cranberries pop and juice is released from cranberries, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until thickened; stirring occasionally. Add vinegar if wanted to taste.  Chill before serving.

Always Take a Camera Along in Texas

This last Saturday my uncle Bob and I made a trip up to Priddy, Texas to meet a fellow outdoorsman to purchase an older boat and motor that I plan to turn into my Colorado River adventure boat for the grand kids and just maybe to help take care of my second childhood urges, if they don’t kill me first. The seller got tied up behind a wreck on the trip down and was late to the meeting at a deer lease about 5 miles out of Priddy. Not wanting to pull into a hunting camp with strangers not knowing our reason to be there we decided to drive up a nearby hill on the farm to market road we were on and just observe the wildlife, sit back and tell life stories to each other until the seller arrived.

This is where I learned a life lesson that apparently has taken me fifty eight years to learn. While sitting on the side of the road we saw some vultures fly down at what we thought was a big vulture sitting in a dead tree maybe a half mile away. As we watched it looked like the vulture in the tree had light shining off of its head. I reached in the back seat and got a pair of 10 x 50 Cabela’s binoculars I carry in the truck for just such an occasion and focused them on the bird. To my surprise there sat a fully mature adult Bald Eagle, in the middle of no where far from rivers or lakes set an eagle just taking in the afternoon. I turned to the backseat again while remembering my camera was lying on the couch where I had laid the case when I came in from the ranch last weekend. I had no way to record what we were seeing and the rare sighting would go un-documented, perhaps it was just a moment for my uncle and I to share at that time. I know the saying that this posting is worthless without pictures, but I just wanted to remind all of you to always carry a camera in the outdoors or anytime you are on a trip around this great State. You never know what you might see, Wild Ed

PS:  It is not always easy to find a decent place to eat when your out on the road headed to an adventure so I encourage hunters, fisherman and other outdoorsmen to let people know where to stop when on the road.  We stopped at a small cafe on the south edge of Goldthwaite Texas on 183 that had a large number of vehicles in the parking lot.  I don't remember the name but they had a good cheeseburger with fries for a fair price.  The table next to us had mexican food that looked awful good so I will try it the next time I go through the area.  It is on the west side of 183 on the south outskirts before you get into town.

Podcast Episode #40: Optics Buying Advice Part 2

My interview with Ben Lizdas of Eagle Optics was just too meaty to include in a single podcast episode, so we broke it into two parts. And this new episode, which is number 40 in the "This Birding Life" podcast archives, contains the second half of our conversation about getting good advice when buying birding optics. Ben and the folks at Eagle Optics are super experienced in guiding customers through the buying experience.

Ben Lizdas of Eagle Optics.

In this episode we discuss some considerations for specific types of use: hawk watching, shorebird watching, warbler watching, backyard feeder watching as well as parameters for choosing the right binocs for traveling, hiking, and the proper binocs for use by young bird watchers.

 Special thanks to Zeiss Sports Optics for sponsoring "This Birding Life."

EVENT ALERT!
If you'd like to meet Ben Lizdas and sample the very best in birding optics for yourself, make plans to attend the Birding Optics & Gear Expo, March 23-24, 2013 at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus, Ohio. Eagle Optics will be there along with reps from the major optics manufacturers. It will be a great opportunity to try before you buy. Registration is FREE and all registered attendees will be entered to win one of our fabbo door prizes.

Endangered Whooping Cranes Stop in Central Texas

Central Texas Birdwatchers and Naturalists are again trekking to Lake Granger in Central Texas to view the rare and endangered Whooping Crane. What makes this such a unique opportunity is that the birds normally spend winters along the Texas Coast near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge hundreds of miles to the south. After migrating from their summer grounds in Canada two family groups have decided to spend some time here in Central Texas. Each group consists of two adults and one juvenile crane. Instead of dining on crabs and shrimp these birds are acquiring a taste for freshwater mussels, snails, insects, frogs and grains left behind in local farmer’s fields.

                       Juvenile and adult Whooping Crane

These birds may just be here for a while and then move on down to the wintering grounds on the coast or they might just make this their winter home. If you plan on seeing the birds remember they are protected as an endangered species and must not be harassed or disturbed. Be sure and take a spotting scope or good binoculars to get a good look from a distance. I kind of hope they stay around and establish some Central Texas flocks. You never want to have all your eggs in one basket anyway, Wild Ed

Caption Contest #24

I'm pretty sure we've found a new product that's guaranteed to get rid of pesky artist/naturalists, but we need a caption from you that sells this new product to the unsuspecting public.

If you've got a great idea for a caption for this new product ad, share it here using the Comments window of my blog. I'll pick a winner on Friday, December 14, 2012. Thanks to Julie Zickefoose for being in the photo. I'm not sure if her face is revealing worry or relief.

Gentlepeople: start your caption engines!