Liam’s Big Year

George Walter

Photo by Jill Severn

One of the great aspirations of dedicated birdwatchers is to have a “Big Year” – a year in which they go all-out to see as many bird species as possible within a given geographic area, usually their home state. Back in the mid-1980’ I tried it twice when I had more time, energy, and an enthusiastic big year partner.

In 2022 our column’s photographer, Liam Hutcheson, did a Washington Big Year. Liam’s saw a total of 361 bird species, a great number that easily bested my 336 and 337 counts from those 1980s efforts. (The state record for one year, incidentally, is 376 species).

Liam’s Big Year started in the dark early morning hours of January 1^st with the sighting of a Barred Owl. It was the day of the Grays Harbor Christmas Bird Count (CBC); he was on a team of four at Westport, and before the day was finished, he had his first 76 species. The next day he added more species around the Olympia, and he was off to a fast start at nearly 100 species.  That’s how a big year goes at the beginning, when it’s easy to add new birds to the year list.

Later, as one sees most of the common birds, it becomes harder to add new species. Thus, numerous trips to out-of-the-way corners of Washington are needed. In late August, Liam and others were on forest roads high up in the North Cascades north of Winthrop. That day was exciting because he added four missing state species, Goshawk, Three-toed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee and Spruce Grouse. Then, on the way back that evening, there were Common Poorwills along the road, posing for photographs. Poorwills are Eastern Washington nocturnal insect-eating birds, related to Common Nighthawks. Their name echoes their nightly calls.

Liam’s last new species sighting of the year happened when he and his mom were in Neah Bay for the Neah Bay CBC. His mom spotted a Brambling, an Asian finch rarely seen south of Alaska, and Liam got a good look at it and a photograph, too.  Then, elsewhere in the count area, a second Brambling was located. What a day, walking around in 8” of snow and finding two of these rare vagrant species.

As Liam told me this story, he mentioned that he wanted to thank his mom, Elizabeth McManus, for all the support she provided for his big year. Liam is not yet old enough to drive, and Elizabeth, a very good birder herself, was glad to be the chauffeur for most of his trips. She also had a very good 2022 big year, finishing with 328 bird species, which ranked her high on the year’s list compilation, even though she didn’t go out on the ocean. Ocean trips add pelagic species not otherwise available, and Liam has shared accounts of many of them in earlier columns.

And sometimes they made remarkable dashes by car to see some unusual bird. On one October day they were in Neah Bay when Liam heard about a Brown Booby (a rare ocean bird) being seen near Vancouver, Washington. They dashed home, slept a few hours and then his aunt drove him to Vancouver where, luckily, they found it. Another addition to the list!

Potholes is a broad area of eastern Washington beyond the Columbia River. It has a lot of irrigated agriculture and consequently a lot of wetlands, ponds, and interesting birds (for example, terns, white pelicans, and many wading birds). In 2022 Liam visited this area at least five times. One visit resulted in another wild dash to see a rare bird. This time they drove straight from there to Ocean Shores to search for a Bluff-breasted Sandpiper. This species breeds in the high arctic and migrates south to Argentina for the winter. Rarely, one or more will stop along the Washington coast, and luckily for Liam and his 2022 list, this was one of those rare times.

I asked Liam whether he was feeling a bit more relaxed now that his big year was finished, and he might not feel compelled to dash across the state to see rare birds. But he noted that he’s seen more bird species this year than at the same time last year, so another big year may be in the offing. Birdwatching is habit forming, as Liam and I (and many others) can testify.

George Walter is an environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 40+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com

Photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, a 15-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.