The Little Sit!

While the tree stump that Kelly and our neighbour Mark moved into our back yard looks great, let's just say that Kelly's back has not been feeling as good as that stump looks. And so on Thanksgiving Sunday, we decided to forgo our traditional walk down through the Glen Stewart ravine and along the beach. Fall migration has meant that the back yard has been quite birdy lately so we thought, why not a little Birding by Butt? (Thank you, Geoff Heeter and Dave Pollard.)

Kelly got up a little early, made coffee and tea, and gathered fleeces, bird books, binoculars and camera. Fending off the cats, she set us up on folding chairs on the patio. It was very nice, sitting there in the morning chill with my sweetheart and a fantastic cup of coffee (from Stumptown Coffee in Portland via Buehler Barista). I'm not sure what the neighbours thought.


"You know," I said as the hermit thrushes bounced in and out of the bird bath and the red- and white-breasted nuthatches set up a chorus of competing car alarms, "they have this thing called the 'Big Sit!' that's coming up soon. You just set yourself up like this in one spot and watch whatever birds come along. We should do that sometime."

Yes, we should. Little did we know until I took a Facebook break that yesterday, October 10, 2010 --Thanksgiving Sunday, birthday of our great friend Claire, and 10.10.10-- was also Big Sit! day. So we decided to have our own Little Sit!

Here, by the way, is a highly entertaining video explaining the Big Sit! No offense to the mad interview skilz of the Birdchick and Bill of the Birds, but they and 2 other members of Bill's family simply shine in the dramatic montage that begins at about the 5 minute mark. I'm surprised that there have been no Academy Award nominations.

We registered our Sit and set Kelly as team captain. After all, it was her brainchild, even though she didn't realize it. Here she is in her captain's hat (picket captain from an aborted CUPE strike a few years ago).


We had a great Little Sit! Over a couple of sessions, each about 1.5 hours or so, we saw 16 species, 15 of which were previous yardbirds but the other brand new. After a number of binocular sightings and intensive cross-referencing with the Smithsonian photo guide, Peterson, Sibley, and a nifty little handbook of Toronto birds, we pretty confidently IDed a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker. But even if we had seen nothing new, we would have had a great day, just sitting there together in the gradually warming day and taking in what came by. Of course, had it begun a few hours earlier, we would also have had an Eastern phoebe and a winter wren. Not that we're complaining about that ... or the modo that refused to come to the backyard.

Of course there were goldfinches.


It was definitely a good day for nuthatches.


This one is just starting to take off; I like the flutter of his wings.


The hermit thrushes, which have been here in good numbers for over a week now, seem to be slowing down but they still put up a good show.


One needs to dry one's wings well after a bath.


The cats had their own Little Sit!, though they did not obey the 17' circle rule, expanding their view to include the living room. I guess that means they can count the modo.


It being Thanksgiving, we had a 17th bird, and this one was, while in the oven, within our circle. I don't think it counts, though!!


What a great way to spend Thanksgiving! If you'd like to see how all 230 participating circles did, check out the Big Sit! results list at Birdwatcher's Digest.