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From: dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Big Day
Message-ID: <34319@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 30 Aug 90 22:46:14 GMT
References: <1990Aug30.140149.28028@zoo.toronto.edu>
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In article <1990Aug30.140149.28028@zoo.toronto.edu> rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) writes:
>What is the record big day north of Mexico?  My own best is
>159 at Pt. Pelee in mid-May, but I know that the day that I
>got that others who knew the area and had certain species staked
>out (and are better than I) got up to 25 more.

The most species of birds ever seen in one day (24 hours) in the United
States or Canada is:

244 species, May 1 1985, in Texas, by V. Emanuel, R.T. Peterson, J. Tucker,
             and G. Lasley.  They used an airplane to fly from the Lower
             Rio Grande Valley to the Upper Texas Coast.

Since some people think that airplane Big Days really shouldn't count, the
ABA lists "Aircraft Big Days" separately.  Therefore, the recognized
"official" ABA record is:

231 species, April 29 1978, in southern California, by J. Dunn, K. Garrett,
             V. Remsen, and R. Webster.


The Canadian record is:

205 species, May 23 1987, in southeastern Manitoba, by G. Grieef, R. Koes, 
             R. Tkachuk, and G. Holland.

(Interestingly, this is the North-of-Mexico North American all-inland
 "Big Day" record, beating the best ever in Arizona or Minnesota.  The
 only US States with Big Days greater than Manitoba's are California
 and Texas [see above] plus Oregon [212] and Virginia [212].)


The Ontario record is:

186 species, May 11 1979, Point Pelee area, by A. Wormington, T. Hince,
             D. Sutherland, and M. Runtz.

I think that Tom Hince broke 190 on the day of my "lifer" Mississippi
Kite, at Pelee, 20 May 1984, but the A.B.A. does not recognize single-person
"Big Days" as official records.

My "personal best" was 166 in April 1982 on the Upper Texas Coast, in a
group that totalled 170.  In Canada, I have never come close to 150.

[Source of all except the Hince day and my own: "Winging It" [ABA Newsletter],
v. 2, No. 7, July 1990, pp. 16-17.]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
David Mark
dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu
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