A Big Day of Birds By Bike

Having recently completed a Barry County Big Green Year in 2013, this year I needed a new challenge combining my two passions of cycling and birding. I decided to cram it all into one day with the goal of seeing or hearing as many birds as possible in Barry County. Riding for reasons bigger than myself, this time I would be riding for charity...

Being a new father, it's important to me that my daughter grows up seeing healthy living and being outside and active as normal. I decided to ride for the Barry County YMCA and their Play60 program (getting kids outside daily for at least 60min). My goal was to raise $1000 and tally a bird list of at least 100 species.

The day began at 2am and without getting on the bike, bird #1 was in the bag. The endangered Henslow's Sparrow was doing what they do best, calling at night. You may ask why a person would get on the bike at 2am... NIGHT BIRDS!!! What a morning it was. I tallied 50 birds by the time the sun showed itself through the trees including Barred Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Great-horned Owl, Sedge Wren and the illusive Eastern Whip-poor-whil.

At sunrise, a few local birders met up with me for a nice long hike through great habitat and by the time I left, my list was over 70. A lull in bird activity coupled with a nutrition problem early afternoon made for a rough couple hours but #100 came around 2pm in the form of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.  This bird should be in the UP right now and for some reason decided to stay just long enough.  With #100 in the bag, that was the encouragement I needed to continue on.  I got past my nutrition barrier and a random nesting colony of Bank Swallows presented itself. At that point, the numbers starting going up again. By the time I reached Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, my family was already there grilling some brats which really hit the spot. Lillian loves birds but she may like swinging even more!

I made it home at 8:30pm which meant I was on the road 18.5 hours, rode 106 miles, hiked 5 miles, kayaked 1 mile, tallied 116 birds total (which is a Barry County record, bike or no bike), burned over 4000 calories and climbed over 4000 vertical feet.  Needless to say, I slept well that night!!

Most importantly, I surpassed my charity goal of $1000 and have brought in over $1400. Thanks for all who donated. I'm even hopeful by the time my donation site closes; I'll have raised over $1500.  If you would still like to donate, please visit www.active.com/donate/joshhaas by May 31st.

-Josh Haas