Season 2, Episode 3: Krissi Martin’s 2022 Double Big Year

Welcome back to The Big Year Podcast.  Sorry to have been gone so long, but birding seemed to drag me away from editing more often than not in April.  Not to mention that I was recovering from a severe hand injury, when I fell after seeing both Ross’s and Snow Geese in Burlington in March.  I hyper extended all the fingers on my right hand, using it to brace myself and protect my camera as tripped over a rock and fell to the ground.  

It is May 2, 2024 and I was supposed to publish this episode yesterday, but once again, birds got in the way.  In this case a Summer Tanager arrived in my old birding patch in Toronto, Colonel Samuel Smith Park, on the shores of Lake Ontario.  There seems to be an eruption of Summer Tanagers here in Ontario this spring. This year at least half a dozen have shown up in various locations.  I had just seen one in Chatham, not far from Rondeau provincial park, a few days ago, but one in Col. Sam was worth the drive yesterday morning.  Second only to my ABA list, my Colonel Sam list is the most important to me.  I began birding on January 1, 2012 and I have been birding there ever since.  The summer tanager was number 242 for the park.  With migration gearing up I’m sure to out birding nearly every day, including a drive to the east coast, along the Trans-Canada Highway. I’ll be working on some new content and working on the next episode along the way.  This trip, unlike my 2022 Big Year, will be on a budget. I’ve got a new air mattress for the back of my Ford EcoSport and will be camping most nights, probably in a WallMart parking lot, or the occasional roadside ditch.  I might even splurge and get a spot in a province or national park some nights.  I was inspired to do this trip by Tiffany Kirsten, as that’s how she saved money when shebroke the all time lower 48 Big Year Record.  

Well, enough of me rambling, so let’s get on to this episode.

My guest, all the way from the west coast, is Krissi Martin .  Krissi did a double big year in 2022.  While I was criss-crossing the country, Krissi was birding locally in two counties, the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver.

So, sit back, relax, unless you’re driving, and enjoy.