Last Sleep

Not sure if I'll manage any sleep, very excited. Maybe the tactic is to stay awake all night so that I sleep on the way up there and don't have to listen to the boys' inane chatter. How many ticks are we going to get? What's your most hoped-for bird? What are we going to find? Bo-oring! Who am I kidding?!! This is essential birder conversation, to be savoured, repeated, quoted, repeated again.

So what are my most hoped-for birds? I confess I'd not given it much thought until a few moments ago. Clearly something exceedingly rare, and given the mix of east and westerly winds, it could come from either side, so I am going to pick one of each. From the east, I would like to see an Olive-backed Pipit. Perhaps not so rare, but a real looker. Pechora's pretty nice too, but if I had to choose outrageous, it would of course be a Siberian Rubythroat, but only a nice bright adult. And from the west, any Dendroica, especially Canada, but I think overall a Veery would be the one for me. For starters, I'd probably recognise it.

So, an early start tomorrow, most of the day in transit, but a opportunity, should the weather allow, to twitch something immediately, so to everyone who is already on there, please find a biggy. The first time I ever went, I had two new birds by the end of the first afternoon, both megas. The same again would be the perfect start. I'll try and post regular updates, both gripping and depressing, but I'm not taking a laptop so no chance to go through the photos up there. Any particularly gripping birds and I'll take them straight off the screen. Laters.