For a number of years now I have participated in the Baillie Birdathon. This event is a fundraiser for Bird Studies Canada in which volunteers sign up, collect pledges and go out for a day of birding anytime in the month of May. Each Baillie birder can conduct their day in any way they wish and in the past I have set myself a personal goal of counting a total of 100 bird species in the allotted time. However, this year my goal changed.

In early spring I received the Bird Studies magazine, "Birdwatch" and became interested in a story about David Sibley the famous bird book author and artist. In 2008 he conducted a fossil fuel free Baillie Birdathon around his home of Concord Massachusetts. He bicycled, kayaked and walked his way to a total of 84 bird species without using a drop of gasoline, and is now convinced he could reach the magical number of 100 bird species with a little more planning.

Over the last few years of doing the Baillie Birdathon I make a conscious effort to do as little driving as possible, restricting myself to a few main roads the longest about 6 miles from home. Still, in the face of Mr. Sibley's achievement I also want too make an effort to reduce, if not totally avoid the use of the internal combustion engine during my annual Baillie Birdathon.

I've done several local 100 species days, and know the challenge will be almost impossible without a car. I don't own a bicycle and have not ridden in years, so my ability to bird and ride at the same time would probably exhaust me before I started. Kayaking would be a little more to my liking but our local waterway, Bridge Creek, is almost a mile away and if I set out on it, I would likely end up many miles from where I started. I could call for a ride home when I was done but that would defeat the whole gas-free challenge. Walking appeared to be my only option.

As it happened I was house-sitting during the last week of May and my Baillie day was not yet done. Nor had I collected pledges. The pledges could always be collected later but I was fast running out of May. I liked the idea of a gasoline-free Birdathon and I waited for a interesting bird sighting to propel me into Baillie Birdathon action.

May 26th I sipped a cup of coffee, and watched the dawning sun in the east pasture . I could hear a diverse variety of - Hermit Thrush, Sandhill Crane, Mountain Bluebird, Least Flycatcher, Red-necked Grebe, - all interesting but nothing that I couldn't see, or hear on any day in mid spring.

I finished my coffee and let the dog cajole me into going for a walk. We set off west through the frost-covered grass. The west-west pasture (I named it such to distinguish it from the purely west pasture,) is one of my favourite places to walk. Then as I scanned yet another flock of Chipping Sparrows, a catalyst bird appeared. One of the birds in the flock was not a Chipping Sparrow; it was a Brewer's Sparrow. I've seen this bird just three times in the Cariboo. As I watched the Sparrow, a male Cinnamon Teal splashed into the wet meadow so close as to suggest that now would be a good time to begin a fossil-fuel-free Baillie Birdathon day.

Before the day ended, I walked several miles and was exhausted. My route around the property included a trip to the creek, two excursions with scope on shoulder to the pond next door and numerous rambles through various pastures. I also spent some time sitting and watching. I recorded 86 bird species, a personal record for a day of birding in one spot. Could I reach 100 species without using a gas-powered vehicle? Though I would not have believed so at the beginning of the 2009 Baillie Birdathon day, now I think it just might be possible.