Although my big year is taking place in a small town, there’s still a lot of territory to cover and a host of factors that can affect which birds appear where and when and why. Changes in weather, bird migration routes, the local food supply – abundance or scarcity – can both give birds to a territory and take them away. There are vagrant birds who drop in uninvited and disappear just as suddenly; and there’s also the occasional avian irruption – when a species migrates into a new territory in abnormally large numbers. Birding territories are not static. They transform with the tides and the seasons and sometimes for no discernable reason, keeping this newbie birdie on her toes! Click the ducks below for a peek at my most frequented, targeted – and best bird spotting in and near Westerly.