I previously speculated that the shot I took of a barely visible American Robin at 5:38 a.m. on May 6 might be the earliest identified photo taken in the game. I just spent a few minutes plowing through the Public Gallery, and I’ve confirmed it; that’s the earliest identified photo taken so far.
Here’s that shot:
The second-earliest shot so far was also of an American Robin. It was photographed in pretty much the same place at 5:51 this morning, May 18, by noho_bird_club:
It’s only 13 minutes later by the clock, but it’s obviously a lot brighter out; I guess a couple of weeks makes a real difference as we head toward the longest day of the year on June 21. I think my “earliest shot” record is ripe for the plucking, and will only get riper for the next month or so, as the early birds shift their schedules to match the daylight.
Third place goes to this shot of two female Black-headed Grosbeaks, taken at 5:52 a.m. by gbleys on May 8:
I also looked for who had taken the latest identifiable photos. The winner in that category is this shot of a male House Finch taken at 8:15 p.m. on May 7 by keystone1111:
Second place goes to this shot of a robin, taken at 8:13 p.m. yesterday, May 17, by kryptonkay:
Third place goes to this shot of a male Black-headed Grosbeak, taken at 8:09 p.m. on May 8 by byronma2433:
Here are the top 10 in each category. Note that in compiling this list, I took the earliest and latest bird each day, and compared only those. That is, only one shot each morning and one shot each evening could be in contention. This makes it actually a competition between the different days, to see which day’s earliest bird was the earliest, and which day’s latest bird was the latest.
Earliest:
- 05:38 — American Robin (elanus, May 6)
- 05:51 — American Robin (noho_bird_club, May 18)
- 05:52 — Black-headed Grosbeak (gbleys, May 8 )
- 05:53 — Black-headed Grosbeak (elanus, May 12)
- 05:55 — Black-headed Grosbeak (kellychitwood, May 9)
- 06:03 — House Finch (nestera, May 5)
- 06:05 — Black-headed Grosbeak (noho_bird_club, May 10)
- 06:06 — Black-headed Grosbeak (kiddo, May 10)
- 06:10 — Western Scrub-Jay (m.vogel, May 7)
- 06:11 — Western Scrub-Jay (nchyflyer, May 4)
Latest:
- 20:15 — House Finch (keystone1111, May 7)
- 20:13 — American Robin (kryptonkay, May 17)
- 20:09 — Black-headed Grosbeak (byronma2433, May 18)
- 20:02 — Western Scrub-Jay (maggs, May 5) (tie broken by being first to get the bird in that minute)
- 20:02 — Dark-eyed Junco (sunbird, May 12)
- 20:01 — House Sparrow (sunbird, April 24)
- 20:00 — Dark-eyed Junco (pabirdguy, April 27)
- 19:57 — Dark-eyed Junco (empid, May 13)
- 19:50 — Western Scrub-Jay (randc319, April 29)
- 19:49 — American Robin (ephrat, April 21)*
*That 10th place finisher for latest photo is from the very first day the site went public, April 21, and it’s currently classified as a Dark-eyed Junco. But I’m pretty sure it’s actually an American Robin. Here’s the photo:
If you agree with me that that’s no junco, and if you haven’t voted yet, click through and enter your vote and we’ll get it reclassified.
Update: And now, thanks to your votes, we’ve done so. Thanks!