Team Sapsucker Wins World Series of Birding

Supporters pledged $180,000 for bird conservation

By Pat Leonard

Team Sapsucker, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's ace birding team, took top honors at this year's World Series of Birding, sponsored by New Jersey Audubon on May 13. By sight or sound, the team identified 229 species during their 24-hour"Big Day" romp around the state. The winning tally was a record for the team, and just shy of the event record of 231.

"Spectacular weather, a week's worth of intense scouting, a bit of luck, flexibility along the route, and a deep hunger to win--it all came together for a perfect day of birding," said Lab director and team cocaptain John Fitzpatrick.

Generous supporters pledged a record breaking $786.02 per species found--a motivating factor in the team's win. All $180,000 earned will go toward bird conservation, since long-time sponsor Swarovski Optik underwrites all Big Day expenses.

Ten seconds after midnight, the whinny of an Eastern Screech-Owl was a good omen.

Mike Hopiak/CLO

The phenomenal day began 10 seconds after midnight with the call of an Eastern Screech-Owl, which the team considered to be a good omen. Along the way, the Sapsuckers snagged their first-ever Big Day Northern Saw-whet Owl and Long-eared Owl. New Jersey rarities such as the Western Grebe and the Eurasian Collared-Dove were in the bag hours later. The Olive-sided Flycatcher was another coup.

"All day long we were in the right place at the right time, staying one step ahead of the other teams," said team co-captain Ken Rosenberg. That left extra time to find the tricky birds. By 9:35 a.m., the Sapsuckers had already scored 145 species.

Powered by sub sandwiches, baloney and cheese, chocolate-covered doughnuts, and other Big Day favorites, Team Sapsucker tallied their last bird at 9:52 p.m., a Black Rail. Cautious but hopeful, they entered their tally on the leader board at the finish line to find the next-highest score was 219 species.

The Sapsuckers took home awards for the team with the highest species total (the Urner-Stone silver cup), the best out-of-state team (the Stearns trophy), and the highest amount of money raised for conservation--the birding Triple Crown. The funds will be used to advance bird conservation in Central and South America using eBird, an online checklist program at www.ebird.org that gathers data from birders across vast geographic areas (see eBird's New Horizons).

For an essay about the World Series of Birding by Sapsucker Brian Sullivan, see The World Series of What?. Read an interview with Team Sapsucker about the Big Day at www. birds.cornell.edu/wsb/.

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu