Thank you for your pledge!

Dear Big Day Supporter:

We expected the 25th anniversary World Series of Birding to be a memorable experience and it certainly was! Both Cornell Lab of Ornithology birding teams encountered less-than-perfect weather conditions, luck (good and bad), and fierce-but-friendly competition. We were unbeatable in the most important category—raising funds for bird conservation and for undergraduate research. Thanks to your amazing generosity and that of our sponsor, Swarovski Optik, a record-breaking $198,000 goes to these causes! Read on for a summary of how the Big Day unfolded for Team Sapsucker and The Redheads.

Team Sapsucker: 222 species, second place (tie) statewide division

Sapsuckers (L-R) Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff, and Ken Rosenberg at Cape May Point. Photo by John Fitzpatrick

 
With the entire state to cover, Team Sapsucker, Powered by Swarovski, had to choreograph its moves with military precision and exquisite timing. It started well. At the stroke of midnight in the Great Swamp an Eastern Screech-Owl answered the call, a Great Horned Owl flew by, and an American Woodcock displayed in a nearby field, giving the team three great birds in a matter of seconds. It got a little tougher after that.

“It was cold and wet and there was a north wind, so there weren’t any night migrants moving at all,” said Sapsucker captain Ken Rosenberg. “So that cut out as many as five species that we hoped to get flying over.” The Sapsuckers did get Sora, Virginia Rail, and other important birds in the swamp, but missed two species that would not be found anywhere else: American Bittern and King Rail.

	Marshall at Cape May Point. Photo by John Fitzpatrick

The Northern Saw-whet Owl and Long-eared Owl came next in the nighttime route, followed by Pied-billed Grebe and Common Moorhen. As a cold dawn unfolded, the team ticked off the grassland sparrows, more than 20 breeding warbler species, and other northern specialties. A bit of bad luck meant no Winter Wren and Dark-eyed Junco on the checklist. But at Brigantine, Team Sapsucker found birds quickly and saved so much time they could visit more Cape May sites for “bonus birds” such as Roseate Tern, Glaucous Gull, and Harlequin Duck. Their zig-zag through southern New Jersey netted nearly all the breeding landbirds, migrating shorebirds, and lingering waterfowl that were possible although Northern Bobwhite was a frustrating miss. After hearing a Black Rail at 10:49 P.M., the Sapsuckers kept birding right until they burst through the doors of the West Cape May firehouse to turn in their list at one minute before midnight.

The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club’s Lagerhead Shrikes pulled off the overall win this year, reporting 229 species. The Sapsuckers tied with Connecticut Audubon’s Raven Luna-Ticks for the number two spot.

 “I don’t view it so much as competing against other teams, but competing against the event record of 231 species,” said Marshall Iliff. Brian Sullivan agreed: “A little more modification to our route, a bit of luck, and some help from the weather and I think we can get that record!”

The Redheads: 184 Species, second place, Cape May County division

Redheads are ready for anything. Photo by Scott Haber

Midnight found the Lab’s student team, The Redheads, in place at the Tuckahoe freshwater marsh. They waited. And waited. “We didn’t hear anything for the first 45 minutes,” said captain Glenn Seeholzer. “The wind was keeping the birds quiet.” At last the birds began sounding off—first the Marsh Wren, followed by King Rail, Swamp Sparrow, Sora, and Virginia Rail. They got an unexpected Black Rail, plus Barred Owl and Eastern Screech-Owl on the way out, but no Least Bittern, a species that never did make it onto their checklist. The next 22 hours were a whirlwind of birding, from coastal marshes and the Cape May beachfront to the pine-oak forests and white cedar swamps of Belleplain.

Beaver Swamp yielded Chuck-will’s-widow and other nightjars. A Great Horned Owl calling in the distance was checked off at Jake’s Landing. Other good birds included Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Nighthawk, Parasitic Jaeger, Marbled Godwit, Harlequin Duck, and White-rumped Sandpiper. The Redheads tallied their final birds in the parking lot at the finish line. A Veery heard at 11:51 P.M. and a Swainson’s Thrush at 11:53 P.M. capped off a long day.

	Glenn and Shawn get focused. Photo by Scott Haber

“The team worked well together, playing off each other’s strengths,” said Seeholzer. “Tom and Mike are really good at vocal identifications, Jay’s really, really good at imitating bird whistles. Shawn spotted a Black Tern, a Long-tailed Duck, and a Eurasian Collared-Dove that saved us a lot of time.” The team finished second in the Cape May County division, three birds behind the Maryland Yellowthroats.

Supporters pledged an impressive $27,000 to The Redheads. Some of the funds will be used for a research expedition to Peru this August. Seeholzer and fellow Redhead Mike Harvey are among those planning the trip to an unexplored upland plateau called Gran Pajonal. They’ll conduct the first species inventory for the region, gathering baseline data for studies that will fuel future conservation efforts.

“It’s amazing that students can raise this much money for undergraduate research,” said Seeholzer. An added bonus: “We didn’t get lost and we didn’t break anything!”

It’s a Big, Big Team!

Of course, the Big Day teams could not be successful without the even larger team backing them up—a team that includes each and every one of you who pledged support and the amazing folks at Swarovski Optik. Swarovski covers all team expenses so every dime raised goes to conservation and research programs that help the birds. They also provide the crystal-clear scopes and binoculars that making seeing 200+ species possible. Many thanks also to Taughannock Aviation, which flew the exhausted Sapsuckers back home.

Congratulations to Alison VanKeuren of Slingerlands, New York, who won the Swarovski binoculars for coming closest to Sapsuckers’ species total and the time their final bird was tallied: a Black Rail at 10:49 P.M. Be sure to check out photos of the teams in action, a video of finish-line activities and the awards ceremony, and Marshall Iliff’s Eastern Screech-Owl call!

Thank you for all you have done to make this year’s Big Day a win for the birds!

Ken Rosenberg, Captain                            Glenn Seeholzer, Captain
Team Sapsucker                                            The Redheads
Conservation Science director                        Cornell University senior