A Quarter-Century of Birding for Conservation

Ithaca, NY—The World Series of Birding, sponsored by New Jersey Audubon, returns this Saturday, May 10, marking the silver anniversary of the event. A team from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has been in the thick of the action every one of those years.

The goal of this so-called “Big Day” is to gather pledges for each species of bird teams can identify by sight or sound during the midnight-to-midnight dash across the state. Team Sapsucker is the returning champ, having won the World Series the past two years in a row. Last year the team tallied 230 species (a team record, one short of the event record), and brought in about $185,000 in pledges. The team has raised more than $2.1 million for bird conservation since 1985.

The Lab will again field a Cornell student team, the Redheads (named for the Cornell “Big Red”). Last year’s first-ever student team placed second in the “limited geographic area” division with 174 species, a great first outing. The Sapsuckers bird the entire state of New Jersey while the Redheads compete in Cape May County.

Lab director, John Fitzpatrick, and information science director, Steve Kelling, have retired from Team Sapsucker after 12 and 14 years, respectively. Other top-notch birders are stepping into the fray. Captain Ken Rosenberg, head of Conservation Science at the Lab, is the veteran, returning for his 24th Big Day.

“We’re psyched, as always,” says Rosenberg, “There are some unknowns this time around, since we’ll have some new team members and we’ll be in everyone’s cross-hairs after winning the event for the past two years. But we have the best birders in North America and we’re determined to hold onto the championship!”

Donors pledge any amount of money for each species identified by the teams on the Big Day. Funds will be used in a variety of conservation programs at the Lab, including studies of night flight migration calls, Neotropical bird conservation, and the expansion of the eBird online checklist program into Latin America—the winter home for so many of our North American species. Ten percent of funds raised is set aside for students, interns, and aspiring professional scientists. Every cent goes to these causes because expenses for both teams are underwritten by long-time sponsor, Swarovski Optik.

Read more about the Big Day on this web site and make your pledge online or call (800) 843-BIRD. You can also enter your guess as to how many species will be identified by each team and what time the last species will be identified. Then you’ll be entered for a chance to win a pair of Swarovski binoculars. Check back on May 10 for updates on how the teams are doing!

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Contact:
Pat Leonard               
Cornell Lab of Ornithology                                   
(607) 254-2137                       
pel27@cornell.eduu