So imagine a scavenger hunt, well over 600 miles in length,
where your targeted items are moving, sometimes through treetops of dark
forests, swamplands, tick-infested grasslands, beaches, or perched on half-sunken
ships or porta-potties. Your goal is to find as many of your targets as possible, but for most
of them, you will only be able to identify by sound as they remain hidden from
view. Others fly by in a blink of an eye. Some are plentiful and found at
almost every turn. Others can only be located in one particular spot and only at
a particular time of day. The challenge starts at midnight but only allows for
24 hours to gather your tally. The boundary lines of this madness are the state
of New Jersey. How appropriate.
Welcome to the World Series of Birding. Each team’s goal:
identify as many species of birds, by sight or sound, in 24-hours anywhere
within the state of New Jersey.
For the 10th year, the Upper Main Line YMCA’s
Earth Service Corps will have youth teams competing in this event. Started 29
years ago by New Jersey Audubon Society, the Big Day has over 100 teams competing in various divisions: Adult, Senior Adult, Elementary School, Middle
School, High School, limited to a single county, limited to Cape Island,
limited to a single spot that you cannot move from the entire day. Patience and
perseverance are required in whichever category you participate in. And preparation.
Blackburnian Warbler in Stokes State Forest, NJ.
Photo by Kriston Bethel.
Our high school team competes throughout the entire state
whereas our middle school team sticks to South Jersey. Both sets of students
began their preparation in January, attending classes led by our YESC
Coordinator, Brian “BQ” Quindlen”, to learn to identify, by sight and sound,
well over 200 species of birds that may be a resident or passing through the
Garden State on the day of the competition. In addition to being a scavenger
hunt, this event is also part Memory Game and part Clue. Sometimes you have only so many audio or
visual cues to piece together what bird that is, based on your memory…and a bird
field guide.
Brian "BQ" Quindlen (far right), during his senior year run here in 2006, now serves as lead instructor for UMLY's teams.
The event is used as one of the largest conservation
fundraisers in the country. Each team raises money, based on pledge amounts for
each species they tally, for the conservation cause or project of their choice.
Our Earth Service Corps teams have raised thousands of dollars for UMLY’s
Environmental Education Center over the last decade, through UMLY’s Changing Lives
Annual Campaign. The YMCA Earth Service Corps is a national environmental
service-learning program for middle school and high school students, focusing
on team building and leadership development through environmental education and
adventure programs. The World Series of Birding offers all of that and more.
The experience is just as epic as this photo shows.
Photo by Kriston Bethel.
It is also grueling. Physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Imagine being on a road trip with even the best of friends. After six or seven
hours, the endearing quirks suddenly transform irritating habits. This is team
building at its best. Physically, this can be a marathon, with sprinted
hikes over tree logs, creeks, and through bogs. This is not a
leisurely stroll in the park. Timing is of the utmost importance. Spend too
much time at your 2:00 PM stop and you don’t make it to your scheduled 8:15
stop until 8:30 PM and you’ve lost daylight as the sun sinks below the horizon.
Mentally, you need to pull out and translate the one bird song you hear in the
distance, while its being droned out by the cardinals, blue jays, and Canada Geese that
you already tallied eight hours earlier. Once you identify a species, you do
not count it again. As the day
progresses, the rate of tallying new species slows. What starts at a break-neck
speed at dawn, tallying over 40 species an hour in the morning, turn to a three
species an hour type afternoon. As the clock ticks down, this can crush the
motivation of even the most cheery optimists.
Is that bird mocking me?
Photo by Kriston Bethel.
But these kids and the staff love it. It is a worthwhile
fundraising event that not only teaches each participant that New Jersey
actually has some truly spectacular landscapes (did you know there are
mountains in North Jersey? Yup.), it also serves as one of the most important
stop-overs for birds migrating along the Atlantic flyway. Some of these birds
are traveling north from as far south as Argentina and Chile. New Jersey is the
end destination for some, but most are on their way to New England, southern
Canada, and even the Arctic Circle. New Jersey is geographically positioned
perfectly to serve as a rest stop for these birds to refuel and continue their
journey. Ecologically in early to mid-May, the timing is perfect for these
flight weary birds to drop in on the Garden State. Horseshoe crabs are laying their
eggs along the shore, providing a high-energy food source to shorebirds on
route to the north. Insect larvae are hatching in tree tops, providing snacks
for warblers and other song birds on the move. The World Series of Birding is
not on any random date. It occurs when there is the highest concentration of
migrating birds moving through New Jersey, giving each team the best chances
for a high tally and thus a successful fundraiser.
UMLY's middle school team, seen here after winning their division in 2011, return to defend their title.
Tonight, UMLY’s youth teams depart for two days of scouting
locations and locking in their timed schedules of where to visit and when. Then
at 12:00 AM this Saturday, May 12, the Big Day begins. We will try our best to chronicle
their adventures these next few days here on the blog, so please continue to
check in.
Please show your support by pledging today in support of
UMLY’s Changing Lives Annual Support Campaign and the Environmental Education
Center.
