World Series of Birding - Our 10th Year of Madness

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 10^th 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.

Click here to participate: World Series Pledge Form