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Bird-a-thon Birding Tips
To record a large number of species during Bird-a-thon, it is necessary to cover as many habitats as possible and to plan carefully in order to find the more uncommon and more elusive bird species. By using the best birders on your Bird-a-thon team and deploying them in some of the better birding areas of the state, not only do the less experienced birders who accompany them get to see more birds, but the state is covered more effectively than if all the best birders go together.
Generally, the best strategy is to assign certain local or difficult-to-find species to specific birding teams. In this way, one of each team’s goals becomes to specifically seek out the less common birds so that they may be added to the overall sanctuary list. While this may seem obvious, sometimes sanctuaries are more concerned about covering the entire state than they are in planning each team’s contribution to the total effort. In a carefully planned approach, the more common bird species will be located while specifically searching for the “target species.” A Bird-a-thon is nothing more than a great scavenger hunt where the objects to be found are living birds!
Another thought is not to spend all your time racing from place to place in a car, or perhaps to try the regional IBA approach. When driving from place to place, not only do you miss a lot of birds but you also miss much of the pleasure of being out birding in mid May. The IBA concept also allows you to maximize the local knowledge of your birding teams. Don’t send birders into areas they aren’t familiar with. Even the most experienced birders will be handicapped under these circumstances.
Where are the best places to spend time and what special birds should be looked for?
The following are a few basic examples:
Marshes: bitterns, ducks, rails, moorhen, snipe, marsh wren, best at dawn
Fields: upland sandpiper, bluebird, grassland sparrows, bobolink, and meadowlark
Upland Coniferous Forests: owls, red-breasted nuthatch, a variety of warblers, possibly lingering northern finches
Pine Barrens: Saw-whet owl, fish crow, hermit thrush, brown thrasher, pine and prairie warblers
Salt Marshes: egrets and herons, willet, other shorebirds, sharp-tailed and seaside sparrows
Tidal Estuaries and Mudflats: waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls and terns
Sandy Coastal Beaches & Islands: oystercatcher, gulls, terns, horned lark
Rocky Beaches & Headlands: cormorants, scoters, eiders, possibly lingering purple sandpipers
Open Ocean (offshore): gannet, sooty shearwater, Wilson’s storm-petrel, possibly red-necked phalarope
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