2010 Bird-a-thon Results & Highlights
Mass Audubon’s 27th Bird-a-thon on May 14-15 was a great success, raising over $170,000 for conservation initiatives across the state. For another year, the weather cooperated and allowed a total of 650 birders to engage in the annual tradition of finding species across the state. At the end of the 24-hour event, a grand total of 268 species was recorded, including a number of unusual species. Among the most notable were White-faced Ibis, Black Vulture,Rough-legged Hawk, Marbled Godwit, Little Gull, Caspian Tern, Chuck-will’s-widow, Cave Swallow, Golden-winged Warbler, Western Tanager, Clay-colored Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, and Lapland Longspur.
We are proud to report the complete list of award winners below. In addition to these tributes, we extend our deepest thanks to the Bird-a-thon donors, whose generosity and enthusiasm inspire us each year.
Highlights of 2010 - Award Winners!
Brewster Cup (1st place team for most species seen during Bird-a-thon) Drumlin Farm, 230 species
Forbush Award (2nd place team for most species seen) Blue Hills Trailside Museum, 214 species
Hatheway Cup (1st place team for most money raised) Drumlin Farm, $34,820
The $ Cup (2nd place team for most money raised) Joppa Flats, $18,387
Statewide Migration Award (greatest % increase in fundraising total from the previous year). Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary with a 371% increase!
IBA Regional Award (low carbon footprint award): The IBA Team with 165 species(97% of par value for the South Shore region)
Regional Migration Awards: For sanctuaries/teams showing the greatest percentage increase in fundraising dollars from 2009 to 2010 All will receive a Mass Audubon funded pizza or ice cream party for the staff or Bird-a-thon team.
Greater Boston: Broadmoor with a 60% increases
Central/Western: Connecticut River Valley Sanctuaries, with a 102% increase
Southeast and Islands: Wellfleet Bay with 100% increase
Statewide Top Individual Fundraiser: The winner this year is Kathy Seymour of Drumlin Farm's team. She raised $15,309 for Drumlin and also contributed to other sanctuary Bird-a-thon efforts as well. Kathy will receive “Winter Shelter,” an original Stone Lithograph which was generously donation by acclaimed natural history illustrator Gordon Morrison. The Artist hand-colored the lithograph especially for this year’s Bird-a-thon
Top Three Fundraisers (non-staff) by Region: Each will receive their choice between a Mass Audubon tote bag and Mass Audubon water bottle.
Greater Boston: Ann Gurka (Joppa), Strickland Wheelock (Drumlin), Julia Yoshida (Joppa)
Southeast, Cape and Islands: Ivan Ace (Wellfleet), JA Ives (Long Pasture), Sandy Sutherland (Coastal Waterbird)
Central/West Plus: Anne Lombard (Conn. River Valley), Mary Dockray-Miller (Wildwood), Stephanie Hill Family (Wildwood)
Headquarters Teams / Other: Michael Pappone (IBA), Lynn Harvey (Gordon’s Gaggle), Jeff Peters (Gordon’s Gaggle)
Young Birders Award: Any birder under the age of 18 who raised $200 or more will receive a Mass Audubon tote bag:
- William Kopaciewicz (Joppa Flats)
- Jack Tripp (Allens Pond)
- Ivan Tripp (Allens Pond)
- Freed-Boardman Family (Drumlin)
- Marans-Ossam Family (Drumlin)
- Dan Fournier (Drumlin)
- David Whipple (Blue Hills)
High Flyers: New this year, we celebrate and thank team members who raised $500 or more. All will be invited on a birding outing this fall with Mass Audubon President Laura Johnson and one of our esteemed Mass Audubon Birders. (Additional information will be sent about dates and leaders soon). It is sometimes difficult to associate donations with a particular birder, so if you raised more than $500 and your name is missing, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
Ivan Ace, Jack Ace, Arcadia Nature Nursery Team, Biff Atwater, Marygrace Barber, Suzan Bellincampi, Bruce Black, Aileen & Rusty Briggs, Chris Bordonaro, Julie Brandlen, Mary Brogan, Pam Chatis, Becky Cushing, Susan Coe, Peter Crosson, Carol Decker, Alice De Luca, Mary Dockray Miller, Jean Dorcus, Darcy Duke, Chris Eaton, Ryan Evans, Jay Farwell, Christy Foote-Smith, Dan Fournier, Freed Boardman Family, Ida Giriunas, Carol Gladstone, Ann Gurka, Becky Harris, Lynn Harvey, Stephanie Hills Family, Bobbie Hodson, Philip Hunsaker, JA Ives, Laura Johnson, Tricia Joyce, Anne Lombard, Roxanne Larouche, David Larson, Pat Loranger, Gwyn Loud, Sue MacCallum, Andy Magee, Marans-Ossam Family, Henry Mauer, Keelin Miller, Charlie Nims, Karen O’Neill, Michael Pappone, Jackie Pascucci, Betram Perkel, Jeff Peters, Wayne Petersen, Tia Pinney, Linda Pivacek, Gina Purtell, Marsha Salett, Peggy Sagan, Joe Scott, Ann & Harold Seigel, Kathy Seymour, Gwen Shipley, Sonia Slik, Ava Steenstrup, Sandy Sutherland, Dan Wells, Strickland Wheelock, Soo Whiting, David Whipple, Doug Williams, Kylee Wilson, Mary Wolf, Henrietta Yelle, Julia Yoshida
Honorable Mentions
The Education Team in its first year out garnered a very respectable $1,500 and spotted 124 birds. Great work – see you next year!
Drumlin Farm Young Birder Team: With over $4,000 raised they are a team to watch!
Media Outreach and First time “tweeting”!
In an effort to bring more people into the Bird-a-thon family staff and volunteers from across the state worked hard to get the word out – and it worked!
- There were 31 online and print media hits
- There were 43 tweets via Twitter while bird a thon was happening
- On Facebook – we posted a trivia question for five days and received a total of 59 comments and 17 “likes”. Many birders also used Facebook to request volunteers and update their donors on their birding adventures.
- Six blog postings from friends of Mass Audubon. Here are links to some of those blogs:
- The Nature of Framingham
- The Curious Birder (1st time BAT participant)
- Forays into the World of Birding (another 1st time BAT participant)
Final Results by Team
Thank you to everyone who made this year's Bird-a-thon a tremendous success!