Description
Mass Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center is hosting an Accessible Superbowl of Birding team. This team is designed to be intentionally inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. The instructions and directions below are intended to help you decide if you'd like to participate. The team will be competing in the 'Sitting Duck Award' category, which means members stay in one spot the whole time and tally birds from there. You can look and listen for birds from inside our building, or outside in our backyard, or you can go back and forth between indoors and out.
This team is open to all, and no previous experience birding or birdwatching is needed. Team size is limited to seven, but team members can bring along additional friends or family to keep them company and enjoy the bustle and excitement of the competition.
This program is Free thanks to funding from the Alvarium Foundation.
Teens 16 or 17 years of age can participate if accompanied by a parent/guardian.
When
- Sat, Jan 31, 2026 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Who
Adults
Cost
- Adult Members Free
- Adult Nonmembers Free
Where
Location: Joppa Flats Education Center, Newburyport
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Questions? Contact us:
- 978-462-9998 [email protected]
Instructors
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Kari Sasportas - Birder's Certificate Program Alumni
Instructions
Team members will be able to bird from the floor to ceiling windows in our accessible lobby, or from a second-floor indoor bird blind. An elevator is available to gain access to the bird blind. An outdoor location is also available to bird from: a large, flat, grassy backyard right behind the building overlooking the Merrimack River. Team members can spread out across all these locations and do not need to stay together during the competition. Chairs will be available in all locations. There will be a designated quiet space away from the birding area if you need a break from all the activity.
Bathrooms: Joppa Flats Education Center offers two accessible bathrooms. The bathrooms are multi-stall and are not gender neutral.
Accessible equipment: We have plenty of binoculars and scopes for you to borrow if you don't have your own.
Team leader: The team captain is Kari Sasportas. Kari is an autistic birder whose work in the birding community has focused on accessibility and a greater understanding and inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in natural spaces and the outdoors. Kari has participated in Mass Audubon's Birder's Certificate Program and is focusing on increasing accessible programming for birders with disabilities. Kari is a former Massachusetts Captain for the non-profit Birdability and has written about birding with autism for Bird Observer. In addition, Kari has been a guest on webinars and podcasts, including Ray Brown's Talkin'Birds and Bird Note to talk about expanding opportunities and access for autistic birders.