Yesterday, Ellyn Corey and I led the Double Trouble Birdathon Team on a
four-hour distributed hike in which we tried out a novel
compare-and-contrast approach. We divided our team of 11 birders into two
subgroups. One subgroup spent two hours birding the Casey Forebay and then
two hours birding Shoreline Lake. The second subgroup birded the same
areas in the reverse order. We then met for lunch at the Lakeside American
Bistro Café, shared stories, compared lists, and awarded a side-bet
donation to the subgroup that found the most species for the day. (Ellyn
had suggested that anyone who wanted to bet on which subgroup would find
the most species could put $20 in a kitty to be awarded as a donation to
that subgroup’s leader.)
Bob’s subgroup found 60 species; Ellyn’s found 73; And the combined team
found a total of 78 species, including two Blue-winged Teals, a Cinnamon
Teal, a Bullock’s Oriole, a Black-bellied Plover, a few Sora, and a
White-crowned x Golden-crowned Sparrow (hybrid). And best of all, we have
raised over $1,300 (so far) for the SCVAS’s education program!
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
