And the 2015 Bird-a-thon Winner is . . . Drumlin Farm!

Post by Drumlin Farm Volunteer Coordinator Pam Sowizral

The tallies are in: This year Drumlin Farm clinched its eleventh consecutive Bird-a-thon win, with our dedicated team of birders spotting a total of 221 species within 24 hours! (This, despite the fact that a warm-weather front had pushed migrants northward toward their summer breeding habitats in northern New England and Canada just prior to the annual fundraising event.)

Orchard Oriole  by Henry Mauer

Orchard Oriole by Henry Mauer

As competing teams assembled across the state, our team of 50 birders spread out to cover a variety of habitats—from the tree-covered hilltops of the Berkshires to the sandy beaches of

Martha’s Vineyard and all points in between. After 24 hours of exhaustive searching, Drumlin Farm team captains Kathy Seymour and Strickland Wheelock spent the evening gathering field reports.

Good identification skills, combined with being in the right place at the right time, helped our birders find spring rarities such as white-faced ibis, little blue heron, harlequin duck, Manx shearwater, northern goshawk, glaucous gull, black tern, black skimmer, common murre, red knot, warblers (including orange-crowned, cerulean, hooded, and Cape May), and vesper and Lincoln’s sparrows.

In addition to Drumlin Farm, several sanctuaries fielded excellent teams and the competition was fierce: Moose Hill in Sharon came in a (very) close second with a total of 220 species spotted, followed by Ipswich River in Topsfield, who counted 217. Congratulations to our fellow sanctuaries and their amazing supporters!

Piping Plover  by Henry Mauer

Piping Plover by Henry Mauer

All told, Drumlin Farm birders raised $50,000 to support our sanctuary’s programs and projects. We are heartened by the support we received and wish to thank all birders and donors involved in making this another successful Bird-a-thon for Mass Audubon!

To learn more about birds and birding programs, sign up to receive two of our popular e-newsletters: Drumlin Farm’s Birders Connection and Mass Audubon’s The Warbler. Or, head on over to the Birds & Birding section of our website.