Tag Archives: bird-a-thon

May-be Our Favorite Month!

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Kelly R.

Drumlin Farm in May is filled with blooming flowers, warmer weather, and the laughs of visiting school children. If you’re looking for ways to get out of the house and reconnect with the outdoors after a long winter, you’ve come to the right place! We’re looking forward to…

  1. Camp Registration – The end of school is fast approaching! Summer Camp is great for keeping kids physically active while learning in the off season, and having fun outdoors! Check out our offsite camps in Sudbury where kids can explore Assabet River ecology by canoe and learn classic camp activities like archery.

    Campers exploring Assabet River by canoe

  2. Spring CSA Beginning – Wednesday, May 16th marks the first day for Spring CSA Pick Ups 12-6 pm. Shareholders will receive tender greens, head lettuces, herbs, scallions, salad radishes, carrots, sweet salad turnips, and (weather permitting) sugar snap peas, strawberries, and beets along with tips, recipes, and updates from our farmers themselves. A limited number of shareholder spots are still available, so if you’re interested and haven’t registered yet, you can do so today.

    Picking crops during the first week of last year’s Spring CSA.

  3. Author Event: Do Doodlebugs Doodle? by Corinne Demas & Artemis Roehrig – On Saturday, May 5th at 10:30 am, this mother-daughter author team will be at the Audubon Shop signing copies of their two humorous question and answer books about insects, Do Doodlebugs Doodle? and Does A Fiddler Crab Fiddle? Afterwards, we’ll enjoy visitor education insect programs at 11:30 and 12:30 to get hands on with the lessons learned in this story.
  4. Union Square Farmer’s Market – Drumlin Farm will be at the outdoor Union Square Farmer’s Market starting Saturday, May 12. Stop by any time between 9 am and 1 pm to say hello! We’ll have farm-fresh veggies and viola plants for sale.
  5. Bird-a-Thon – It’s time to reclaim our winning title at this year’s statewide Bird-a-thon! Bird-a-thon, Mass Audubon’s largest fundraiser, brings together supporters from across the state to raise essential funds for nature conservation, education, and advocacy while competing in an exciting birding competition. Adults can join the Drumlin Farm team and participate at  Mount Auburn Cemetery and Teens Birders can join in the fun at Drumlin Farm!

    Wilson’s Warbler ©Rosemary Mosco

  6. Hidden Treasures Program sponsored by the National Heritage – Join a Drumlin Farm Teacher Naturalist Saturday, May 19th 10:0-11:30 am to learn about why habitats are so important to local animals. Meet a couple of our resident songbirds then take a walk out to our fields to discover what Drumlin is doing to manage our habitats for farming as well as native animals.

    Learn about the conservation work behind managing habitats for bobolinks and farmers. ©Phil Doyle

  7. Programs for Adults and Families – As always, Drumlin Farm is jam packed with special programming for adults, children, and families. Little ones can learn about tadpoles, pigs, bugs, and more while adults can take one of our many birding programs or take a tasty nature walk learning about edible plants. The opportunities to engage with the outdoor world are always new and eye-opening. 

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

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Heather

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.