Meadowlark Area Birding Challenge gets underway
- Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
- June 17, 2019
- 1595
During the spring migration season, birders often try to find as many species of birds as possible in one day. Big days can be done with local variations, but there are guidelines (rules) if you want to send the results to the American Birding Association. Some birders also try to see how many birds they can see in one month with May providing the chance for a big list including both resident and migrant birds. But wait: There’s another option to consider.
Here in Northern Indiana where I live, there is a different kind of birding event. The MASBC is a three-month birding challenge that grew out of a similar contest promoted by the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center. When Merry Lea dropped the contest, the idea was picked up by two Goshen-area birders. Rules were kept basically the same, although the new version includes seven counties rather than the 100-mile circle used by Merry Lea.
Each team may have from two to four adults, plus up to four young birders under the age of 16. Each bird must be seen by at least two birders from the team. Exceptions to seeing each bird have been made for bitterns, owls, nightjars and rails. A new rule was recently approved for 2020 that will allow birders from different teams to do some birding together and count the birds for each team, even if there are not two persons from each team at the time.
This year there were eight teams competing during March, April and May. On June 7 the teams met for pizza and ice cream at the home of Gary Chupp. Results were announced, and after visiting and eating, there was a program including projecting photos of birds found this spring.
Each team was asked to stand up and give their names and some of the highlights for their team. This was quite entertaining with highlights that included one birder breaking through the ice at a local marsh in early March while looking for a white-winged scoter. The wet-legged birder continued birding in bare feet for the rest of the day, staying in the car whenever possible to warm up.
Rare birds this spring included a western tanager and a white-winged dove. Warblers were plentiful, but shorebirds were hard to find. The top team this year found 234 species with two other teams at 230 and 227. Six of the teams topped 200 species.
The total number of species reported was 247, down a bit from last year but very similar to the totals over the last five years.
I really enjoyed the chance to get out more often in the spring, although I am still not a fan of the rule that two persons need to see each bird but understand why we have the rule. One of the benefits of this birding challenge is the chance for birders from west of Goshen (Nappanee and Wakarusa) to get to know birders from the Lagrange, Shipshewana, Middlbury area east of Goshen.
I wonder if anyone has considered starting something like this in the 12-county Bobolink area of Ohio. I’m sure it would be a lot of fun, and the results might be quite amazing, considering the excellent birding location available to Bobolink area birders.
Good birding!
Email Bruce Glick at bglick2@gmail.com or call 330-317-7798.