Maine Audubon will field a team of top birders to compete in the World Series of Birding on May 9 – but in a new twist on the competition, they’ll be competing in Maine.
The Maine Audubon team competing in the World Series of Birding hopes to identify at least 100 species, including the common yellowthroat. Ariana van den Akker/Maine Audubon
The 37-year-old event, traditionally held in New Jersey to raise money for New Jersey Audubon and other conservation organizations, will be revamped this year to comply with COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. The special edition of the event will have teams along the Atlantic Flyway birding over 24 hours on May 9 within 10 miles of their homes, searching for birds separate from their teammates.
Typically, team members travel together in a car while birding over 24 hours around New Jersey, finding and identifying as many different species as possible. Strict rules this year will forbid meeting with others during the competition to abide by social distancing protocols during the pandemic. The team with the highest overall number of species wins. For the 2020 event, team totals will vary depending on the states in which the team is birding.
The Maine team will be made up of Maine Audubon Outreach Manager Nick Lund, Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox, Linda Woodard, the director of the Scarborough Marsh Nature Center, local birder Turk Duddy, and birding guide Bob Duchesne. Lund said finding 100 species in Maine would be an excellent tally for this time of year.
“It will be a fun way to showcase Maine birds and bird habitat and compete against some of the birding heavy hitters,” Lund said.
Also a new twist on the competition: The team members will be reporting their progress throughout the day in videos and photo posts online at maineaudubon.org/worldseries.
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