Birdathon Wrap-up:

Thank you for participating in Saturday's extravaganza. While the birds were thin on the ground, spirits were incredibly high among all the teams we ran into in Prospect Park.

Congratulations to A Solitary Beer, Yo! (Heydi Lopes and Josh Malbin) on seeing the most birds in all of Brooklyn, tallying 111 species. Well done!

Additionally, our team of young birders Hairy Woodpecker and the Deathly Swallows (Ben Abramowitz, Luca Inamoto-Martinez, Elias Markee-Ratner) (accompanied by dads Matt Abramowitz and Patrick Markee, acting strictly as notetakers) tallied up a very impressive 82 species in Prospect Park, on a day when most of the other park-based teams struggled to reach 70. Great job guys!

Cumulatively our 15 teams (plus memorial walk) saw a total of 133 species and to date we have raised over $16,000 for planting of native grasses in Green-wood Cemetery, in memory of long-time club member Janet Schumacher, mostly via our new funding platform.

If you have sponsors pledging on a per-bird basis, tell them how many species you saw and ask them to make a donation based on their pledge and that amount. (Sorry the platform doesn't actually track pledges, it's a payment portal. I know some have been confused by that, we're incorporating your feedback for next year)

Description:

We’re happy to announce the 2022 Brooklyn Bird Club Birdathon, to be held in celebration of World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) on Saturday, May 14. #bkbigday

The annual Birdathon asks birders to form teams of up to 6 members and count bird species in Brooklyn in support of a cause that helps the birds we love. Everyone is welcome ─ hardcore birders, backyard feeder watchers, and beginners! Like a walkathon, participants collect pledges and donations from friends and family for finding and counting bird species on the day of the Birdathon. Instead of getting a pledge per mile walked, Birdathon participants ask for a pledge for each bird species seen by the team.

We are excited to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Birdathon will be Green-Wood Cemetery. We will be raising funds for the planting of native gardens along Magnolia Ave adjacent to Valley Water. These gardens will help inform GWC what native plants will thrive as they move forward with a new low mow bird friendly landscaping strategy. Ultimately the area will be planted with a native meadow once the best species of plants and grasses can be determined. We are making this donation in memory of Janet Schumacher, a long time BBC member and editor of the Clapper Rail who passed away earlier this year. Janet loved birding Green-wood and we feel this will be a fitting tribute to her service. Though it was Janet’s final wish that no plaque with her name be erected we would love for this area to be known as Janet’s Meadow within our community. The planting will take place at the end of this summer and will be ready for birds next spring. Please help us support Green-Wood Cemetery in this new conservation initiative.

Please register your team by sending team members, your day’s goal, a team name, and a team logo (optional) to Bobbi Manian [email protected] by Tuesday, May 10.

If you’d like to be connected to a team, contact Bobbi Manian (see above) who will try to connect people with similar levels of commitment