7th Annual Tim McKay Memorial Birdathon | April 30 – May 7

7th Annual Tim McKay Memorial
Birdathon

Have you been looking to do a little stint in birding? Do you have eyes like a hawk?
You’re a lucky duck—the 7th Annual Tim McKay Birdathon is upon us!

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Species Checklist

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What is Bird-a-thon?
Go birding for a day, keep records of your species list and ask your friends and relatives to help you by contributing a nickel or more per species. Similar to a walk-a-thon, where you raise money from sponsors for each mile walked, a birdathon is a way of raising donations by the amount of bird species that are identified.That’s a BIRDATHON! 

Anyone can participate, from expert birders to beginners, it is a fun and educational event for all ages. Remember, you can bird from your yard or choose a location to be stationary and as long as you have donors signed up to support your efforts you can qualify for the competition and prizes.

Participation:
This year’s Birdathon will offer three different categories in which you can participate.

  1. Standard 24 hour “Big Day” style outings. For this category teams of two or more will spend most of an entire day in the field searching for as many bird species as possible.
  2. Six Hour Blitz.This category is for those teams or individuals that want to limit their search time to six hours. In this group, members will select one day during the count period to spend six continuous hours finding birds either traveling in a vehicle, on a bicycle, walking, or being stationary.
  3. Youngest Participants. This category is meant for School students K-12 and would be limited to two hours in duration.

How To Sign-Up
Visit go.rallyup.com/birdathon to register.

Each team member will be responsible for obtaining their own pledges for their team and the team leader will coordinate the team’s effort to collect pledges and get them to the NEC. The easiest way to collect pledges is for the team leader to register your team at go.rallyup.com/birdathon and ask your friends and family to donate via the website.

Prizes:
Prizes such as New Nikon Monarch binoculars, a spotting scope and tri-pod, a pelagic bird watching trip, various dinners, and more will be awarded to the members of the winning teams in each category that bring in the most money.


Western bluebird. Photo: © Rob Fowler, used with permission.
Western bluebird. Photo: © Rob Fowler, used with permission.

Why Support:
Birdathon proceeds benefit the Northcoast Environmental Center and Redwood Region Audubon Society (RRAS) equally. The NEC and RRAS do a tremendous amount for our community. They work on a shoestring budget and succeed only with determination, devotion and aid from great volunteers. For 50 years, the NEC has served as a vital hub for information and programs that involve, inform and inspire residents with regard to environmental issues that matter most on California’s North Coast. From watershed awareness and climate action to beach cleanups and celebratory all-species parades, the NEC has been at the forefront for all of us.

RRAS is an all volunteer organization and it is amazing that they coordinate the leadership of weekly and monthly bird and nature walks, write and publish The Sandpiper (the monthly newsletter which comes packaged with EcoNews), provide educational programs for local teachers and schools, host topical speakers once a month, and use reserve funds to help purchase at-risk properties for the improvement of habitat for birds and humans.