Malkolm bicycle birding beside the Yukon River.
We’re calling ourselves the Mt. Lemmonheads because we are planning an ambitious 24-hour Birdathon that involves bicycling up and back down the Mt. Lemmon Highway in the Santa Catalinas here in Tucson. Considering that Tucson sits at about 2000 feet above sea level and the road up the mountain tops out at around 9000 feet, we’re looking at about 7000 feet of elevation gain. Since we’re using our own leg-power to get us to the top, the only thing we’ll burning is calories!
We’ve decided to take on Malkolm’s challenge to do a fossil-fuel-free Big Day and have adapted it somewhat to Tucson Audubon’s own annual fundraising event. We feel that this is a great way to continue to enjoy the challenge of a birding Big Day while highlighting resource conservation and awareness. The Mt. Lemonheads: Matt Brooks, Matt Griffiths, Aleck MacKinnin, Vivian MacKinnon.
Scott Thomas is Conservation Director for Sea and Sage Audubon in Orange County, California . Scott says “We will ask our members to pick a park, greenbelt, or any little open space within walking or bike riding distance of their home and spend part of the day birding fossil-fuel free. For those without a location within reach, we will ask that they carpool, take a hybrid, or bus to the nearest location. Our hope is to keep a computer data base with a temporary website or address to tally the county wide effort so that we can make it interesting. We are excited to spread the low carbon message.” Sea and Sage Audubon have picked May 10th for their Bird Day Challenge!
Connie Adler and Judith Nelson won’t have to go far to find great bird habitat – they can stay home and watch the birds that frequent their yard in Silver City, New Mexico. Phainopeplas will be waiting for the Mexican elderberries to ripen while Curve-billed Thrashers are nesting in a cholla cactus. They hope that a MacGillivray’s Warbler is one of the many species that visits during their Bird Day Challenge. If they decide to amble up the hill behind their house they’ll also have the chance to see (and hear) Canyon Wrens, Pinon Jays and migrating raptors.
Irene Alexakos and Ben Kirkpatrick live in a clearing up a long dirt road from Lynn Canal in the independent republic of Mud Bay (near Haines, Alaska). They plan to hike down the road to the beach and circle through the forest that blankets the hillside between their house and Chilkat State Park. They hope to see some of the owls that call from the forest in the spring (Northern Pygmy, Boreal & Great Horned). A dream would be to see a marbled murrelet as it ventures into forest to nest.
Tony and Julie Battiste run a great Bed and Breakfast in Hereford, Arizona. Their place is a great birding spot in its own right – and they are close to famous Miller, Carr, Ash and Ramsay Canyons. Tony was a gracious host in November when he donated several nights at his birdy B & B to Bird Year. He is now a friend! Tony will do a "yard day" for his Bird Day Challenge. It will be interesting to see how many birds show up at "Battiste's Bed, Breakfast and Birds" in the spring of 2008.
Louise Bauck lives near Atlanta, Georgia where she is often up-close and personal with pet birds when she works as a vet. Louise plans to throw her camera in her backpack and cycle on her 30-year-old ten speed to a swamp near the Chattahoochee River. Last year on Earth Day she spent some time at a Turkey Vulture convention near the river (she would have killed for a big lens – and now she has one!). She’s hoping the “lowly but fascinating and intelligent vultures” show up again.
Wendy’s sister Sa Boothroyd is cycling with us for a couple of weeks, from Ft. Lauderdale up to Cape Canaveral. A few oddities about Sa:
1) She likes to talk in an unintelligible language called Roly-talk.
2) She drinks tea first thing in the morning, not coffee.
3) She calls Boat-tailed Grackles Sprock-tailed Sprackles.
When she isn’t being odd, Sa is a great artist – check out her website at http://www.saboothroyd.com/. When Sa gets home, she is going to head out for a Bird Day Challenge in her home town of Gibson’s BC. Her two daughters Lucy (age 7) and Pippa (age 4) will go along to help, since they probably know more bird names than Sa does. That doesn’t matter on a bird day challenge however. What matters is getting outside, getting some exercise, and we’re sure that there are other important kinds of “getting” that we’ve forgotten.
Wendy Boothroyd of Team Bird Year and her Bird Day Challenge on the Ides Of March! Most birders think that early morning coffee drinking interferes with early morning birding. But not Wendy! She plans to enjoy bird-friendly dark roast during her Bird Day Challenge. Wendy will seek out birds on Florida’s Merritt Island. In late morning she’ll speak at our presentation for Space Coast Audubon Society. After the event Wendy will hit the field again with her binoculars and a second cup of coffee. She’ll collect sponsors by emailing friends. Wendy hopes to raise $200 for bird conservation.
Thea and Gerry Brown call the front deck of their home near Perth, Australia a “bird hide.” They’ve seen more than 50 different bird species from there – including a Kookaburra who has lived in the neighborhood for 48 years. Thea and Gerry are worried by a recent drop in bird numbers – which they think is likely due to domestic cats and disappearing nesting habitat. They’d love to see a scarlet robin or a bronze cuckoo which they haven’t seen in years.
Sue Bumbaugh ( Orrtanna, PA) plans to bike nine miles to the Michaux State Forest. It is her favorite place to hike and kayak. Sue would love to see is a Common Loon. Last year she saw loons for the first time on Long Pine Lake. Seeing them gave her "a deeply peaceful sense of connection." She plans to ask friends to sponsor her Bird Day and donate the money to the Bird Year conservation fund.
A number of birds visit the wild cherry, mountain ash, cedar and fir trees in Suzanne Crawford’s yard in Burnaby, BC. Suzanne plans to spend her Bird Day on her porch, watching for Black-capped Chickadees, Stellar’s Jays, Robins, Barn Swallows and Red-shafted Flickers. Once Suzanne saw a bigger woodpecker – a Pileated – she hopes it returns during her Bird Day. Suzanne has already made a donation to the Boreal Songbird Initiative.
Peter and Linda Enticknap live in an energy-efficient home near the tip of Baja, California. They run their home largely on solar-power, including drying their hair in the sunshine! They weren’t often able to do that when they lived in Southeast Alaska. On their Bird Day they plan to cycle on Baha’s East Cape and kayak in the Sea of Cortez. On their bird wish list for the day are Blue-footed and/or Red-footed Boobies.
Keith Hansen is an an amazing bird artist (and birder) from Bolinas, California. His enthusiasm about life is infectious. Keith is the inventor of the "Big Foot Hour" — it's simple. Find as many birds as you can in 60 minutes by running, walking, hopping, skipping and jumping. No machines, just your big feet. Keith's current record is a whopping 83, but he hopes to set a new World Record during his BDC. When Malkolm gets back to the upper Texas coast in May, he plans to challenge Keith. Any other brave big foot birders out there?
Christianne Hinks and Chuck Houston's idea of a great Bird Day Challenge is to hop in a canoe and paddle down the Rio Grande River. They ’ll launch a mile from her house in Albuquerque, near the bird-filled ponds at the Nature Center. Christianne wants to see graceful American Avocets sweeping the water with their bills. They ’ll donate the money she raises towards the Bird Year Conservation fund.Tim Leach, who is building a cabin near Palmer, Alaska, will take his binoculars up the Matanuska Valley by bicycle and by foot. Tim has heard that many birds, including numerous hawks, use the valley as a migratory corridor. Tim, a keen climber and paddler, has volunteered much of his time to protecting the Arctic Refuge. Tim dreams that he’ll see a stray Bluethroat (although he realizes that he’ll have to head back to the Arctic Refuge coast!) Tim plans to ask friends to sponsor him and will donate the money to the Bird Year conservation fund.
Neil and Hazel MacMillan are planning a 4 kilometer hike up the steep hill on their farm in the Hokianga, New Zealand. Neil and Hazel are “conventional New Zealand farmers who want the bush areas on their farm to remain as they are.” In New Zealand, “bush” means the beautiful NZ native forest.
Neil and Hazel hope to see a Kereru (Native Wood Pigeon). Kereru’s are the “Guardians of the Forest.” They depend upon forests – and forests depend on them since they spread and fertilize native seeds. At night, Neil and Hazel will listen for the eerie whistling of nocturnal Kiwis. They plan to make a donation to the Puketi Forest Trust on behalf of their Bird Day Challenge.
Katy Madsen is 86 years young. She plans to watch for the birds that visit the “Birdy Buffet” in her back yard in Victoria, BC. Katy has loved birds since she was a girl in Palo Alto, California. She doesn’t walk quite as far as she once did in the Sierra Nevada Mountains – but she also hopes to walk up into Victoria’s Mount Douglas Park. Katy hopes to see a Red-breasted Sapsucker or a flock of Red Crossbills (she has seen them in the past, but not in at least 10 years).
Beth Morris did her extremely successful Bird Day Challenge on March 29th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She saw 46 species and raised a significant amount of money for conservation. To find out more about her Bird Day Challenge, click here.
Twenty-year-old Stephan Nance is a confirmed cyclist and is a student at the University of Oregon. He recently rode 550 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the AIDS/LifeCycle. He plans to ride one-tenth of that distance for his Bird Day Challenge – from Eugene to Junction and then to the Fern Ridge Reservoir where he’ll try to spot Bald Eagles and Purple Martins (or if not, at least a lot of geese and ducks!). Stephan will donate the money he raises to the Cascades Raptor Center.
Monique Richoux and her sons Evan and Liam McCready (aged 8 and 5) live in the northern part of Canada’s banana belt (BC’s Okanagan Valley) They plan to hike and bike along Silvernails Road near their home in Falkland. There are many birds they’d love to see, including a Cedar Waxwing, a Clark’s Nutcracker or a Lazuli Bunting. The family plan to donate any money they might raise to the Boreal Songbird Initiative.
Martin VonMirbach lives in Chelsea, Quebec, across the river from Ottawa. Martin is going to hike and bike into Quebec’s Gatineau Park, enjoying all the birds but paying particular attention to woodpeckers. Martin says that a woodpecker hammering is the only “bird song” that he can readily identify (but we don’t believe him – what about a Common Loon, Martin?). Martin say’s he’ll donate “a buck a bird” that Malkolm identifies during his Bird Year.
Barb Walker and her six-year-old daughter, Leah, live near Tampa Bay. Barb is a dedicated volunteer for Audubon EagleWatch which reports to the Audubon Bird of Prey Center in Maitland, Florida. The center is the largest raptor rehabilitation center east of the Mississippi. She is an active volunteer member of the Clearwater Audubon Society. As part of her raptor route she checks 10 platform nesting Osprey nests in East Lake. "I usually drive to check on the osprey nests, including the nest nearest to my home. That pair of Ospreys received a nesting platform from the local power company, Progress Energy, last year. For the Bird Day Challenge, I'm going to ride my bike", Barb says."Leah is getting good at spotting and identifying birds. As we ride along we'll count as many species as we can. I've pumped up my tires already".
Ann Wiley’s job as a nature guide has her tromping through the watery beauty of Everglades, Big Cypress Preserve and Fakahatchee Stand. She loves it. Ann lives in a small, breezy house on the river in Fort Lauderdale. She uses neither air conditioning nor heat. During cold spells she's grateful for her comfy down sleeping bag and two wonderful dogs. "People go to such great extremes to ensure they are never uncomfortable, even for a moment. Birdyear knows discomfort, as do all athletes and those with a sense of purpose". Ann will do 2 Bird Day Challenges. The first will be in her yard. "There is not one time that I look out at my bougainvillea and see the Painted Buntings that I don't feel blessed.”
For her second Bird Day Challenge, Ann will cycle to North Miami Beach and then walk from there with a birding pal. She will raise money for Florida Audubon.