Written by Lydia Vogt

Fun and Games!

Following in Co-President Greg Homer’s footsteps, we had three opportunities for members to show off their bird expertise at the recent Annual Meeting and I think we were all pleasantly surprised. All members were invited to participate in the Cornell eBird annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). The GBBC was one of the first online projects to collect information on wild birds and was also instrumental in the creation of eBird back in 2002. Our local winner was Anna Bilberry with 68 species!

Anna and her adorable dog, photo by Lydia Vogt

At the meeting, attendees participated in two challenging bird games: the Bird Call Contest required sharp hearing and quick recall as the vocalizations of 14 local birds were played, and answes had to be written down.

The second game of Bird Trivia required mostly general bird knowledge (members were warned before the meeting to bone-up on eBird facts), and ten questions separated the casual contestants from the eager.

In both of these games our members did very well, and Anna was again at the top, with Nancy Warshawer only a point behind! But one fairly new member exceeded the score of everyone — Rodney Briggs, of the Finca Cantaros Environmental Association (and Lilly’s dad). He has obviously spent the last two years doing more than planting trees.

Missing only one bird call (the tough Rufous-breasted Wren), he had a total on both games of 21 points.

Rodney Briggs, photo by Alison Olivieri

Congratulations to all the members who gave it a try — and especially to Anna and Rodney!