Every year there’s a day in May when birders swarm across New Jersey to raise money for the birds.  It’s the annual World Series of Birding, an intense competition that pits teams of birders against each other to see the most species in 24 hours.  Supporters pledge per species-seen and the money is donated for bird conservation.

The World Series of Birding raises more than $600,000 for the birds every year.  How many species is that?  Well, last year there were 52 teams and the winning teams saw 228 species.  Wow! 

This year a team from Pittsburgh will compete on May 14.  Five intrepid birders from the Pitt Birding and Ornithological Club will go for the gold:  Lukas Musher (team captain), Jared Feura, Ryan McDermott, Conor Higgins (pictured above) and Ryan Ford (not pictured).

They’ve chosen a name that honors Pitt’s most famous birds — The Pitt Peregrines — and they’ve designated the National Aviary’s Department of Conservation and Field Research, the department that sponsors the falconcams, as the recipient for supporters’ pledges.  

Go, team!  But they need your help in two ways.

First, you can pledge 5 cents or more per species to support the National Aviary’s Dept of Conservation and Field Research.  Click here to read about the department’s programs, led by Dr. Steven Latta. 

To make a pledge, email Luke Musher at pittbirdingclub@gmail.com with your name, contact information and pledge per species (example:  $0.05/species, $0.10/species, $0.25/species,… $1.00/species, etc.)  The team expects to see 200 species so pledge accordingly. 

Second, you can help defray the team’s costs.  From May 3 to May 14 they’ll be scouting New Jersey to find the best concentrations of birds.  To do this they’re taking time off work, buying gas, food and lodging and paying the $115 per person entry fee. 

You can help defray their costs by supporting them through the club.  Send a check written to “Pitt Birding Club” with “World Series of Birding” in the memo line to their faculty sponsor:  Dr. Anthony Bledsoe, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.   Call Tony at 412-335-5431 if you have questions.

Any money left over from support sent to the Pitt Birding Club will be donated to the National Aviary as well.

Go team!  Go Pitt Peregrines!

(photo of the Pitt Peregrines Team from Lukas Musher)

We had great fun at Celebrate Pittsburgh’s Peregrines at WQED on Monday night.  Here are some pictures from the event.

To put them in context for those who could not attend, I did most of the talking but my visuals were slides and a video (of a peregrine stooping!) both of which look pretty boring in photographs.

The real paparazzi star was Horace the lanner falcon from the National Aviary, pictured here on Cathy Schlott’s glove.  Lanner falcons are slightly smaller and paler than peregrines.  He showed us what a live falcon looks like.

Horace is one of the birds Cathy is training for the National Aviary’s new outdoor flight show called Sky Deck which will open on Memorial Day weekend.  She chose lanner falcons for the show instead of peregrines because lanners maneuver closer to the ground than peregrines and will be easier for the audience to see.   I can hardly wait to see him fly this summer!

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And here are some pictures of my lecture showing me, the size of the crowd, and part of my presentation.

I talked about the history of Pittsburgh’s peregrines, their lifestyle during the nesting season, and our favorite webcam stars: Dorothy and E2 at Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, and Louie and Dori at the Gulf Tower.

Thanks to everyone who attended and especially to the National Aviary for introducing us to Horace.

It was really fun.  Let’s do this again some time!

(Photos of Horace and me by Sharon Leadbitter. Photos of the lecture by Kristine Masta and Amanda Morgan).

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A big thank you to everyone who attended last night’s event, Celebrate Pittsburgh’s Peregrines, and especially to Steve Sarro, Cathy Schlott, and Horace, the lanner falcon, from the National Aviary. 

I had a great time and enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting so many of you who read this blog. 

I’ll post more pictures from the event as I have time to prepare them.  Here’s one from Sharon Leadbitter.

Again, thank you.  It was great fun!

(photo by Sharon Leadbitter)

There’s a new 360^o view of the National Aviary penguins on the Post-Gazette website.  The P-G uses a special video camera…which the penguins jump up on.  You can hear them chirr at it.  Very cool!

I’ve been so absorbed by peregrine season preparations that I forgot that this weekend, Friday February 18 through Tuesday February 21, is the Great Backyard Bird Count.  Thanks to Anne Curtis for reminding me. 

Here’s a descripton of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) that I wrote last year (check out the cute photo), and two links from Anne:  Scott Shalaway’s article in the Post-Gazette and the main Great Backyard Bird Count website where you can enter your count.

The weather will be pretty good for the count.  Even if it isn’t, you can participate by counting from your kitchen window.