Connecticut Bird Chaser #1: May 2, 2024

A newsletter for Migration Magic Birdathon participants & donors

Notes today on an upcoming eBird tutorial, early results, and bird walks

Hello Birdathoners,

What a great start to the Migration Magic Birdathon!

After just 1 day, we have 75 participants and many more of you who are supporting the Birdathoners with your donations. Thank you!

And thank you to the Migration Madness sponsors. Read to the end of this email and take a look at the list. They are a big part of why this Birdathon is off to a great fundraising start ($14,751 at 7 a.m., to be precise).

Contribute to bird conservation by making a donation to the Migration Magic Birdathon. Click here!

Connecticut Bird Chaser
This is the first of what I hope will be a regular (though not too frequent) Birdathon newsletter — news, updates, reminders, etc, maybe twice a week. I’ve dubbed it “The Connecticut Bird Chaser.”

It will include highlights — where you looked for birds, which birds you saw or heard that you thought were particularly exciting.

You can also email me with questions at any time.

Tomas Koeck, a member of Connecticut Audubon’s Board of Directors, took this photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird during the 2021 Birdathon. This year’s event runs through the end of May.

Birds
The species list as of this morning’s dawn chorus is 135.

For perspective, Matt Bell of our EcoTravel office says that as many as 250 species might stop in Connecticut during May. So 135 is already more than half that. Great start!

Matt himself has set a personal goal of 225 for this month, but he’s young and energetic, and you’d have to be unusually dedicated to see that many.

Nonetheless, with all the eyes and ears that are out there, it will be interesting to see how close the Birdathon total is to 225 or 250 by May 31.

eBird Explained
Many Birdathoners are intermediate birders or beginners, which is great.

Matt has offered to do a short Zoom presentation called “How to use eBird for the Migration Magic Birdathon: A 20-minute webinar plus Q&A.”

It’s free, and it will be simple and understandable. No matter what level birder you are, consider signing up.

Just click this link to register.

eBird is essential for the Birdathon. To submit your checklists, you must link up with the eBird Migration Magic Trip report. When you do that, every checklist you submit this month will be counted toward the Birdathon.

If you’ve registered for the Birdathon but haven’t done the eBird Trip Report yet, look in your inbox for the auto-reply email you received when you registered.

AS of this morning, 25 Birdathoners have submitted 43 checklists. You can see the details here.

Bird Walks
We’ve scheduled 3 dozen Migration Magic bird walks this month. They are an excellent way to add birds to your Birdathon list.

But space is limited. A handful have already sold out — the Virginia Rail walk in Pomfret tomorrow, for example, and the Millrace walk in Essex on Saturday.

Andy Rzeznikiewicz, our sanctuary manager in Pomfret, is leading many Migration Magic walks, including the Virginia Rail walk. He limits participants to about a dozen if the group is visiting field habitats and just 8 if it’s walking along a trail through the woods. Otherwise the group is too spread out for everyone to see and hear the birds he finds.

Review the schedule of walks, here, and sign up. And have fun!

Tom Andersen
Communications Director

Migration Magic Sponsors

Mark Naso, CFP ®
203-900-3573  Mark.Naso@wellsfargo.com

Gawel Excavating