The Birding Cup—Shaver’s Creek’s annual fund-raising tournament—is in the books for 2012. This past weekend, from Friday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m., through Saturday, May 5 at 7:00 p.m., 18 teams comprised of over 80 birders competed to identify as many bird species in the central Pennsylvania region as they could within a twenty-four-hour period.
A new team to the Cup—Nemesis Birders—won the overall Birding Cup category for most species seen with an impressive 151. Shaver’s Creek’s own Bad Optics and Red-rumped Reducks took top honors in the County Cup with 136 species and the Birding Boot with 103 species, respectively. For the Potter Mug category—for a team with mostly novice birders—the team 3-Dog Night took the prize with 125 species seen. The total number of bird species seen by all teams this year was the second-most ever— 186!
Our goal for this year’s Birding Cup is to raise $12,000, which will go towards our efforts to incorporate native plants and a larger, safer water feature in front of the Nature Center. We are well on our way there, but pledges can still be made—either per identified bird species or as a flat donation. As always, donors can choose to support a specific team’s results, or the total species seen by all teams.
For more information on the Cup, you can visit our website at: http://bit.ly/2012BirdingCup. To donate now, you can visit: http://bit.ly/2012BirdingCupDonations. Under “Additional Information” you can enter the name of any specific team you might like to support.
Today is also the last day to support Shaver’s Creek by scheduling a home energy audit with State College green design company Envinity. Envinity will donate their earnings from any residential energy audits scheduled by the end of today if you mention “Shaver’s Creek” when you make the appointment. The audit will be performed at a later date, but must be scheduled by today
Envinity charges $450 for these comprehensive energy audits—all of which will go to Shaver’s Creek for this sponsorship. The donation can also be applied to a particular Birding Cup team if you prefer—just mention it when you call.
To learn more about Envinity residential energy audits, view an informational PDF online at: http://bit.ly/EnvinityAuditInfo or check out their website at: http://bit.ly/EnvinityEnergyAudits.
For those of you who would like to support a specific Birding Cup team, here is a list of all teams and their results for this year’s Cup:
The Potter Mug
3-Dog night – 125 species
The Loonatics – 100 species
Cloaked Birds of Prey – 91 species
Party Thrashers (formally Sparrow Hawks) – 75 species
Roving Redstarts, Rambling Robins – 70 species
Bad Birders – 41 species
The Birding Boot
Red-rumped Reducks (formally RR Irruptives) – 103 species
Huntingdon Hawkeyes – 80 species
Timberdoodles – 68 species
The County Cup
Bad Optics – 136 species (Huntingdon)
101 Uses for a Northern Shoveler (formally Nasal Bristles) – 127 species (Huntingdon)
Plovers After Dark – 123 species (Centre)
Marsh Wrens – 110 species (Centre)
The Birding Cup
Nemesis Birders – 151 species
Wing Nuts – 133 species
Phantom Inspectors – 121 species
Carpe Praedam – 105 species
IGOR/Vagrants – 100 species
Thanks to all of our Birding Cup teams, and to all of you who have pledged—or will pledge—your support!
Thank you also to our Birding Cup sponsors, including Envinity, Wiscoy for Pets, Dix Honda, Benjamin’s Catering, Collegiate Pride, Nikon, and Lost Creek Optics.