Birding Cup Fundraiser | Shaver's Creek

A group of birders looking through binoculars

2023 Birding Cup

Shaver’s Creek’s annual fundraiser, the Birding Cup brings birders of all levels together to identify as many species as possible in 24 hours. Whether participants are competing locally in central Pennsylvania or joining the fun as part of the global birding community, the Birding Cup has supported important projects in the region for a quarter of a century.

Shaver’s Creek will continue to offer the “open” Global Community aspect of the Birding Cup. This is a non-competitive, collaborative approach to birding that welcomes birders of all skill sets from anywhere in the world, including those who are brand new to birding.

For birders in Pennsylvania, we are once again offering competitive options.

Whether you participate in our Global Community or challenge each other in Pennsylvania, we will all join together to bird from May 5 at 7:00 p.m. (ET) until May 6 at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Birding Cup Registration

Registration is now open

Birding Cup Pledges and Donations

For twenty-five years, important projects at Shaver’s Creek and across the region have been accomplished by the generous efforts of both Birding Cup birders and supporters.

Take action by supporting our birders. All donations — to teams, individuals, or directly to the Shaver’s Creek Birding Cup fund — benefit Shaver’s Creek, so reward your favorite birder while transforming the lives of our animal ambassadors!

Donate Now

Thanks to Our Sponsors

The 2022 Birding Cup was made possible by the incredible support of these local businesses:

How We’ll Bird

As the Birding Cup continues to grow, technology has informed how we bird.

eBird

An important tool that we ask you to download to your mobile device is eBird, put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There is a powerful web version of eBird as well, but the app allows for dynamic tracking of your birding efforts in the field. The Cornell Lab has great tutorials on their website to help get you started. There are also many other eBird questions answered in their Help Center.

For the 24-hour period, we ask that you create checklists of the birds you see in backyards and natural places. As you submit each checklist, we ask that you share it with Shaver’s Creek’s “shaverscreek” eBird account, which will allow us to compile all of the species seen in the 24 hours. Each checklist should follow eBird best practices, such as starting a new checklist if you enter a new habitat, travel more than five miles, and/or have been counting for three hours. Competitive teams will also be asked to fill out a physical checklist, to be turned in at the Saturday evening wrap-up event.