Brevard County Bird-a-thon Wrapup

By Tom Dunkerton

March 23rd wasn't the most pleasant of conditions for a birdathon, but it sure could have been worse! Four teams participated. The contest was from 6 a.m. til noon. The winning team scoured the county for 101 species, consisting of Don Margeson, Jeff Miller and Doug Stuckey- dubbed the Pinellas Peregrines. The other teams followed with 99, 72 and 71 species. One team lost two species for showing up two minutes late, they shall remain nameless... tsk, tsk, tsk!

To their credit, an accomplishment worth mentioning, Dee Fairbanks Simpson, Leslie Pernas-Gaz and Betty McKeown - dubbed Team Pish Free, got all of their species (71) without any pishing or call tapes or any artificial means to attract birds. This was not a condition of the contest but an impressive accomplishment with the strictest of etiquette. Nice going ladies! Oh yeah, and they also raised $850 in pledges too!

All told, with 13 participants, $1,576 in pledges were raised for this event -- OUTSTANDING! Thanks, on behalf of SpaceCoast Audubon Chapter, to everyone who participated, all who donated gifts and especially to all who so kindly pledged to these hard working and charitable birders! Looking forward to next years event already!

Congratulations again to the Pinellas Peregrines!