2012 World Series of Birding in the books

The grandfather of all birding competitions, the famous World Series of Birding, was held in New Jersey this past weekend.  After 24 hours birding the Garden State from end to end, this year's winner turned out to be Team Zeiss, led by Cape May stalwart Pete Dunne, along with Tom Reed, Will Russell, and Luke Steitz, with a grand total of 207 species, narrowly beating out the Wicked Witchities' second place 204.

It's important to note that the World Series is not just the state-spanning competition celebrated on stage and screen (maybe just screen), but loads of other, smaller, races for birders not up for the exhasusting tour of New Jersey necessary for the main event.  

For instance, the Swarovski Carbon Footprint Challenge was won by the Anti-Petrels, a team from Cornell who racked up 164 species without the use of a motor vehicle. The Sitting Ducks of Atlantic Audubon had 80 species without moving from a single location.  And the young birders were well-represented by the Upper Main Line YMCA team consisting of Ben Bussman, Nathaniel Sharp, and Danielle Smith who ticked 173 species. 

Best yet, the competition raised thousands of dollars for Cape May Bird Observatory to use for conservation initiatives and education.  Congrats to all the winners and participants!