Birdathon

Birdathon is an annual birding and fundraising event benefiting the Wildlife Center of the North Coast.  It’s like a walkathon, except participants count bird species they see, instead of miles walked.  This is an all-ages, family-friendly event and a great way to start birding or continue honing your birding skills.  You can get outside and enjoy the beautiful birds that surround us, while raising critical funds for the wildlife patients WCNC cares for.

Head out in your backyard, or your favorite birding location and count as many species as you can in 24-hours! Build a team or compete on your own, collect pledges or straight donations, and keep track of the species you see on May 14-15—it’s easy-peasy!

Event kicks off at our Birds of a Feather Spring Festival & wraps up at the end of the Festival.  May the best birder win!

General Rules:

The Birdathon is a fun event for participants of all ages and abilities to enjoy watching, listening, and finding birds!

Birdathon is also an important fund raising event to help support the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. With this in mind, the following participation rules have been established to ensure a fun and fair event.

• A birder can compete either as individual or as part of a team.
• If birding as a team, in order to count a species, the bird must be heard or seen by at least two people.
• The use of playbacks should be avoided. Enjoy the birds you find with your eyes and ears!
• Each birder should solicit their own pledges and donations – you can ask your friends and neighbors face-to-face or start an online fundraiser via Facebook!
• Remember to have fun and enjoy time spent watching the birds!

Instructions:

Each Team or Individual should have:

• a bird checklist for the area in which you’ll be birding,
• an understanding of general rules and instructions, and
• a pledge form (or two) for each participant.

Birders can start collecting pledges and donations now, and continue as long as they’d like to, up until monies are submitted to WCNC— Sunday, May 15.  Funds can be raised any way you wish – some ideas include asking family, friends, coworkers, teachers, church or community group members!  You can ask them face-to-face, via email, or by starting a fundraiser for WCNC on Facebook.

Start scouting as early as possible to find good birding areas to hit on May 14-15 when you’re actually out birding.  The more birds each team sees, the more pledge money raised. Whether or not to share birding tips or hot spots on the Big Day is totally up to you.

Each team/individual decides its own itinerary. In the past the boundaries have been Clatsop County, but we have opened it up to any place on the planet!

Pledges + Donations:

Pledges are based on a count of total species found by the birders on May 14-15.

For example, a pledge of 10¢ per species, based on a team’s expected total of 50 = $5 donation
Donations not related to a team’s bird count (and of any amount) are welcome and much appreciated.

Pledges and donations should be collected no later than May 30, 2020 and mailed with forms to:
Wildlife Center of the North Coast
PO Box 1232
Astoria, OR 97103

Donations can also be made directly through our website!