Madeline Clark

Happy Birdathon everyone!

I chose to work today, but not before I made the 2 hour round trip down to Marshfield, MA to see the hottest topic in New England: a juvenile roseate spoonbill that came in on a storm from the south!

This is only the second recorded incident of a roseate spoonbill in Massachusetts, and this cutie was obviously VERY popular; within an hour of sunrise, I was surrounded by professional photographers trying to get a good shot. We were dealing with 30+ mph winds right on the harbor so it was not easy!

In total, I submitted 6 bird lists today; considering that I worked a full day AND also got to see something so exciting as this, I say I did pretty good! The weekend is going to be fast moving, so hopefully I can not only get up to speed, but maybe get some good momentum with my bird lists count.

Thank you all again for your support. It’s not too late to share the campaign with your friends so we can raise more money for Birders of Palestine!

I’ll be back tomorrow!

Madeline

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Lifers added:

* Roseate spoonbill

* Hooded merganser

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Bird lists:

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279845168

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279851136

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279925356

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279944763

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279950764

* https://ebird.org/checklist/S279956802

Hi everyone!

We’re only a few days from the start of the Birdathon! I’m very excited to get started, and obviously I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Since my goal is to submit 30 bird lists across the three days, I made a few rules for myself to follow to keep the lists “higher quality”:

* All bird lists will be complete, i.e. they will track every bird that I’m able to confidently identify. Incomplete bird lists, like incidental lists, won’t count towards the Birdathon.

* In the case where I’m making more than one list for the same location around the same time (e.g. an “out” list and “back” list on an out-and-back trail), I’ll take at least a 5 minute break in between them.

* For traveling bird lists, I have to be traveling for at least 20 minutes before submitting a bird list.

* For stationary bird lists, I’ll stay in the same spot for at least 20 minutes or until I have identified at least 5 bird species (in which case, I’ll stay for at least 10 minutes).

I’ve also decided to make a list of 10 target birds to find across the three days. These are all birds I haven’t seen yet, and based off the recent sightings on eBird, I’ve arranged them into Moderate, Hard, and Impossible difficulty. This way, I can plan what locations I go to with a bit more direction!

That’s all for now! Talk to you soon!

Madeline

Hi everyone!

We’re less than a week away from the 2025 Birdathon!

I took a small vacation up to Moosehead Lake in Maine this weekend and got to explore the surrounding areas. While birding wasn’t my main priority, I managed to submit 12 bird lists across three days; good practice to reach my goal of 30 across the Birdathon!

I also was lucky enough to add these birds to my life list: Canada jay, yellow-rumped warbler, rusty blackbird, white-crown sparrow, and American pipit! I also saw a moose for the first time ever in my life, which has been a big bucket list item for me as someone who grew up in Maine. I’ll post about some of these guys more on Instagram as the week continues, but for now have a photo of the yellow-rumped warbler as a gift!

Thank you all so so much for your support so far, it means the world to me. Please tell your friends about this campaign and encourage them to donate/pledge as well (you can tell them it’ll be a present for my 30th birthday!).

As a reminder, purchasing prints from https://birdersofpalestine.com/ and submitting your receipt also can count towards my campaign, so be sure to check out and pick up some prints (they also come in postcard sizes).

I’ll post more updates as we get closer to the start of the Birdathon. Stay tuned!

Madeline