Birders Beyond Borders

All six species that I mentioned earlier ended up being found in fives and tens anyway, if not scores and hundreds, and were joined by others, including some now found more commonly than formerly, such as American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Bald Eagle, and of course Canada Goose. And I reached my species goal!

And my team did very well. I'd better call our final count unofficial for a little while longer, but it looks like 665 species!

Jim Cope was my teacher and mentor. In 1982 I was a graduating senior at Earlham College and I had the great honor to spend the first Earlham College Big Birding Day with Jim Cope. I remember driving the back roads with Jim and Ann W as we tallied birds along the way. My first Cerulean Warbler was seen and heard on what is now the Cope Environmental Center. Today, I am the president of Down East Nature Tours and the Founder of Acadia Birding Festival and I thank Jim Cope and Bill Buskirk for giving me the skills and opportunity to teach people about the amazing lives of birds. I am so happy that Jim and Helen Cope have left us this incredible legacy of the Cope Environmental Center.