ADDISON, Vt. (AP) – Charles Barstow couldn’t wait to tell his coach and teammates what he had spied earlier that morning.
A horned grebe.
“Was it in breeding plumage?” asked coach Chip Darmstadt. “Yeah,” replied Barstow. “Nice,” said a fellow teammate.
The water bird with a brown neck and yellow ear tufts was one of dozens of birds the teenagers would spot that day. They gathered on the wide plains near Lake Champlain to train for the “Big Day” – the 24-hour World Series of Birding in Cape May, N.J.
Near Dead Creek they peered through binoculars over a damp field and faraway pond. They balanced on rocks and squinted through a large scope resting on a tripod.
“Did you guys hear the Savannah sparrow?” asked Darmstadt, director of the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences North Branch Center in Montpelier. Some had; others needed tips to rein in the call.
“Oh! Look! Flying over that water,” said Darmstadt. The teens swerved as one to level their binoculars on the pond.
“It’s a peregrine,” he said. “Oh my gosh, the peregrine perched.”
Silence fell over the group as the teenagers struggled to get the bird in view.
“Man that was weird behavior,” Darmstadt said of the falcon. “It was flying down more like a gull.”
On May 10, the Twin State Tanagers and the Vermont Redstarts -the two teams of 11 teenagers from Vermont and New Hampshire – will compete in the national bird-watching competition sponsored by the New Jersey Audubon Society. Last year 60 students from six states took part.
They spot as many bird species as they can by sight or by sound in 24 hours. They start at midnight and drive more than 100 miles through the early morning and following day in search of birds.
And they must follow the rules. Ninety-five percent of the birds must be identified by the entire team and the coach must verify the listings. Honesty is big among birders, Darmstadt said.
This is the fifth year the Tanagers will return to Cape May. The team won two years in a row, tied the third year and came in third last year with 162 birds. The Redstarts logged 109 birds.
“These guys are really into it,” said Cindy Gardner-Morse of Calais, whose two children Ira, 15, and Eliza, 13, are on the team. Gardner-Morse will be a coach and chaperone of the trip so she’s working on her birds. “They’re really eager to have you learn because they’re really into it,” she said.
So into it that Alyssa Borouske, 17, of Barre, came along even though an AP chemistry test will keep her from Cape May.
She says she likes to be outside, to know what’s living around her. The outings also allow them to be with other teenagers who have a knack for natural history.
“There are not a lot of organized activities for older kids who are into natural history,” Darmstadt said.
And they are serious about their hobby.
They volunteer at nature centers and attend ecology camps. Some likely will go on to careers in ornithology or ecology, Darmstadt said.
Amelia Klein, 13, of Calais is partial to snakes. She plucked from the grass three different-sized garter snakes along the way, careful to return them from where she found them.
Barstow, 15, of Middlebury, says he has a life list of 600 bird species. The hummingbird is his favorite and he’s disappointed with the shade of red in his bird guide.
During their April outing, the group sat still in two vans in front of patch of woods and pond careful not disturb two wood ducks that had landed in a tree.
“Wood ducks nest in tree cavities, so probably this pair is looking for a place to nest,” Darmstadt said.
“What was that call?” he asked as they meandered down a path along the side of the pond, lined with bluebird houses. Iridescent blue-green tree swallows with white chests sat two by two on a fence. Across the pond they spotted green-winged teal, pintails, ring-necked ducks, a hooded merganser and buffleheads.
“There are some kids who are sleeping right now or watching TV or a video,” Darmstadt said of the vacation day from school. These teenagers drove from New Hampshire or hours away in Vermont to meet the group at 8:30 a.m.
Later they heard their first warbler, a pine warbler, and spotted a ruby crowned kinglet and a vesper sparrow. They ended the day with more horned grebes. Some even were in breeding plumage.
–
On the Net:
New Jersey Audubon Society – World Series of Birds:
http://www.njaudubon.org/wsb/
AP-ES-05-03-03 1347EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
