This classic is featured as "the biggest, longest, wildest, birdwatching tournament in the United States!" How could that be? Let me tell you about some of the friendly, but very competitive events: ROUGHWINGS: Younger birders ages 13 and under. Eight hours of actual birding. Three to five members on each team. Kids have to see and agree on each bird. Adult leader confirms or denies their call on what the bird is. They cannot have birds pointed out to them by their leaders. This was the THIRD YEAR for our ROADRUNNERS from Rockport to compete. They were sponsored by Rockport Chamber of Commerce. They came in FIRST PLACE for the third straight year seeing 143 species of birds! That is an incredible accomplishment by our team of four this year! We had a new member in Caden Rozacky. This "rookie" did a great job as our youngest member. Three year veterans, Savannah Rozacky, Emily Duprie, and Olivia Smith led the charge. They were amazing!
The SECOND PLACE team was a new one. They are from Rockport and led by two outstanding birders, Dr Robert Edwards (dear friend) and Bron Rorex. They found 125 birds in their very first year of competition. This speaks of the area being one of the birdiest in the entire country in the spring of the year.
Others competitions are these: GLIDERS: Young adults 14-18. ADULT TEAMS: Ages 19 and older. BIG SIT: Teams from 1 to 10 members. They bird from a single location of an imaginary circle of just a few feet for 24 hours! They can come and go as there is a need. All their birds have to be seen from within that circle. OUTTA SIGHT SONG BIRDER TOURNAMENT Teams must consist of three but no more than five who are BLIND or visually impaired. If a sighted person is on the team he/she must be blindfolded. They identify by call. They can have one sighted driver and a record keeper. All ages can compete. WEEKLONG TOURNAMENT - It goes day and night and covers all the areas of the Great Texas Coastal Birding trail all along the coast of Texas. They can also go as much as 200 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Three to five members, and runs from 12:01 AM on Tuesday to 11:59 PM on Saturday. These guys and gals encounter episodes with snakes, animals, law enforcement, and curious residents. It is a marathon beyond belief. Their list of birds is enormous. There is a $2500. entrance fee per team. All teams have fees. The monies are used for prizes of monies dedicated to improve some birding habitat of the team's choice. Our kids get some prizes, like bird books and even binoculars.
Oue WINNING TEAM had to miss the awards ceremony that was today. It was in Orange, Texas, too far away after birding all day Saturday. We don't know the kid's prizes. Last year they received a personalized copy of Kaufman's "Field Guide To Birds Of North America". Each were autographed and our kids posed with the writer, Kenn Kaufman, for pictures. He was a real nice guy and famous birding authority.
So there you have it. The Roadrunners hit the road at 6:30 Saturday morning and did a great repeat as CHAMPS of their division! Three in a row.
