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Posted by: Reena Ramos

  • 06/08/2017

ACRES’ Bird Blitz Final Tally

Greetings, fine-feathered friends,

Many thanks to the 76 volunteer bird-counters who put in hard work and had fun identifying birds for the first annual ACRES Bird Blitz!

76 of you went out there to tiptoe through 35 different ACRES properties, binoculars and field guides in hand.

Jabin Burnworth, Manchester Junior-Senior High School biology teacher, left, and the MHS Bird Blitz team spotted birds at ACRES’ Wildwood preserve in Kosciusko County.

Your results are in:  89 species of birds were identified, including the Sandhill Crane (likely nesting in the area this time of year); Short-eared Owl and Cerulean Warbler.

The final, confirmed species list is linked here: 2017 ACRES Bird Blitz Final Tally (PDF). Your combined count will be added to ebird.org‘s online count. Thank you for adding to our species inventory!

If you counted birds and did not attend the after-party gathering, your t-shirt awaits you at the ACRES office. Someone is usually here Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but you might call ahead if you’re making a special trip. 260-637-2273

Sandhill Crane photo by Dave Fox

Many thanks, too, to the proud donors who stepped in to back these hard-working volunteer participants. Your support helped raise money to preserve and protect local working land and natural areas as well as care for land already protected by ACRES and its members. Your contributions came together for a total of $919.25, to be exact!

And a big shout-out to our sponsors: Yonder Clothing Co.; Tippecanoe Audubon Society; Papa’s Place; Riverview Native Nursery and Wild Birds Unlimited.

Thanks again, and happy trails,

Heather Barth, director of Fund development

P.S. Fun fact – the Eel River serves as the informal boundary between the Carolina Chickadee and Black-capped Chickadee. North of the Eel River? Likely a Black-capped Chickadee. South of the Eel River? Likely the Carolina Chickadee. These two species do hybridize along the Eel River so the boundary between the two continues to blur. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and birds don’t read field guides, so they are often seen outside of this informal range.

P.P.S. Many thanks also go to Yonder Clothing Co. for creating super-sweet tees for Bird Blitz participants. Yonder’s generosity to ACRES protects land. For good.