The Race is On – America’s Birdiest City Contest is Underway
The best city for birding in the nation will be determined in early June after hundreds of avid birders from around the country count the number of species seen from April 1 – May 31. America’s Birdiest City Contest, coordinated by the San Diego Audubon Society “will award a city the best prize of all- bragging rights for the year,” said National Coordinator of the nation-wide contest, Mike Wilson.
Corpus Christi, Texas has been awarded the title each year since 2003 as “America’s Birdiest City”. About 40 local birders teamed up last year and spotted 247 species within the city limits. Members of the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi tallied 255 species in Nueces County, making it the “Birdiest County on the Gulf Coast” for the second consecutive year in 2007.
Within the two month span of the contest, participating cities and counties will select a 72-hour window to count birds, making it a fast-pace competition somewhat like a scavenger hunt. Wilson says the annual contest, in its eighth year encourages participating cities and counties to round up as many birders as they wish to during their count. The coordinator in each city/county then compiles and compares the logs and write-ups from each team/participant before submitting their results no later than May 31.
The contest has categories that provide a more even playing field for inland cities and coastal cities. For coastal cities, participants are allowed to extend one mile or as far as birders can scope out into the waters of the bay to visually identify the species. Furthermore, coastal cities such as Corpus Christi and coastal counties like Nueces County may also include offshore islands that are legally a part of the city or county participating in the contest, giving coastal cities and counties the advantage over inland cities.
According to Wilson, most cities use their winning title for tourism marketing purposes or to show the importance of environmentally sensitive areas when faced with unwise development plans.
President/CEO of the Corpus Christi Convention & Visitors Bureau, Keith Arnold commented, “As nature tourism continues to grow, the award again this year as the birdiest city will provide us with more reinforcement to capitalize on our marketing efforts initiated by our nature tourism initiative.” The Corpus Christi Convention & Visitors Bureau partnered up with surrounding communities in the Coastal Bend eight months ago and is working to market the area as a world-class birding destination within the next year.
Courtesy of grouptravelblog.com
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