I don’t think there’s actually a word for how I feel right now, “uber-exhaustion” perhaps? Whatever the word is, boy, am I tired! Ya know, when you think about it, the World Series of Birding (WSB) is a ridiculous event: 24 hours of non-stop birding following days of sleep-deprivation for scouting and planning. Poor nutrition, no sleep, running on nothing but sugar and caffeine – and you don’t even get a chance to look at birds!

But, it really is a lot of fun (most of the time), and it raises a heckuva lot of money – the total dollars raised for conservation since the 1st World Series is approaching 9 million dollars!

Eddie Woodin, founder of Friends of Birds and Nature, presents Luke with a check to sponsor The Skuaz in the 2007 World Series of Birding.

But on Saturday, there’s little else on your mind except pure competition. The youth team, The Skuaz - that I (and Heidi Seitz) was driving for (and “coaching,” if you will) - was captained by Luke Seitz of Falmouth, and included Ian Davies and Kai Reed from Massachusetts, and Ethan Kistler from Ohio, began (as most of the state-wide competitive teams do) at midnight in the Great Swamp. It was then on to the beautiful, bucolic northwest corner of the state.

Ian, Luke, Kai, and Ethan enjoying a sunny afternoon in Morristown, making our final plans for the Big Day.

Birding through High Point State Park, Stokes State Forest, the Delaware Water Gap and various nooks and crannies in between, searching for breeding warblers, migrants, lingering sparrows, and much more, the team was off to a great start (as were both drivers, thanks to the 1-hr nap while the teams was waiting for the Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows to begin to sing in the pre-twighlight stillness).

Luke adds a bit of flair to the run back from the Golden-winged Warbler on Van Ness Rd.

Then, it was on to the farm fields and marshlands of Salem and Cumberland Counties, followed by Cape May County, where the finish line is. The day was cut a bit short (at 10:30pm) by thunderstorms - it’s a little difficult to hear goatsuckers and night migrants in a downpour, afterall – but the “kids” ended up with an extremely impressive 180 species! For a first-time team (none of the participants had done a state-wide WSB run, only two had competed in the WSB at all – in the Cape May County competition, and one hadn’t even been to NJ before), with only 1 ½ days of scouting, is truly amazing.

Sorting through shorebirds at Heislerville. Somewhere out there the team picked out the Curlew and Stilt Sandpipers among the throngs of Dunlin, Least and Semipalmated Sandipers and Plovers, and many others.

And, after 22 1/2 hours of caffeine, sugar, and adrenalin, The Skuaz's 180 species was good for SECOND in the Youth Division, and 14th OVERALL, out of a record 123 teams (I think)! Not too shabby, to say the least! Good “gets” included a late migrant Palm Warbler, a spiffy Curlew Sandpiper (one of my favorite birds for the day), and a Black Tern off Cape May Point. Quite possibly the highlight, however, was a Black Bear with three adorable cubs that were climbing around in a Flowering Dogwood tree as Mom kept an eye on us in the Delaware Water Gap (we even spent about 3 minutes taking some photos; this and the Curlew Sandpiper were about the only things we actually looked at all day!).

Although I wasn’t really birding (only when the team left the vicinity of the van would I actually be “birding”), most of the WSB is by sound. In fact, they counted up the list and found only 40 out of the 180 species were “seen only.” 100 species were “heard only.” Therefore, keeping my ears and eyes open (which was definitely a challenge at times) produced a great count for me. My 170 species would actually have been good for 17th place – even though I almost never left the van - since I could not help them find or identify birds (the big struggle for me – along with staying awake, as I found myself biting my lip numerous times as I saw or heard birds before they did, and desperately fought the urge to point things out!).

So, the winning team – the Swarovski/Cornell Lab of Ornithology Sapsuckers had a most impressive 230 species. The winning youth team, the Nikon/Space Coast Festival Blue Oystercatcher Cult recorded 204 species. Other awards are given for the highest total for a County or other limited geographic area, the “Big Stay” (where you remain within a 17-foot circle all day; the Carl Zeiss Optical/Cape May Bird Observatory team of Pete Dunne, Don Frieday, and Will Russell took the crown here, with a new North American Record of 139 species – wow!), most species digiscoped, and more. (New Jersey Audubon’s website has a complete list of teams, totals, awards, and so on).

There’s plenty more to report on, stories to share – from birds to delirium-induced insanity – but frankly, I am beat. We’ll have to share the stories another day. However, I would like to take a moment to thank Eddie Woodin, founder of Friends of Birds and Nature for sponsoring us. Also, many thanks to all of the “grown-up” teams that helped The Skuaz – especially Paul Guris of Nikon/DVOC (with whom I will be running those half-day pelagics out of Portland with, for a shameless plug!), who took a considerable amount of time out his own planning and scouting to assist the team. And finally, thanks to New Jersey Audubon for making this whole shin-dig happen!

And last, but most definitely not least, a big congratulations to all of the teams, but of course, my biggest congrats are reserved for Luke, Ethan, Ian, and Kai – The Skuaz!