On May 15th, the Rainforest Biodiversity Group held its 4th annual spring Bird-a-Thon to raise money to: 1) supply environmental education supplies for children within the Costa Rican Bird Route area, 2) provide support of the Manquenque Christmas Bird Count event, and 3) support our conservation project in Costa Rica, the Costa Rican Bird Route.
This year was another successful Bird-a-Thon fundraiser with 2010 being the 4th straight year RBG took in a record amount of donations. A total of $2,852 was raised during this year’s event. There were 11 participating birders and 49 donors who made pledges. We had a mean average donation of $58.20 in 2010 which was up from $42.87 in 2009. Other Bird-a-Thon records broken in this year’s event included: number of species seen, 133 by Chris Petherick; and amount raised by a single birder - $1,117.50 again by Chris Petherick. What a year for Chris!!
In an effort to continually grow the annual RBG Bird-a-Thon, we decided to not only give all birders and any donor who pledged $50 or more a free t-shirt, but also give away a $275 Eagle Optics gift certificate to the person who raised the most pledges and an Eagle Optics Insight monocular to a randomly chosen Ebird entry submitted to RBG.
As previously mentioned, Chris Petherick of Fox Point, WI collected the most donations and therefore won the $275 gift certificate to Eagle Optics. Sharon Fandel of Madison, WI was the winner of the Eagle Optics Insight monocular. Congratulations Chris and Sharon! RBG would like to thank all who birded and submitted their Ebird reports to RBG.
Over the course of the 4 years of the Bird-a-Thon, birders have seen a total of 188 different species, 47% of which are found on the Costa Rican Bird Route. To see the species seen and percent of years seen during the Bird-a-Thon please go to the Bird-a-Thon Historical Stats Sheet (Excel file).
If you have an interest in participating in the Bird-a-Thon in 2011, please send us an email at info@rainforestbiodiversity.org with the subject line: 2011 Bird-a-Thon, and we’ll get you the details you need for next year. Remember, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, anyone can participate in this Bird-a-Thon!
RBG would like to give special thanks to the following 2010 Bird-a-Thon birders and donors:
2010 Participating Birders
Chris Petherick2010 Bird-a-Thon Donors
Sharon and Craig Fandel
Ray and Mary Fandel
Steve and Vi Gericke
Mickey O’Connor
Austin
Cheryl Heagman
Howard Steinberg
Russ Rothman
Minla Rothman
Linda Sullivan
Marty Crump
Lindsay Hubbard-VanSteele
Jan Nelson
Rick Nelson
Alexa Nelson
Aaron Nelson
Kay Schneider
Julie Baltz
Karen Dorris
Jim Roethe
Davin Lopez
Tami Ryan
Lee Syverud
Julie Langenberg
Judy Roethe
Larry and Paula Osborn
Lillian Harris
Vera Naputi
Alan and Karen Crossley
Hajira Buser
Art Buser
Lucy Christopoulos
Louise and Davis Riemer
Shane Saunders
Dan Panetti
Richard Petherick
Robin Checota
Steve Faller
Mary Wood
Sue Shunta
Ruth Kuhfahl
Natalie Nolan
Judy Shunta
Diane Burns
Cindy Bermel
Judy Lopez del Moral
Mary Losi
Chase Ferre
