Hi everyone,

As you may or may not know, in January Golden Eagle Audubon has a Winter Bird Challenge.  It is open to anyone in the state and the area of coverage is the entire state.  The goal is to get folks out birding and kicking off their year list.  We have five categories:

1. Most number of bird species
2. Most photographs
3. Most recordings
4. Weekend Warrior
5. Backyard

Weekend Warrior is aimed at those who work and can’t bird everyday. Instead, you submit lists from 10 days during the month, your choice of days. You can submit multiple lists on the days you bird.

Backyard is for those that would prefer not to get out in the cold, or at least not very far into the cold this year. You count the number of birds seen from your backyard, apartment, or whatever. This year we will also allow you to select a park or similar area if you believe you don’t have good birding from your backyard or lack a backyard. However, once you select a park or similar area, you cannot change to another area during the challenge.

We will have a Zoom meeting on December 18 to go over the challenge and answer questions, and then two Zoom socials during the month. For those in the Treasure Valley, we will have 4 field trips and an end of challenge pizza party where we will announce the winners in each category..

If you would like to participate, please register on Golden Eagle’s website at: https://www.goldeneagleaudubon.org/winter-bird-challenge.