Superbowl of Birding VII (The Dinner)

At 5:00, twelve hours after we started birding, we drove towards the final gathering, which was to be held at a nearby church. We arrived to find my dad and the Lawrences saving us a table down by where the pizza was set out. While Hope, our captain, signed the checklist and went to turn it in, the three of us boys went for the pizza. Other birders where already there, and more started arriving as the 5:30 deadline loomed closer. One of these birders was Andrew Baksh, a guy I had met on the Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird Count and then saw again on the Southern Nassau count. He came over to say hello, and I learned he was one of the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, a team of bird bloggers who had never met each other until the competition.

Three members of our team of four (everyone except Ben) won door prizes; I got the book Falconer on the Edge. As a team, we, the NYSYBC Ninja Nighthawks, won the newbie’s award, the prize for the youth division. At that point, Ben and I had to head south in order to be home that night, so we exchanged farewells with Greg, Hope, and Mrs. Batcheller then hit the road, arriving in Katonah at around 10:30 that night.

I added seventeen year birds to my list during the competition, raising my ABA region year list to 89. My Massachusetts state list also increased dramatically, finally breaking the 100 mark with a final total of 101 species.