For those of you new to the June Challenge:

The June Challenge is a friendly competition designed to keep us birding through the summer heat while non-birders retreat indoors and miss all the fun. The aim of the competition is for each individual contestant to see as many species as possible within the boundaries of his or her county between June 1st and June 30th.

Becky Enneis of Alachua County originated the June challenge in 2004. Becky also established the rules. Palm Beach County has been participating for many years, and our June 1st field trip to STA1-E is a kickoff for the June Challenge. Don’t hesitate if you haven’t signed up for it yet! You never know what you will see in our STA’s even in June!

June 1, 2019 STA 1E Field Trip Registration

Audubon Everglades (AE) will post the results on our Audubon Everglades Community Facebook page after the state compiler, Marie Zeglen, posts them on BRDBRAIN. A big thank you goes out to Marie for undertaking this job. If you’re not already a member of the Audubon Everglades Community page just ask to Join by clicking the Join button on the page, and one of our moderators will add you. During the Challenge, please use the AE Community page to ask questions and share sightings. Post your tallies on the AE Community page and send to Marie to claim your Palm Beach county “bragging rights”.

Quick summary of the rules:

1. Count birds found within a single county, ideally the one you live in. Explore your home turf and find some new birding spots. (Doing more than one county is permissible, but each must be reported separately.)
2. Each bird on your list must be seen, not just heard, and observed in Palm Beach County. There have been complaints in the past about the no-heard-birds rule. The most substantial objection involved the possibility that secretive birds would be harassed until they came into view. To this I’ll simply say: Don’t do that. Respect the birds. Use tapes judiciously and avoid harassment. Rely on patience and birding skill.
3. You’ll be competing with birders in your own county to see who can amass the longest individual list, but let the others know if you find something good so they can go out and look for it. It is, after all, a friendly competition.
4. Any free-flying bird is countable for the purposes of the Challenge, but keep track of how many ABA-countable and non-countable species are on your list. Report them in this format: “Total number seen (number that are ABA countable / number that are not),” e.g., 115 (112 / 3). eBird will automatically do this for you if you use eBird to keep your species list. When you are on the eBird website go to My eBird, and the very first section will show Your Stats which include total monthly species, and ABA area total ticks.
5. Send your eBird list to Marie Zeglen at kayaker3955@gmail.com for the final compilation by midnight on Monday, July 1st.

Hints for new Challengers: Bird as much as you can during the first and last weeks of the month, to get late spring and early fall migrants.

And remember, the deadline for results is midnight on Monday, July 1st. Please be sure to send your individual results in to Marie Zeglen by the deadline in order to be counted, and then post on the Audubon Everglades Community Facebook page!

Happy Birding!

For questions, contact Vicki Rogerson: Education@auduboneverglades.org or 561-352-7835.