from the ASE Yahoo Group “auduboneverglades”

Hi PB Birders,

Thank you all for sharing your great finds in the past week!
It is exciting to have the unexpected sightings of Bananquit and Smooth-billed Ani !

We have arrived in the final week of the June Challenge…

There is still time to get out there and see more great birds this week.

The final results for June Challenge must be submitted by Jul 1.
Please share your results here on the yahoo group (if having trouble, send to auduboneverglades@gmail.com)  with your name and species count in this format: 150 (145/5)
Total (ABA countable/Non countable).

See June Challenge summary below for a link to the ABA countable list and other rules.

If you would like, you can submit your individual count directly to rexrowan@gmail.com mailto:rexrowan@gmail.com, but make sure to submit any sightings not already covered in the PB County list here, so they can be included in the county total.

You can view the current PB County June Challenge list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tf59eGmEUvgAxS4aYut5bQKsvXdZl6LCRDubtLXFljc/edit#gid=1589687785 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tf59eGmEUvgAxS4aYut5bQKsvXdZl6LCRDubtLXFljc/edit#gid=1589687785

Happy Birding,
Susan McKemy

JUNE CHALLENGE SUMMARY (from Rex Rowan):
The June Challenge is a friendly competition designed to keep us birding through the summer heat rather than cowering inside like a bunch of, pardon the language, non-birders.

The aim of the competition is to see as many species as possible in a given county between June 1st and June 30th.

The rules were laid down in 2004 by Alachua’s Becky Enneis, who originated the Challenge:

Count only birds found within a single county. Explore your home turf. Find some new birding spots. (Doing more than one county is permissible, but each must be reported separately. No cumulative totals.)

Each bird on your list must be seen, not just heard.

You’ll be competing with birders in your own county to see which of you can amass the longest individual list, but let the other contestants know if you find something good so they can go out and look for it. It is, after all, a *friendly* competition.

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 (ABA countable / non-countable), e.g., 115 (112 / 3).
The list of ABA-countable birds is here:http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf

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. Those of you in landlocked counties, check your big lakes for coastal strays like gulls, terns, and pelicans.

Finally, here’s something to think about this year (and every year through 2016): You can easily work on the Breeding Bird Atlas while you’re doing The June Challenge. Sign up for an atlasing block by contacting BBA coordinator Susan McKemy (sos2organize@aol.com).