The 40th Anniversary of Manomet’s Bird-A-Thon

Emily Renaud | July 31, 2018 | Newsletters

Emily Renaud

Communications Coordinator

Manomet held its first Bird-A-Thon during the fall of 1979 to raise funds toward our then-blossoming landbird conservation and intern programs. Now, after 40 years, three name changes, over 250,000 new birds banded, and more than 40,000 visitors at our banding lab, Manomet is gearing up once again to welcome birders from all over the world to participate in our annual Bird-A-Thon this fall.

In celebration of our 40^th Bird-A-Thon in 2018, we talked with our landbird conservation team—Trevor Lloyd-Evans, Director, and Evan Dalton, Lead Instructor—about Bird-A-Thon’s beginning, its evolution over the years, and what to expect this September. Before diving into Manomet’s history with this event, though, we asked them: What IS a Bird-A-Thon?

“Bird-A-Thons tap into the natural desire people have to go birdwatching,” Trevor explains. “Back in the 1950s, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds would take on adjunct staff and volunteers and participate in Bird-A-Thons as a fundraiser. The concept had gotten pretty big by the time I arrived at Manomet.”

Now adapted to several organizations, clubs, and other groups of all sizes (see: the World Series of Birding and Champions of the Flyway), a traditional Bird-A-Thon is a 24-to-48-hour period where teams of birders venture out to some of the best birding locations in their area to count as many birds as they can. Participants are encouraged to raise money—usually through per-species pledges—or donate directly to the organization or cause for which the event has been organized.

Manomet’s Bird-A-Thon began almost exactly 40 years ago through Linda Leddy, our then-Development Officer, who later became President of the organization. “Linda really pushed for Bird-A-Thon at the time,” Trevor remarks. “The first one wasn’t as geographically spread out as today’s event; though we did go through a phase where we decided we should try to expand.”

MBO interns and science staff, 1979. From left to right: Sam Fitton, Anne Faulkner, Russell Tuckerman, Andy MacLachlan, Joanne Riccitelli, Sara Pace, Mary Palmer, and Barney Schlinger. Photo taken from the 1979 Manomet Observer.

Bander alumnus Lauren diBiccari birded from her Hawkwatch field site in the Goshute Mountains in Nevada for Bird-A-Thon 2016.

The Raymond Cup.

Manomet interns birding in fall 1986. Photo by David Twichell.

This expansion, as Trevor explained, ended up being due largely in part to the annually recruited current and former Manomet Banding team, whose members often happen to be spread out across the U.S. and so are able to bird in a wide variety of habitat types. Besides having the chance to add to the diversity of our total species lists each year, we’ve encouraged banding alumni to participate in Bird-A-Thon as a way of staying connected and keeping in touch. After all, one of the biggest drivers in our Bird-A-Thon is to raise funds to support incoming interns and grow our 50+ year songbird migration dataset.

We have welcomed aspiring biologists to study at Manomet’s headquarters since 1969, our organization’s birth year, when we came onto the scene as the Manomet Bird Observatory. Kathleen “Betty” Anderson, Manomet’s first Executive Director, wrote fondly about the 10^th anniversary of our intern program in the 1979 issue of our then-quarterly publication, The Manomet Observer. “More than 140 young people have lived and worked at MBO since August 1969. Following the academic and professional careers of our alumni is a continual source of pleasure and pride for all the Senior Staff,” she reflected. “[Interns] have been chosen on the basis of academic records, professors’ recommendations…and an ability to fit into our crowded living conditions and dawn-to-dusk work schedules.”

While little has changed in the way of interns’ sleepy-eyed, dawn-to-dusk work days and so-called “crowded” living conditions, our Landbird Conservation Program has grown exponentially since ’69. With the help of funds raised through Bird-A-Thon and support from generous donors, we have been able to hire amazing banders and educators every spring and fall, without fail, for 50 years. Our migratory research has contributed to studies on national and international scales (like this one), and we’ve partnered with bird observatories from around the globe, like Point Blue in California and the Jerusalem Bird Observatory in Israel. We have educated tens of thousands of visitors and school groups and given teachers from across New England the opportunity to learn from and work with scientists to bring climate science and data collection methods to their classrooms.

We thank all our supporters for the success our landbird team has had over the years; without you, none of our work would be possible. But, there is plenty more to be done, and we’re calling all birders to join us this fall to show their support and let their inner bird nerd shine!

“The bottom line is we need more people participating this year,” says Evan. “We want more people joining in and having a good time in the name of Manomet!”

“It’s a wonderful way for people to be introduced to our landbird work,” says Trevor. “What we’re ultimately trying to do is facilitate a way for people to be connected to nature.”

So join us every September 15-16 for our annual Bird-A-Thon. Visit the event page to read more about how you can get your team started or how you can donate directly to the cause. We can’t wait to check out your species lists; we may just need to reinstate the awarding of the highly esteemed Raymond Cup to the team who counts the most!