Get Ready for Birdathon 2025

Photo: Birders, Camila Cerea

As spring arrives in northern Virginia, we’re looking forward to Birdathon 2025, our annual event where teams collect pledges from friends and family and then record how many species they can identify during any 24-hour period between April 19 and May 18. In addition to being just plain fun, Birdathon helps NVBA to support outdoor education, citizen science, habitat conservation, and programs to encourage people to plant native plants and protect native wildlife. Birdathon also helps ornithologists better understand spring migration by reporting sightings through eBird, an online database of bird observations run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

More information is available on our Birdathon 2025 webpage. You can plan a big day route around northern Virginia, or you can even participate from your own backyard. So, gather your birding buddies and register your team today. If you have already registered a team, or just want more information on Birdathon, make sure you join us on Sunday, March 23 from 2:30 - 4:30 PM for our Alliance Afternoon. Matt Felperin will be giving us a warbler bootcamp to get us all ready for Birdathon. You also can watch a free webinar about competitive birding and Birdathon with ornithologist Greg Butcher. If you’re planning to gather your team in your backyard, join us March 20 for a free webinar on backyard bird identification.

It’s time to get ready for Birdathon 2024!

Photo: Camila Cerea, Audubon

Birdathon, ASNV’s annual birding competition and fundraiser, is coming soon. Birdathon teams record how many species they can identify during any 24-hour period between April 20 and May 19. They line up sponsors who make pledges to support their effort, just as in a walk-a-thon. 

All birding levels are welcome. Participants can bird alone or form teams of up to five. All team members donate and/or secure pledges. Read more about how this fun and friendly event works here.

We’ll tell you more if you join us on Saturday, April 6 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM for our ASNV Spring Social. See an Eastern Screech Owl up close and personal, enjoy light refreshments and mingle with your competition. You might even find another person to add to your team! 

Calling All Birders: It's Time to Get Ready for Birdathon 2023!

Photo: Birders, Laura McDonald

How does it work? Like a walk-a-thon, Birdathon participants collect pledges from friends and family via our website. Then participants record how many species they can identify during any 24-hour period between April 15 and May 21. The more species they identify, the more funds they raise! 

Last year’s winning team saw 123 species in 24 hours! Wow! Can you beat it? 

Birdathon helps ASNV continue to support outdoor education, citizen science and habitat conservation, and encourages people to plant native plants and foster native wildlife. Birdathon also helps ornithologists better understand spring migration by reporting sightings through eBird, an online database of bird observations run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

All birding levels are welcome. Participants can bird alone or form teams of up to five. All team members donate and/or secure pledges. Participants solicit general donations or ask for pledges based on the number of species or the number of individual birds sighted. Sightings and donations are due no later than June 2, 2022. Report your Birdathon sightings on eBird and email your list to info@audubonva.org.

Ready to get started? Register your team here and check out our Birdathon rules . Now go out and have a great day birding! 

All participants and their supporters are invited to join us at our Audubon Afternoon in June for our Annual Meeting, where we’ll announce the winners of the “Most Species Counted,” “Most Money Raised” and “Youth Birder” competitions. Plus our new award categories for this year - "Most Species Counted by a New Team," "Widest Age Range," and "Backyard Bounty."

ASNV’s Birdathon Fundraiser Results in Record Donations and Number of Bird Species

Photo: Yellow Warbler, Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards

Tom Blackburn

Our chapter’s annual Birdathon competition raised a record amount of money and found a record number of birds this year. Birdathon is a friendly competition among teams of birders. It has two goals: to raise money for ASNV and to find the most birds within our chapter’s boundaries in a 24-hour period. 

Eleven teams raised $12,059, beating last year’s total by more than $1,000. The Board Birders, a team of ASNV board members Gerry Abbott, Tom Blackburn, Libby Lyons, and Dixie Sommers, won the fundraising competition. The Chipper Birders, teenaged brothers Dante and Maxwell Julius, came in second. The Three Beaks team of Louise and Bart Edsall and Salay Kamara came in third. 

The Drake and Two Chicks team of Greg Fleming, Elizabeth Krone and Laura McDonald was the runaway winner in the bird species competition. They logged 123 species, an ASNV record. The Board Birders came in second with 92 species, followed by the Chipper Birders with 85. See more about the Chipper Birders in our December 2020 article and a recent news article on WUSA Channel 9. 

The Scarlet Teenagers, a bird club sponsored by Flint Hill High School biology teacher Fred Atwood, deserves an honorable mention this year. The club raised money for ASNV in connection with a birding field trip to the Eastern Shore. Because they counted birds outside ASNV’s chapter boundaries, their total doesn’t count in the species competition, but the 120 species they saw is a testament to their birding skills. 

The seven Birdathon teams that reported their bird species for the competition saw a total of 143 species, a reminder of how rich the bird life is in Northern Virginia. They saw 25 warbler species, or nearly all the warblers that are normally found here during spring migration. Other birds of interest included a Common Loon, a tree full of Bobolinks, and a Horned Grebe. 

Thank you to all the teams that participated in the Birdathon. And thank you especially to the more than 100 people who supported our fundraiser. Your donations make it possible for ASNV to fulfill our mission of engaging all Northern Virginia communities in enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people.

Last Call for Birdathon Donations

Photo: Camilla Cerea

A Drake and Two Chicks

The Chipperbirders

To celebrate migration and the nesting season, please donate to an ASNV Birdathon team if you haven’t already. This year, we had 12 fantastic teams birding their hearts out and raising funds. Let’s celebrate their efforts! We even had a last-minute team sign up, A Drake and Two Chicks, which includes our former Program Manager, Laura McDonald, who worked at ASNV for 12 years and continues her involvement as a volunteer. We will be accepting Birdathon donations until Friday, June 3rd, and the winners of Birdathon’s “most species identified” and “most funds raised” will be announced at our Audubon Afternoon (featuring live owls!) on June 5, 2022 at 3:00 PM. 

The Three Beaks

See exciting reports from The Three Beaks and The Chipperbirders.

A Birdathon Story: The Three Beaks

Photo: Yellow Warbler, Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards

Our Program Administrator Louise Edsall led her team (composed of herself, her husband Bart Edsall and his caregiver, Salay Kamara) on a successful big-day outing. Louise shares her story of the team’s experience below.

The Three Beaks Birdathon Team!

“The three of us had a great time on this adventure. We were amazed at how many species we got just in our backyard at the feeders and nearby brush and woods where our home is located in Manassas. Our newest visitors are the Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and Gray Catbirds. Starting this week, we’ve been seeing six male and six female catbirds at the same time. Those Indigo Buntings are just gorgeous and their songs are beautiful, too. The Red-shouldered Hawk seemed to pass just as I commented, “Now where is that hawk?” Boom, there he was! Same with the Scarlet Tanager which I found while walking down our long driveway to the mailbox. It just pays to be alert!

Our count was limited to wheelchair-accessible places because of Bart’s disability, so the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk and Trails provided a very user-friendly access to the boardwalk and paved trails. We were joined by a young mom and her three-year old son as we were leaving and the young boy tried to race Bart’s wheelchair. Bart’s energy along the walk flushed the Field Sparrow and the Baltimore Oriole. We got the female Orchard Oriole as we entered the boardwalk and the Yellow Warblers put on a show there as well. Bart was at boardwalk wall height which limited his view a bit but he was the first to spot the Osprey which had caught a fish just in front of the “No Fishing” sign. Bart also saw our first Great Blue Heron.The Red-winged Blackbirds were unusually ‘friendly’.

We had a great time outdoors despite the limitations of our access to woodland trails. The three of us had a load of fun. Migration is on full-steam!”

The Three Beaks team identified 62 species across four locations. You can donate here to help this wonderful team reach their fundraising goal of $1,500. 

Support our Birdathon Teams!

Photo: Luke Franke

A Birdathon is a competition in which teams compete to find the greatest number of species in a day to raise money for conservation. Eleven teams of birders have committed to support Audubon Society of Northern Virginia’s 2022 Birdathon. Can you help by supporting one or more of our teams? You can pledge an amount for each species found or donate a specific amount of money. Here is a link to the teams with information on how to support the teams of your choice. Thanks for helping ASNV fulfill its mission of enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people!

There’s still time to Donate to BIRDATHON!

Photo: Yellow Warbler, Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards

ASNV’s Annual Fun-d Raiser is back and there’s still time to support your favorite team or maybe two! 

This year we have 8 teams ranging in age from teen birders to seasoned seniors with 31 participant birders. Maybe you’ll be inspired to join a team next year? In the meantime, consider supporting any one (or more) of these teams. 

Calling all Birders!

Photo: Birders, Laura McDonald

The 2020 ASNV Birdathon Competition is POSTPONED.

Spring is on its way, and so is Birdathon! It’s time to organize your teams and sign up for our annual spring migration FUNdraising event. All birding levels are welcome! 

The concept is simple:  Participants form teams of two to five members, each team secures pledges and donations, then during any 24-hour period between April 17 and May 17 the teams search Northern Virginia to see how many bird species they can identify. 

Get your teams READY!

• Register your team here. Make sure you have a team or mascot photo ready to email once you complete the registration form.

• Once you register your team, we’ll create a team page for you where you can ask your friends, family and social media pals to support your efforts.

• Check out our guidelines. ( We made some changes this year)

• Watch our website and newsletter for updates and tips on how to complete a successful Birdathon.

Go out and have a great day birding! And THANK YOU for supporting Audubon Society of Northern Virginia’s efforts to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, and their habitats.

Report your Birdathon sightings by May 30 on eBird and send your list to info@audubonva.org. Ask your supporters to visit your team page and make their donations by June 1.

Winners will be announced at our Annual Meeting on June 7!