Please join our Canada wide Bird Scavenger Hunt!
To celebrate completing our virtual cross Canada journey we are holding a fundraising scavenger hunt.
There is a sliding scale entry fee: $10 for employed, $5 or a bag of garbage picked up from your local park or greenspace for unemployed (or kids) We have prizes! Thanks to Duke's Fine Ice Cream for donating two, $25 gift cards. Thanks to Birds and Beans coffee for a $10 gift certificate. We also have one copy of Birding is my Favourite Video Game by Rosemary Mosco that can be sent anywhere in Canada. We are looking for more prizes, and will update this as we get more.
To enter, you must make a donation through our Canada Helps fundraising page to either OWL Rehab or Birds Canada please include your name in the comments for your donation so we can match it to your tracking spreadsheet. https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/saving-the-birds/
For those of you with a job, minimum donation for entry is $10, those without minimum donation is $5 OR if you you're unemployed and don't have the $5 but do still want to participate you can send us a photo of you with a bag of garbage that you have picked up at a park or greenspace to birdscavengerhunt@gmail.com You may make a donation anytime to enter, but only birds seen during the scavenger hunt time frame from February 26, 2022 to 11:59 pm March 5, 2022 count count for entries into the prize draw. If you donate more than the minimum entry fee you get a bonus point for each extra dollar donated. For additional bag of trash picked up, you get 3 points.
We have a tracking spreadsheet for you to use to track what birds you find. You get 3 points for the first species of bird for each category noted on the spreadsheet and 2 points for each additional species you see in each category (except for bird in flight, only 3 points available for that category). If you bike to your birding destination you get 10 points for each spot you cycle to bird. You must submit a photo of you and your bike at your destination.
Tracking sheets must be emailed to us by 11:59 pm (PST) March 5, 2022. birdscavengerhunt@gmail.com
1 point = 1 entry into the prize draw.
To help you identify the birds that you are seeing, we recommend: Merlin: This is a great free app that has photos and sound recording of birds, and you can ID birds uploading photos that you have, or by answering a series of questions, or by recording the bird song you are listening to. Tip - you have to download the bird pack for the area you are in. https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
eBird: This is another free app, but also website that you can use to record the birds you're seeing, but it is handy for also checking to see what other people have seen in the area you are going to before you head out, so you know what you're likely to see.
SPES (Stanley Park Ecology Society) has a webinar called Duck, Duck, Goose! on February 11th at 5:30pm PT. You can purchase tickets here: https://stanleyparkecology.ca/event/duck-duck-goose/
The Great Canadian Backyard Bird Count, organised by Birds Canada, has a free webinar on February 16th at 2 pm ET. You can sign up here: https://www.birdcount.org/
There are many handy field guides available at your local library.
If you can get a photo of the bird you're looking at, you can send it to us and we can try to help you identify it too. Email us at birdscavengerhunt@gmail.com
Have some fun finding birds with us and when it ends, keep on going.
We're 6912 km from Tofino!