join us for the 4th annual morgantown birding cup!
Everyone is invited to join Mountaineer Audubon and the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia for the fourth annual Morgantown Birding Cup, which will be held from 6pm on Friday, May 26, to 6pm on Saturday, May 27, 2023. This is a friendly competition; the goal is for families, friends, and individuals to have fun and count all the bird species that they encounter during this 24-hour period, as well as to raise awareness about the West Virginia Young Birders Club. There are two categories: at-home and at-large. Participants in the at-home category should travel only within walking distance from where they live; participants in the at-large category can travel and count bird species in any (or all) of the five West Virginia counties in Mountaineer Audubon's region: Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor.
A Morgantown Birding Cup team can have as many as eight members or as few as one. Members of a team must stay together when they're counting, and for a bird to "count," at least half of a team's members must see it. Gathering at the residence of one team member and walking from there is acceptable for the at-home category.
Please register for the Cup ahead of time by clicking the button below and filling out the form. Registration is free but fundraising is welcome; any funds raised from the Morgantown Birding Cup will benefit the West Virginia Young Birders Club. Teams should start counting bird species at 6pm on Friday, May 26, and stop counting at 6pm on Saturday, May 27. We will hold an in-person Count Party at the ACCA's Outdoor Classroom in Cheat Lake.
Email your bird list to Katie no later than 6:30pm on May 27 or deliver your list in-person to the Count Party by 6:30pm. You can keep your list on eBird or using another method of your choosing. By submitting your list to eBird, you will also be participating in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's global citizen-science initiative.