In 2012, when Arizona was celebrating its 100th year of statehood, Jay’s Bird Barn sponsored a Centennial Birding Challenge. We encouraged bird and nature lovers to get out and explore the great state of Arizona, with an emphasis on bird watching.
This year, Jay’s Bird Barn is celebrating its 20th anniversary! I have created a new birding challenge to help individuals engage in bird watching—activities ranging from the comfort of one’s own home to anywhere in the Arizona Central Highlands. This free event is open to all ages and all skill and interest levels.
The purpose of the Birding Challenge is to help individuals engage in outdoor activities and with organizations that support wildlife and the environment. The challenge starts this week and ends on Wednesday, October 18th, right before our 20th anniversary celebration on the last Saturday in October.
Each participant will be given two brochures—a Birding Checklist and a Birding Challenge form which includes a tally sheet. The Challenge brochure has a complete list of suggested activities which result in earning points. The Birding Challenge is all self-directed and is on the honor system. Individuals can do as many or as few of the challenges as they desire.
Prior to our 20-year anniversary celebration, we will tally up each participant’s points, and he or she will be eligible for prizes based on the total points. There are four categories, each with challenges worth five, ten, twenty-five, or fifty points.
The five-point challenge is to see (identify) as many of the 143 species contained in the two volumes of the Sibley’s Birds of the Arizona Central Highlands folding guides. Ten-point challenges include suggested activities such as attending a Jay’s Bird Barn bird walk, attending a Prescott Audubon Society membership meeting, creating an eBird account, or adding a new source of water for the birds in your yard.
Twenty-five-point challenges are harder and include activities such as participating in the Granite Creek cleanup or participating in the Jays Bird Barn wild bird photography contest in September. Fifty-point challenges include an invitation to have your yard certified with the National Wildlife Federation as a Wildlife Habitat, or to hike or bike the entire Prescott Circle Trail—while birding!
The Birding Challenge is designed to give individuals a variety of ideas on how they can get out in nature and support nature-oriented nonprofits such as the Highlands Center for Natural History, Prescott Creeks, Prescott Audubon Society, The Natural History Institute, and the Granite Dells Preservation Foundation.
The Birding Checklist and Birding Challenge brochures are now available at the store, and I invite you to participate. Individuals whose names are drawn after we tally up the points (in October) will be eligible to receive some lovely prizes, including binoculars.
On another note, it seems that Prescott has been experiencing an invasion of American robins over the last few weeks. Many customers are sharing with me how they are seeing flocks of robins in their yards. I’ve seen robins this week at our current store location in the Safeway shopping center, as well as at our new store location (not open yet) at the corner of Willow Creek and Black Drive.
This time of year, robins rely on berries to sustain them through the cold winter days. As I have birdwatched recently, I’ve noticed that there are very few berries out in nature. Thus, robins have moved into the city where there is an abundance of non-native trees and shrubs that produce berries, including pyracantha, Bradford pears, purple plum and crab apple trees.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of Jay’s Bird Barn, Arizona Field Optics, and Hallmark in
Prescott, Arizona. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. If you have
questions about wild birds that you would like discussed in future articles, email
him at eric@jaysbirdbarn.com.
