Birders Celebrate 35 Years of Birdathon

Local birder Kathy Trump celebrated her 25th Birdathon with her first ever win. She took home the coveted crown for tallying 36 birds during this year’s event. Her birding partner, Jim Trump, tallied 35.

Her favorite bird of the count isn’t showy and there was only one to see.

“Probably a white-crowned sparrow because it just surprised me. I mean, they’ll be ubiquitous pretty soon, but it was just right in front of me.” 

Doug and Maureen Gualtieri each tallied 33 birds. Maureen is the keeper of the magpie pin, a prize for whoever spots the first magpie of the season. She won last year too.

The Trumps traveled around Talkeetna and Trapper Creek for their count this year, but Kathy says sometimes it’s the simple birds that are the most fun to watch.

“We watched a fox sparrow for a long time at the Latitude and that was pretty fun to watch it root around.”

While the previous two years saw tallies in the 70s, the group collectively counted only 57 species this year. Deb Brocke says in her official Birdathon results that some of the migratory birds haven’t yet made it to the area, which could contribute to the lower numbers. Trump says there were few flocks of anything except the sandhill cranes at Saunders Field in Trapper Creek. 

“But even with the cranes, there’s usually lots of other birds with them, and really all we saw were greater white-fronted geese.”  

The Northern Susitna Birders welcome new and experienced observers to the group and Trump says they are glad to share their knowledge.

“There are a lot of really really good birders. And I want to emphasize that I am not one of them. I just happened to get very lucky and I’ve had really good birding teachers. People in this community are so generous about their knowledge.”

Birding is a shared passion for many in the Upper Valley and Trump says it’s that community cooperation that makes the Birdathon fun. 

“I think that the thing that’s fun is the cooperation. I love that we ended up at Rubberneck Point, which is up Christiansen Lake Road. There were like five different sets of people and everybody is trying to figure out the birds together. That is so much fun.”

Birders scattered over the Trapper Creek and Talkeetna areas to tally as many birds as they could find in a 24-hour period. This year marked the 35th year the Northern Susitna Birders participated in Birdathon. The group plans to tally the birds again on the first weekend of May, next year.

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