PA BREEDING BIRD BLITZ
for CONSERVATION
June 9-19, 2023
100%
Working together to conserve all of our Pennsylvania birds.
1. Counting
A. Birds counted must be alive, wild, and unrestrained.
B. Only species found on the PA Ornithological Records Committee (PORC) Bird List with numerical abundance codes 1-6 will be accepted. This means Northern Bobwhite (code 7/extirpated) is not a valid entry. The full list can be found at https://pabirds.org/records/index.php/pennsylvania-bird-list/
C. Birds must be conclusively identified by sight or sound. Generic species or hybrids will only be accepted in the absence of a full species. (Example I: Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee will only be accepted if there are no Carolina or Black-capped Chickadees listed. Example II: Brewster's Warbler will only be accepted in the absence of Blue-winged or Golden-winged Warblers.)
D. For a species to count for the team total it must be identified by at least 2 members of the team during the count period. It need not be the exact same bird just the same species.
E. Electronic or recorded songs and calls may not be used to attract birds or entice them to vocalize. Pishing and other human produced sounds may be used but please do so sparingly to avoid over stressing the birds.
F. Online and phone app products (i.e. Merlin, etc.) may not be consulted until a team has made an initial identification. Such technology is to be used as an aid in identification rather than the primary means of making an identification.
G. Only submit birds physically located within the boundary of the count (County or Region). The location of the bird is where the bird is located (ABA/PSO standard), not where the observers are located (eBird standard). Be aware of county, region, and state lines.
2. Areas
A. One of 2 geographic areas may be covered each day of the Blitz (County or Regional).
B. County lists will include all birds identified in a particular county (Example: Crawford County).
C. Regional lists will include birds identified from at least 3 counties of that region with a minimum of one hour spent birding in each county (Example: NE Region; Sullivan, Wyoming, and Luzerne counties). Any other additional counties do not need to be for a specific minimum time but must be from the same region.
3. Time
A. Counting for each daily entry must be within a single 24-hour period, on a single calendar day. A checklist turned in for a specific day must have taken place entirely on that day. (Example: A Saturday checklist cannot have Whip-poor-wills heard on Friday night, nor owls heard on Sunday morning.).
B. A County List can be any length of time within the 24 hours.
C. A Regional List must be at least 3 hours of length in duration as it is required to spend at least one hour in in at least 3 different counties to submit a Regional List.
D. Your time birding does not need to be consecutive as time out may be taken but birds identified during the time out may not be added to the list.
4. Travel
A. Travel may be by any means unless a Low Carbon Team.
B. All birds identified while traveling may be included in the count list, if positively identified by at least 2 team members.
5. Participants
A. Two or more participants may constitute a team.
B. All team members must bird together (in visual sight of one another), no forming of subgroups at any time.
C. Participants may bird only part of the day as long as there are at least 2 participants left on the team at all times.
D. A participant who leaves the team may rejoin the team later.
E. Only bird species that are identified by participants while with the team may count be counted.
F. Team composition may vary on different days as long as it conforms to B4C rules.
6. Low Carbon Teams, Additional Rules
A. Team members may use a motorized means to travel to/from a start or end location. (Example: You are birding a 6-mile portion of the Appalachian trail and you leave a car at the end destination for the day.)
B. Team members cannot take a break from the team by using motorized means to leave or rejoin the team.
C. Birds identified while using a motorized means of travel will not be included in your list.
7. Youth Teams, Additional Rules
A. The team must be composed of at least 2 youth at all times from with the age range of 6 through 17 years old inclusive.
B. At least 2 youth on a team must identify a species for it to count on the checklist.
C. Accompanying adults may assist in identification or correct wrong identifications. However, the youth should be allowed to make the initial discovery of the bird and their knowledge should be primary in confirming the identification. Adults play a supporting role in helping youth reach a correct identification only as needed to do so. If the youth do miss a species in a specific location an adult can identify the bird, explain what leads to that identification (visual and/or auditory). That species will not be included on the official team count unless at least 2 youth identify the bird later in the count.
8. Entries
A. Teams may turn in an entry for any and all days of the Blitz. You may submit a checklist from the same County or Region on any or all of the days. If you participate in the Blitz on more than one day you may choose to submit a checklist from different Counties or Regions on different days. You may also choose to do the same type of count (Low Carbon, Youth, etc.) or you may choose to do a different type of count on different days of the Blitz. Checklists are not cumulative as to the number of species but are a separate entry for each day.
B. Only one eBird Trip Report or B4C Checklist will be accepted for each day of the Blitz. Multiple submissions by a team for a particular day will not be accepted. If more than one is received the first submitted will be used unless a later checklist is a corrected copy of the original.
C. Fifty dollars in donations in the name of the team must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20th to be eligible to compete in any of the competitions. (A full list of competitions that teams may participate in are listed on the Contest/Donate Tab of Blitz website and available for download on the Forms and Contact Tab).
D. Send all entries no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20th to blitz4conservation@gmail.com
9. Submitting Entries (2 methods to do so)
A. Method 1: A Trip List report from eBird may be used as long as the other entry information that follows below is also included in the text of the email.
(i.) Team name, Team Members, and Date of Checklist
(ii.) If a County or Regional Count, listing the County or Counties covered by the checklist.
(iii.) Note if it is a Low Carbon, Youth, or Least Birded County Count.
(iv.) Include the number of Accepted Species for the checklist. This may differ from what was submitted to eBird.
B. Method 2: Use the Checklist (in excel or pdf format) that is available for download on the website under the Forms and Contact tab www.breedingbirdblitz.org/forms-contact.
10. Using eBird
A. If you use eBird please keep checklists at 5 miles or less for traveling counts otherwise the data you submit will be less useful and may be invalidated by eBird.
B. Though not required you are also encouraged to use breeding codes.
C. Share your eBird checklists with PSO Birding Data so we can tabulate and share the data on species reported during the B4C. (This is not an additional means of entry to item 9 above but a means of pooling our eBird data together).