As most of you know, Birdathon is WCAS's primary fundraiser for the year. Money raised is used to support our lectures, field trips, and educational programs.

Our Birdathon was held on May 10 this year. It was a cool and sunny day, which always makes the event more enjoyable for the teams looking for birds, and also means there will be more birds to find. There were 16 teams and a total of 41 people that covered New Jersey from High Point State Park to Cape May. Birdathon Coordinator Lou Beck reports that 32 species of warblers and 5 species of vireos were found. New species for WCAS found this year were Swainson's warbler, black rail, vesper sparrow, and red-headed woodpecker. Other great finds were bald eagle, Cooper's hawk, and peregrine falcon which are all on the endangered species list.

The WCAS grand total this year was 218. A new record!

Our sincere thanks go to all those who pledged this year. Special thanks to Landis Eaton and Barbara Ross who collected the largest pledge amounts (more than $1200 and $500, respectively). Thanks to everyone's generosity, this year's total has equaled last year's.

The first surprise of the day was a male Bobolink singing on the wires next to the Skillman PO. A sure sign this would be a good day. The next pleasant surprise was a tree "full" of warblers just off the parking lot at McBurney woods. In the one tree we saw Magnolia, Black-throated green, Blackburnian, Prairie, Northern Parula, Black and White, Black-throated blue, American Redstart and Yellow-rump warblers. Northern Oriole joined the show and Wood Thrush and Ovenbird sang from below. Isn't there some saying about it is better to be lucky than good? A hawk settling on the power wire along Route 29 caused a quick u-turn. The Red-shouldered hawk was very cooperative and waited for us to return before he flew away. We ended the day with ice cream in Pennington while we tallied our bird list. We found 78 species, and although we didn't break any records we considered this a successful number and a very delightful day.

Other groups found some other great birds - both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos, White-faced Ibis, and American Bittern.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in finding birds and who supported the Washington Crossing Audubon Society Birdathon. Your efforts are appreciated and your contributions will be put to good use.