Thousands of Cornell Lab of Ornithology members and friends awoke Sunday morning, May 16, with one thing on their mind: How well did their team do, zigzagging through New Jersey in this year's World Series of Birding?
The lab's team, the Cornell/Swarovski Sapsuckers, named in part for team sponsor Swarovski Optik, placed first for best out-of-state team total, a title they've claimed for more than a half-dozen years. For that, they'll again bring home the Stearns Award.
But the most coveted prize, the Urner Stone Cup for first place in the all-states category, eluded them again this year. The Cornell team's final tally was 209 species for the event that began Friday at midnight and ended Saturday, 24 hours later -- 10 species behind their friends on the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club team.
Team Sapsucker did, however, land more than $650 per species in pledges, shattering their previous record of $640 per species and yielding more than $160,000 (including sponsorship), which will go to the lab's bird conservation programs.
Details of the 2004 World Series of Birding are at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wsb/.
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |