Hastings Area Earth Day Birding Festival
**NOTE FOR 2020**
Following recommendations from public health officials, this event will be held online in the form of CNC’s “Safe-at-Home Youth Birding Competition”. Follow the link below to be brought to the event page.
Additional information can be found by clicking HERE
Our goal is to give youth a FREE, fun opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, observe birds near their homes, enjoy spring and win prizes. Teams are encouraged to count all species seen and heard within sight of their roof top within 24 hours on April 18th, 2020.
Teams can be siblings in one household, or youth who coordinate their species list electronically with friends in another house to create one team. Team age-groups are 10 & under, 11-15 years, and 16-18 years.
TO ENTER, please email Jennifer@CarpenterNatureCenter.org with your team name, team location(s), age bracket, and number of team members. Please include an adult guardian’s contact information for coordinating prize distribution. Due to the state shelter-in-place order, there will not be staff at the Nature Center to take phone calls.
TO VIEW THE FINAL RESULTS & LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT, CLICK HERE!
Celebrate the many birds of Minnesota at the Hastings area Earth Day Birding Festival. This is the sixth year the Hastings Environmental Protectors has teamed up with CNC for the Birding Festival. This year, Carpenter Nature Center is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day by recruiting 50 youth birding teams to participate.
Saturday April 18, 2020
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Program fee is $5 per person or $15 per person including a box lunch
RSVPS Are Required– Please call 651-437-4359 to reserve your spot
This event would not be possible without the support of generous donors. Please consider sponsoring this event! For more information, contact Erika at erika@carpenternaturecenter.org or 651-437-4359
THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD ONLINE IN THE FORM OF CNC’S “SAFE-AT-HOME YOUTH BIRDING COMPETITION”.
See more information above
Festival Schedule
Activities are open to all Birding Festival participants.
Customize your day with classes and field trips or the Youth Birding Competition
7:00 – 12:00 Registration: on-going throughout the morning
8:00 – 12:00 Bird banding demonstration: on-going throughout the morning
8:00 – 8:15 Opening Address from HEP, CNC & MOU
8:15 – 9:00 Keynote Speaker Ben Douglas:
Incremental Endeavors: A Recipe for fulfilling birding
9:00 – 9:15 Morning Field Trips depart
9:15 – 10:00 Beginner Birding Class – Kevin Smith & Jen Vieth
10:00 – 11:00 Beginner Birding Field Hike at Carpenter Nature Center
11:00 – 11:45 Plastic: A Human Problem for the Birds – Lindsay Anderson MN GreenCorps
11:45 – 1:00 Lunch (Box lunches must be ordered with advanced registration)
12:00 – 12:45 Combatting Climate Change in Your Sphere – Lunchtime Panel Discussion
12:45-1:00 Afternoon Field Trips depart
1:00 – 2:00 Raptor Program: Meet LIVE Birds of Prey -CNC staff
2:00 – 3:45 All About Bird Homes: Bird house building workshop & class:
Dwight Smith, Bluebird Recovery Program & others
4:00 – 4:45 Awards presentation & interactive species list tally
Field Trips
Carpool to excellent birding locations in the Hastings area. Bird with expert guides.
For more information on trip locations visit: www.hastingsmn.gov/visitors/things-to-do/birding
9:15 – 11:45 Morning Field Trips: Hastings River Flats or Afton State Park
9:15 – 11:45 ADA Accessible birding: walkers & wheelchairs welcomed
9:15 – 11:45 Target Bird Species Trip: Limited to 8 pre-registered participants
9:15 – 2:00 Extended Field Trip Lake Byllesby
1:00 – 3:30 Afternoon Field Trips: 180th St. Marsh, or ADA Accessible birding at Schaar’s Bluff
1:00 – 3:30 Target Birds Trip : Limited to 8 pre-registered participants who will search for any
rarities observed during the morning trips
50 for 50 Youth Birding Competition
Team up with friends and/or siblings to try and see the most bird species in one day!
Prizes for ALL participants. All skill levels welcomed.
Age groups: 10 years & under, 11 – 15 years, or 16 – 18 years
Pre-registration is required.
Orientation (attendance is optional) New to birding competitions? A FREE
Bird Hike and orientation will be held Saturday preceding the festival, April 11.
6:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.– Competition
(checklists must be turned in by 3:30 p.m.)
4:00 – 4:45 – Awards
A special feature of the 2020 Festival is the 50 for 50 Youth Birding Competition. The recruitment of 50 teams for our annual youth competition is a special effort in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.
Join us in this celebration by registering as a youth participant, or support young birders by sponsoring a team. Youth need no prior birding experience to participate in this competition. They can learn everything they need to be successful in the competition by attending our 50 for 50 Youth Birding Competition Preparation Course on April 11 from 9:00—11:00 am at CNC.
Carpenter Nature Center is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day by recruiting 50 youth teams to participate in the Hastings Area Birding Festival. If you’re interested in registering a team, please contact Jennifer Vieth at (651) 437–4359 or jennifer@carpenternaturecenter.org.
Hastings Area Birding Day
Youth Birding Competition Rules
1. Teams must register in one of three divisions.
- Participants in the 16 year old and up division are allowed to have an adult chaperone/driver but must identify birds on their own – Adults must not help locating or identifying birds.
- Participants in the 11-15 year old division must bird with adult supervision – Adults should not help locating or identifying birds.
- Participants in the 10 year old & under age division must bird with adult supervision – Adults may provide limited help locating or identifying birds.
2. If a team comes to a consensus on the identification of a bird, and the adult knows it is wrong, they can strike the species from the list. Teams cannot count that individual bird again, though if they encounter the species again and correctly identify it, it can go on the list. This helps avoid the identification becoming a “guessing game” until they hit upon the correct identification.
3. Teams must have at least 2 participants and not more than 5.
4. Teams must compete within the age division of their oldest participant.
5. Team members must stay within voice contact of each other at all times. (Except bathroom breaks)
6. All birds counted must be identified by at least 2 team members.
7. Count only full species (as listed on official Minnesota State Checklist).
8. Birds must be conclusively identified by sight or sound. A bird only identified to group (i.e. scaup, either greater or lesser) may be counted as a species, if no other bird from that group appears on the list. Use common sense: if in doubt about the bird’s identity, don’t count it.
9. Birds counted must be alive, wild, unrestrained and within Hastings Birding Area (http://www.hastingsmn.gov/visitors/things-to-do/birding) plus Afton State Park & Prescott, Wisconsin.
10. Participants must follow the American Birding Association (ABA) code of Birding Ethics
A. Obey all access rules to public lands, and acquire permission to access private land.
B. Follow all existing local, state and federal laws. Please use common sense to stay safe during the competition.
11. Electronic or recorded birdcalls may be used (within ABA code of birding ethics) – i.e. not used with rare or endangered species, or in areas where their use is prohibited (some National Wildlife Refuges).
12. Flushing birds from their nest or cavity is not allowed.
13. Teams can travel as much of the Hastings Birding Area as they want.
14. Birds can only be counted during the day of the event starting at 6:00 am and ending at 3:30 pm on April 18, 2020.
15. During the Count, teams must make every reasonable effort to avoid receiving bird-finding help from non-participants. Phone and radio contacts and pre-arranged field encounters are not permitted. Participants may not travel with or walk any substantial distance with non-participants, except with guided field trips for lower (1.b. & 1.c.) division participants. When other birders are encountered accidentally, participants may not solicit bird-finding information and should avoid receiving any information from them, to the extent that common courtesy allows. If despite all precautions information is received during an accidental encounter, the team may use it. Any information received prior to the Count may be used during the Count.
16. Upper division (1.a.) teams that start before 8:00 am must be fully pre-registered.
17. The team must submit the checklist to the judges no later than 3:30 PM Saturday, April 18, 2020.
18. Totals are considered final once lists are submitted.
19. The decision of the judges in all rulings is final.
Contact Us
Minnesota Campus
12805 St. Croix Trail S.
Hastings, MN 55033
Wisconsin Campus
300 East Cove Road
Hudson, WI 54016
P:(651) 437-4359
F:(651 438-2908
Latest Nature News
- Carpenter Nature Center adds first St. Croix antenna to wildlife-tracking networkOctober 20, 2020 - 3:17 pm
Insect MigrationSeptember 3, 2020 - 3:08 pm
Nature Poetry: May 2020 Contest Entries & WinnersJune 8, 2020 - 1:23 pm
Leave No Trace Principle 7: Be Considerate of Other VisitorsApril 26, 2020 - 9:00 am
Leave No Trace Principle 6: Respect WildlifeApril 25, 2020 - 9:00 am
Stay Connected
Upcoming Events
-
Frosty Forty Weekly Theme: Move Differently
January 25 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm -
Preschool Story Time: Shadows in the Snow
January 26 - January 31 -
Full Moon Walk
January 29 @ 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm