A four-man team of DNR ibirding whizzes has helped an Indiana Audubon club conserve major chunks of Central American rainforest—a winter habitat critical to many birds that nest in Indiana during the summer.

At the DNR, Lee Casebere, Cliff Chapman and brothers Roger and Cloyce Hedge play mild-mannered scientists during most of the year. But come one day in mid-May, they hit the road as Super Birdingmen to count wild birds, and count flying birds, and count some more birds as part of the world’s largest bird-watching competition—The Audubon Birdathon.

“The DNR team is our top money-raising team,” said Amos W. Butler Chapter Birdathon Chair Donna McCarty. “They’re the group other teams set their sights on.”

Here’s how a Birdathon works: before “The Big Day,” as the event is called in some birding circles, birding teams collect pledges from sponsors. Most sponsors then donate money based on the number of species a team counts in one 24-hour period.

For instance, if a sponsor pledges 10 cents per species, they would have donated to the DNR team $16.50 in 2005. The team counted 165 species during the 2005 Birdathon.

DNR team member Roger Hedge says every little pledge counts, adding up to a major donation. “Our team raised about $6,000 in 2005, and we’ve been entered for nine years. Plus you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck when you can still buy rainforest for $100 per acre.”

Some of the 160-some bird species counted during a DNR-team
Birdathon day include wood ducks.

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