Downeast Audubon hosts annual ‘Birdathon’
Seven teams will compete to “hear or see" the most species within one 24-hour period”
The 2025 Birdathon winning team, the Lame Ducks. From left: Bob Plohr, Zach Holderby, Leslie Clapp and Ann Brayton. Photo courtesy of Leslie Clapp.
May 18, 2026
By Staff
ELLSWORTH—If you see people wearing binoculars quickly emerge from a car and run in different directions into the woods or along a shoreline over the next three weeks, don’t be alarmed. It’s probably one of the teams competing in Downeast Audubon’s 24th annual Birdathon.
Birdathon is modeled after the concept of “A Big Year,” an informal competition among birders to observe or hear the maximum number of bird species within a defined area during one calendar year. In this case, however, the challenge is to hear or see the most species within one 24-hour period and the geographic area can be anywhere in Maine.
The competition runs from May 20 to June 5. Six or seven teams will be competing and each team can pick its own 24-hour period.
The Birdathon is the primary fundraising event for Downeast Audubon, a nonprofit which devotes most of its funds each year to funding scholarships for students attending nature camps and environmental education programs and doing wildlife research. Last year’s Birdathon raised $32,446 from 279 donors. This year’s goal is $28,000, according to Leslie Clapp of Blue Hill, the chapter’s longtime president. Each team member is responsible for raising money and the competition is as intense to be the winning fundraising team as it is to observe the most birds.
“It’s a treasure hunt,” Clapp said. Teams strategize about how to visit the most diverse habitats in 24 hours to optimize their chances of identifying the most species.
Last year, Clapp’s own team, The Lame Ducks, won the competition by spotting 131 species, which is roughly 28 percent of the 475 species that have been found in Maine.
Other teams competing this year are the Orchard Orioles, Winging It, Biking Birdathon, Team Wing-Nuts and Bagaduce Blitz. One new element of this year’s competition is the entry of the Hancock County Young Birders Club, which will field a team of students from George Steven Academy and other local high schools to compete against the more senior and experienced birders on the other teams.
To learn more about Birdathon, visit www.downeastaudubon.org.