At the 2009 DOS Annual Picnic and Bird-A-Thon Awards ceremony held June 17th, the final results and winners were announced in front of an enthusiastic crowd of participants and newly elected Fellow Members of DOS in rainy conditions, continuing the general theme from the DBAT week afield!

First, a few fun facts from this year's 2009 Delaware Bird-A-Thon:

• OVER 300 PARTICIPANTS -1st entry received was from 5 year old Sarah Dixon with 30 species!
• CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 23 STATES, 3 COUNTRIES
• 21 BUSINESS SPONSORS
• 4 DIFFERENT ORNITHOLOGICAL ORGANIZATIONS CONTRIBUTED
• OVER 3464 EFFORT HOURS PRE-EVENT WERE LOGGED FOR 2009 DBAT - EQUATING to 144 DAYS (conservative number!)
• WINNERS INCLUDED 9 YOUTH BIRDERS
• 25 OF 27 DELAWARE BIRDING TRAIL SITES WERE VISITED DURING THE DBAT
• 243 DIFFERENT SPECIES TALLIED

And now for the winners and total:

• Most Funds Raised by an Individual: Joe Sebastiani- $616.00
• Most Funds Raised by a School: Tatnall Middle School Birdbrains
• Top Youth Team: The Friends of Red Knot, a youth conservation group based in Baltimore, MD - $1274.00 + 117 species = 1391 pts.
• Top Adult Team: Matt Sarver and Lauren Morgens $8092.00 (that's correct folks, $8092!!!!!!!) + 157 species = 8249 pts.
• Lead Sponsor: DUPONT's "Clear into the Future" - $5000.00
• Best Bird: Any bird that was DRY and not rain soaked!!
• The total funds collected for the 2009 Delaware Bird-A-Thon = $48,257.84.00!

Due to the tremendous support, effort and creative talents from participants over the past three Bird-A-Thons, the cumulative total is now over $120,000.00 for habitat acquisition and migratory raptor research! All of us on the Bird-A-Thon Committee and Conservation Committee want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all who participated or otherwise supported this major conservation effort. This year's event could have suffered from our national economic crisis, but because of many, many dedicated individuals designing some extremely unique fund-raising concepts, the bar has been raised and new precedents in citizen-based conservation efforts have been set.

With much gratitude and still in awe,
Bill Stewart, DOS Conservation Chair