The Third Annual Mega Bowl of Birding in New Haven County – Chris Loscalzo Compiler

Held on Super Bowl Weekend!!! Come join in on a fun and friendly event! Compete with other birders and win prizes and get your team’s name inscribed on the prestigious Mega Bowl Trophy! We will bird New Haven County from Milford to Madison and north to Waterbury and Meriden, CT, and have fun birding and socializing with other birders. Birders join together in groups of three or four people and go birding wherever they like within New Haven County on the day of the event. The teams will meet at the end of the event and have dinner and share stories. The meeting will be at the Kellogg Environmental Center at 500 Hawthorne Avenue, Derby. A delicious dinner will be served. The Mega Bowl is inspired by the Superbowl of Birding held each January in Northeast New England by Mass Audubon, and the organizers of that event have generously given their consent for us to hold our own, similar event. Anyone interested in participating in the Mega Bowl will need to register in advance. The deadline for registration is Sunday, January 27th. Participants may sign up as a team, or individuals can submit their names and they will be put in contact with other individuals looking to become members of a team. Participants are encouraged to be creative in coming up with a name for their team.   Birding from 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM; dinner from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

closcalz@optonline.net  home – 203-389-6508

MEGA BOWL RULES

1. Have Fun. The Mega Bowl is a celebration of birds, birding, and birders. Enjoy the birds that you see and the birders with whom you see them.
2. Be safe. The Mega Bowl is held in the middle of winter. It will be cold and roads and trails may be icy. Remember: SAFETY  FIRST.  Do not do anything that would imperil yourself or one of your fellow birders. Obey property boundaries, traffic rules, and laws. Dress warmly.
3. Sign up for the event. Sign up as a member of a team of 2-5 birders, or submit your name to the coordinator and be assigned to a team.  Create a name for your team. The team leader should submit his or her cell phone number to the Mega Bowl Coordinator so that he/she can be contacted when rare (4-7-point) birds are observed by another team.
4. Plan ahead. Look over the checklist and plan an itinerary for your birding day.  Do some advance scouting. Be prepared to make some last minute changes to your plans based upon the weather conditions on the day of the event.
5. Go birding! On the day of the event, go birding anywhere in New Haven County. Record the birds that you observe on the Mega Bowl Checklist.  For a species to be counted, it must be observed by a majority of the team’s members.  Accuracy is important.  Be sure of the identification of every species, especially uncommon and rare ones. Call in the observation of a rare (4, 5 or 7-point) species to the coordinator without delay and your team will be awarded an additional 1 point for a 4 point bird and 3 points for either a 5 or 7 point bird.  Do not use electronic devices to call in or attract birds.  This includes owl calls before dawn.
6. Attend the compilation dinner. Come to the Kellogg Environmental Center at the end of the day to submit your checklist, share stories with other birders, and enjoy a delicious dinner. Prizes will be awarded to every participant and special prizes will be awarded to the teams scoring the most points or observing the most species. Find out which team will get its name inscribed on the Mega Bowl Trophy. It might be yours!

1/3/19

You can download the word document that explains the point for each bird

Mega Bowl Checklist 

Happy Birding!