The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society's annual "Birdathon" is a critical fundraiser used to fulfill its mission to promote the enjoyment, understanding, and protection of birds and other wildlife by engaging people of all ages in birding, education, and conservation.

As a board member for SCVAS, I see first hand the impact that the staff and volunteers make in connecting the public to the environment and supporting bird and habitat conservation.

Birdathon teams seek to observe as many birds as possible with self-defined constraints. My team plans to record the audio of as many birds as possible within a 4 hour period. I have no idea how many we'll get. 20? 30? This is quite a challenge - much harder than photographing or simply recording birds seen. It requires good equipment, knowledge of birdsong, and luck that an airplane or loud mountain biker doesn't come by right as a bird begins to sing.