Caroline County Bird Club is the winner of the 2018 Big Sit! Golden Bird Prize fromn Swarovski Optik

The Caroline County Bird Club was selected as the winner of the 2018 Big Sit! Golden Bird Prize from Swarovski Optik.  The award is a $500 check from Swarovski to put toward the conservation project/program of the Club’s choice.

The Big Sit! is an annual, international, noncompetitive birding event hosted by Bird Watcher's Digest.   The Big Sit! is like a Big Day or a bird-a-thon in that the object is to tally as many bird species as can be seen or heard within 24 hours within an area 17 feet in diameter. Bird Club members are stationed there from dusk to sunset tallying as many bird species that can be seen or heard.  Caroline County Bird Club’s 2018 Big Sit! was held at the Adkins Arboretum’s Wetlands Overlook near the Visitors Center.

The Golden Bird species (chosen at random from among all species seen by U.S. Big Sit teams) was the black-and-white warbler. All circles in the U.S. that saw the black-and-white warbler were entered into a hat at the winter meeting of the New Haven Bird Club in Connecticut (owners of the Big Sit! trademark).

The Caroline County Bird Club is a chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society.  The Club plans to use this prize money to work on some local projects, which are still in the planning stage.  One project would be to work on upgrading the trails of the MOS Myrtle Simon Pelot Sanctuary, located near Greensboro. Another is to continue support of the Youth MOS Club.  The YMOS was established to make the world of birds accessible to school age youth, facilitating communication among youth birders throughout Maryland, providing opportunities for young birders to get started in birding and to help develop their skills, and to provide educators with resources and opportunities to implement programs.