For the 2nd year in a row Staten Island’s Forgotten Boroughing Owls captured 1st place in the City Birding Challenge with a total of 147 species!

The Owls beat out 7 other teams to claim their victory and even beat their own record from last year by 6 species. 21 hours of birding and travel to 3 boroughs clearly paid off!

Once again, it was an incredibly close finish with Brooklyn’s The Wandering Talliers taking an equally impressive 2nd place with 146 species. 3rd place went to The Cechlists with 118 species, including a Bald Eagle sighting in Prospect Park.

4 of the 8 teams broke 100 species and the cumulative total for all the teams combined was 177 species, 3 more than last year, a testament to how important New York City is for birds.

For the complete team standings (pdf), click here.
To view the winning team’s species list (pdf), click here.

Below is a list of all the participating teams and their captains.
All-City Bino Band - Glenn Phillips
Fieldston Eagles - Peter Mott
Forgotten Boroughing Owls - Seth Wollney
Heroic Herons - Yigal Gelb (NYC Audubon staff team)
Mac's Pack - E.J. McAdams
The Wandering Talliers - Shane Blodgett
Wild New York/Secret Science Club - Margaret Mittelbach
The Cechlists - Peter Joost