YMCA Youth Compete in World Series of Birding

BERWYN, PA – The Upper Main Line YMCA sponsored two winning youth teams in this year's World Series of Birding held May 13 and 14 in New Jersey. The months of planning and days spent scouting the forests, bogs, and beaches of New Jersey finally paid off. 

 The Punk Rock Doves finished third in the extremely competitive high school division, with 162 species. The team added twenty-eight species to their final total from the year before and jumped high into the final rankings. The team included Brian Quindlen (captain), Ian Romansky, Lindsay Galland, and Chelsea Flinn. Chelsea moved to Australia earlier this year but made the flight back to join her teammates for the competition.

The U-Terns were named champions of the middle school division, with their second 1st place finish in three years. Their tally of 157 species was the second highest in the history of the middle school division. The team included Cody Pitz (captain), Liz Bennett, Travis Milliman, and Robert Galland.

World Series teams have 24 hours to scour the entire state of New Jersey to tally as many bird species, by sight or sound. Each of the YMCA teams drove over 500 miles as they crisscrossed the state from midnight to midnight. The event also serves as a fundraiser to gather pledges towards a conservation cause of the sponsor's choice. Our youth teams gathered pledges to benefit the Upper Main Line YMCA's Environmental Education Center and the YMCA Earth Service Corps program.

Birding is a hobby that is growing in popularity as groups like UMLY’s Earth Service Corps spread the word about the need for conservation. The Earth Service Corps, for teens interested in helping preserve the environment, serves the community by helping observation authorities with wildlife inventories throughout the region and performing habitat improvements in conjunction with local environmental groups. The Earth Service Corps also maintains the Y’s 54 acres of nature trails, woodlands and wetlands in Berwyn.

For more information about the Earth Service Corp at the Upper Main Line YMCA contact Brian Raicich at 610.647.9622, x2404 or brain.raicich@umly.org.

See event photos here.