The Twitchers in the 2024 Superbowl of Birding
The 2024 Twitchers out of the Rye, (left to right) Susan Wrisley, Kathryn Frieden, Becky Suomala (captain), and Jenna Rosen.
The Twitchers out of the Rye had a wonderful time in the Superbowl of Birding on January 27, 2024, competing for the Townie Award in Hampton, NH. The weather was fairly mild for January with cloudy skies and just a light wind. This year, we had a terrific support team who not only poured through eBird for reports of rarities beforehand, but also provided us with dinner and a place to stay in Hampton the night before, and a picnic lunch with hot soup, hot drinks, and homemade cookies at Bicentennial Park. We were totally spoiled and it was great!
Bird highlights included two five-pointers! The first was a Palm Warbler and we shared the bonus points with the Harris Center Kestrels, led by Phil Brown. The second was Chipping Sparrow which was a surprise because it turned up unexpectedly at a location we had scouted the weekend before. The Palm Warbler was a new species for the Twitchers as was a Field Sparrow, both of which were scouted birds that actually turned up on the day of competition. We had six species that were new for the town of Hampton.
Owls were most uncooperative despite some excellent hooting by the team. Our only alcids were two Razorbills that were seen by Jenna and Susan but neither Kathryn nor I could find them so we couldn’t count them. The same thing happened with a Winter Wren. Sigh. As usual, there were birds we had during scouting that were not to be found but the most frustrating miss was probably the Harlequin Ducks which you can read about in the full summary.
Our final tally was 62 species and 108 points. We lost the Townie Award to a team from Ipswich, Massachusetts. We believe this was the first time a team from Massachusetts competed for the Townie Award and the very first time there were at least three teams competing for the award! Look what the Twitchers started!
Thank you to everyone who made this an even more meaningful event by supporting the team with a donation. It’s never too late to contribute. All donations go to support New Hampshire Bird Records and NH eBird.
If you’d like to donate a flat amount you can pay right away on the Twitchers donation page or send a check to NH Audubon, attn. R. Suomala, 84 Silk Farm Road, Concord, NH 03301.
Past Years’ Results
To read the expanded summary, see the full list of species, or look at past years’ results, click the links below.
| Year | Species | Points | Town | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 62 | 108 | Hampton | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2023 | 13 | Antarctica | View Summary article (pdf) | |
| 2022 | 62 | 106 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2021 | Three – COVID | View Summary article (pdf) | ||
| 2020 | 66 | 119 | Hampton | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2019 | 63 | 118 | Hampton | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2018 | 59 | 104 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2017 | 59 | 93 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2016 | 59 | 95 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2015 | 59 | 100 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2014 | 58 | 104 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2013 | 62 | 106 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2012 | 58 | 95 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2011 | 57 | 94 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2010 | 53 | 78 | Rye | View Summary article (pdf) |
| 2009 | 63 | 112 | Rye |
View a chart showing the species list and points from 2009 through 2024.
Listen to the NHPR story recorded by Annie Ropeik on the 2018 Twitchers: https://www.nhpr.org/post/birding-bowl-2018-audubon-showdown-draws-flock-nh-seacoast#stream/0