On September 8th and 9th, I will be participating in the Montezuma Muckrace. This is a 24 hr. birding competition where the team with the most recorded number of bird species identified inside the Montezuma Wildlife Preserve wins bragging rights. First question you may ask, why would you do this? Well, I want to do it because I want to see new birds. One way to do that is to set aside 24 hrs. of my life to do it. So, I have formed a team of great friends, my father-in-law Dick, good college friends Dom and Chris, and there girlfirends Mary and Amy. We are named the Mottled Mucks (a play on the name Mottled Duck), as we are a diverse group of people.
This will be the 10th year of the Montezuma Muckrace and they are trying to raise $10K to help fund the preserve, especially habitat for the Cerulean Warbler, a threatened bird species that nests in the wetland. Montezuma is also home to nesting Bald Eagles. It is a very important habitat, and a real gem of New York. I am collecting donations for the effort, so if you would like to donate, please contact me. There are many teams from various levels involved. We probably won't see more species than the teams from Cornell, but we could raise more money! So I hope you will help support the Muckrace, and the birds of Montezuma.
