The birding police: Something’s growing down

Vic was busy eluding armed law-enforcement officers this weekend. He was doing the annual Sea and Sage Audubon “birdathon” fundraiser, a seemingly innocent pastime. While he was birding, I stopped by Bolsa Chica to see how an ice-plant removal project was going, then spent the rest of Saturday at Shipley Nature Center’s spring festival. We didn’t meet up again until dinner Saturday night, when Vic’s teammates filled me in on their brushes with the law.

On birdathon weekend, Vic and three teammates compete against other teams to see who can count the most bird species within Orange County during a 24-hour period, and which team can raise the most money. Donors pledge money, usually 10 cents to $1 per species sighted. When Vic had Phil and Judi Smith and me as teammates, we counted about 100 species. We raised a respectable amount of money, winning the prize for top fundraiser.

But Vic didn’t want to be just the top fundraiser. He lusted to be leader of the top birding team as well, but Bruce Aird always got that prize. Phil, Judi and I were happy to step aside and let Vic fill his team with more dedicated birders, guys who didn’t mind doing without meals and sleep for 24 hours in the quest for birds. Two years ago, they did it. Vic’s team beat Bruce’s and won that coveted top birding prize by finding and identifying 177 bird species. Last year, they trailed Bruce’s team by 11 species but came in as top fundraisers for the fourth year in a row.

This year, Vic shuffled the makeup of his team. He added Mark Singer and John Green to his group, along with regular Tom Benson. They began at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and birded well into the night, searching for owls, nighthawks, and poorwills. The drive up Silverado Canyon at night in the fog was daunting. Vic described a steep and narrow dirt road winding around tall cliffs on one side, with a sheer precipice on the other. Huge conifers loomed out of a dense fog that muffled sounds to silence. Finally, Vic deemed the road too dangerous to drive, so they parked and continued up on foot.

The only other car they saw on the mountain that night came barreling down out of the fog around midnight. They flagged it down to warn of their parked car ahead. Naturally, it was Bruce and his team. Bruce and Mark engaged in birder’s trash talk, each claiming more species than they had actually seen.

Mark and John turned in about 1 a.m. Vic and Tom finished up their evening in Central Park, searching in the wee hours for the great horned owls that nest there. Tom drove up first, noted the presence of a police car in the library parking lot, and kept going. He decided that there was no choice; they had to find the owl. He backtracked and parked, alerting Vic by cell phone that the police were present. Vic assured him that, fortunately or not, our car is well known to the police. I just have to hope that it was an officer who knew Vic, because when Vic arrived, he and Tom slinked furtively into the underbrush behind the library. Fortunately, they got their owl without any shots being fired.

After less than four hours sleep, the guys were off and running at 5 a.m. This year, Vic managed to avoid any speeding tickets. He was, however, ordered off the property at Irvine Lake by a no-nonsense security guard who threatened them with arrest if they came back.

As the sun sank into the west, they dashed to Seal Beach to get a golden plover. The road to the plover was blocked by a Seal Beach patrol car. Vic parked in front of the squad car, hopped out and said brightly, “We’re birders!” as if that excused all irrational and illegal behavior. The cop just shook his head, and they got their golden plover.

At the end of the day, they had amassed 169 species. That’s an impressive number, but was it enough to win? After dinner and long discussions of birds that might have been, they called Bruce. His team had come up with 170 species. Beaten by one bird.

But Vic still has a chance to head the top fundraising team. You can support his team by sending a check to Sea and Sage Audubon. E-mail Vic or call Audubon at (949) 261-7963 for details.