Birding Cup

2024 Birding Cup

Shaver’s Creek’s annual fundraiser, the Birding Cup brings birders of all levels together to identify as many species as possible in 24 hours. Whether participants are competing locally in central Pennsylvania or joining the fun as part of the global birding community, the Birding Cup has supported important projects in the region for a quarter of a century.

Shaver’s Creek will continue to offer the “open” Global Community aspect of the Birding Cup. This is a non-competitive, collaborative approach to birding that welcomes birders of all skill sets from anywhere in the world, including those who are brand new to birding.

For birders in Pennsylvania, we are once again offering competitive options.

Whether you participate in our Global Community or challenge each other in Pennsylvania, we will all join together to bird from May 3 at 7:00 p.m. (ET) until May 4 at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Birding Cup Registration

Registration for the 2024 Birding Cup will open soon.

Registration details

Birding Cup Pledges and Donations

For twenty-five years, important projects at Shaver’s Creek and across the region have been accomplished by the generous efforts of both Birding Cup birders and supporters.

Take action by supporting our birders. All donations — to teams, individuals, or directly to the Shaver’s Creek Birding Cup fund — benefit Shaver’s Creek, so reward your favorite birder while transforming the lives of our animal ambassadors!

The 2024 donation page will be available soon!

How We’ll Bird

As the Birding Cup continues to grow, technology has informed how we bird.

eBird

An important tool that we ask you to download to your mobile device is eBird, put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There is a powerful web version of eBird as well, but the app allows for dynamic tracking of your birding efforts in the field. The Cornell Lab has great tutorials on their website to help get you started. There are also many other eBird questions answered in their Help Center.

For the 24-hour period, we ask that you create checklists of the birds you see in backyards and natural places. As you submit each checklist, we ask that you share it with Shaver’s Creek’s “shaverscreek” eBird account, which will allow us to compile all of the species seen in the 24 hours. Each checklist should follow eBird best practices, such as starting a new checklist if you enter a new habitat, travel more than five miles, and/or have been counting for three hours. Competitive teams will also be asked to fill out a physical checklist, to be turned in at the Saturday evening wrap-up event.

Past Results and Projects

Curious about the history of the Birding Cup? View past results and see a few examples of the projects supported by fundraising below.

2021: Bringing the Lost Bird Project to central Pennsylvania

lost bird project passenger pigeon sculpture in snow

2019–20: Silvi Classroom Citizen Science improvements and new technology

A view from the Barn Owl nestcam

2018: Brand-new enclosures for our resident birds of prey

New Raptor Enclosure

2017: Installing bird-friendly glass in our building and expansion project

Closeup view of bird friendly glass that shows the horizontal line pattern, designed to reduce bird collisions with the glass

2016: Harvesting local wood from Stone Valley Forest for our expansion and renovation

2015: Farmland Raptor Conservation: Nest boxes installed around the community

Farmland Conservation volunteers pose with a barn owl in front of the Shaver's Creek Subaru

2014: Lakeside dock and stable shoreline by Sunset Point Pavilion

Lakeside Dock

2012: Front yard pond