Many thanks to Maryland DC birders who helped protect MD - DC birds which use the flyways in Veracruz MX by supporting the 2005 World Series of Birding. Congrats to the Yellowthroats for their strong showing. Here is the  Eagle Optics/Vortex Optics Holy Order of Loggerhead Shrikes report.  The team found an amazing total of 150 species of birds in Cape May County, NJ during the 22nd annual World Series of Birding competition, on May 14, 2005.  
 
Equipped with the fantastic new VORTEX Stokes Birding Series DLS binoculars, EAGLE Platinum Ranger Class binoculars, phatty team shirts, caps and other accessories provided by Eagle Optics and their representative Ben “Lifer” Lizdas, the Shrikes birded non-stop 24 hours. 
 
Thanks to our generous donors! Team members Gordon “Golden Plover” Gover, John “Laughing Falcon” Hubbell, Andy “Raptor” Rabin, and Don “Lord High Loggerhead” Simonson (captain) gathered over $1,000 in pledges for Pronatura Veracruz.  Pronatura presented HOLS with a beautiful limited edition original aquatint and a certificate of appreciation.  
 
Here is a special shriek-out to The Shrikettes: Laura Anderson, Laura Cameron, Nancy Gover, Marcia Simonson; and The Shrikelings: Nico Rabin, Lily Simonson, Sara Robin Simonson.
Y gracias tambien a: Terri Black, PT; Dr. Kenneth Bowman, DC; Pete Dunne; Norma “Ferruginous” Ferriz; Mark Garland; Laurie “Lanius” Goodrich; Dan Hamilton; Sheila Lego; Judy Lukens; Karl Lukens; Marleen Murgitroyde; Michael O’Brien; Tom Parsons; Lydia Schindler; Pat Sutton; the Red-eyed Vireos; and Louise Zemaitis.
 
Just prior to midnight, The Shrikes took up birding positions (slumped against the side of the van) at a “secure undisclosed location” near the Jersey shore.  “Secure” because we were the first team at the spot; “undisclosed” because owls are very easily disturbed: a HOLS scouting party had staked out a coveted EASTERN SCREECH OWL calling the previous night. At exactly 12:00 midnight the May Madness began, when a team member whistled the well-known “whinny” call of the Screech Owl.  The team was electrified when – nothing happened.  Precious minutes ticked by. Suddenly, not one, but TWO owls responded, with grating screech calls.   Our exhausting days and nights of scouting had paid off!   Up the shore, out into the stinking salt marsh at Jakes Landing, we heard the call of the rare BLACK RAIL, and the low hoots of a GREAT HORNED OWL.  Birding by ear continued as we identified CLAPPER RAIL, SEASIDE SPARROW, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON and other denizens of the marsh.  Many cold hours and hot birds later, sunrise met Sunset – the beautiful dawn chorus at Sunset Bridge in Belleplain State Forest included singing ACADIAN FLYCATCHER, HOODED WARBLER, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, WORM-EATING WARBLER and EASTERN PHOEBE.  Now the pressure was on to make the most of the few “prime time” hours for migrant warblers and other songbirds.  Heading down the Delaware Bay shore to Cape May Point, we detoured to Reeds Beach ponds to nail a write-in bird, the rare WHITE-FACED IBIS, far from its usual home range in Texas.  Our spirits soared with a late BROAD-WINGED HAWK (gracias a Pronatura Veracruz!) at Beaver Swamp.  Arriving at Cape May Point, we found the place crawling with birders – we were competing against more than NINETY TEAMS this year.
 
The beach at the Lighthouse had ROYAL TERN, endangered PIPING PLOVER, and ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW.  Battling the effects of pre-season injuries and a game-day respiratory virus, the Shrikes raced the clock to tick off CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER near the Point.  By noon, we had identified over 125 species!  Now it was really tough.  Pre-game scouting paid off again, this time in the marshes of Nummy Island and near the ocean, with YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, WHIMBREL, and RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (!).  By late afternoon, scheduled stops were yielding only one or two additional species at best.  But strategy panned out well, with a strong finish at Cape May Meadows bringing in GREEN-WINGED TEAL and LEAST BITTERN.   As darkness washed over the meadows, species number 150 provided a GREAT finish  – GREAT BLUE HERON that is!   Exhausted but happy, the team turned it its checklist and began plotting for the Texas Birding Classic 2006 and New Jersey World Series of Birding 2006!  Good birding!   - Don Simonson, Captain, Eagle Optics / Vortex Optics Holy Order of Loggerhead Shrikes World Series of Birding Team 2005, Darnestown, MD