Hello everyone,

I wanted to let the Maryland birding community know about a project I am 
doing this year.  Back on January 1, 2007 I embarked on a Delmarva Peninsula 
Photo Big Year in order to raise money for the American Bird Conservancy's 
Junin Grebe Project.  The American Bird Conservancy is a conservation group 
who are trying to save the endangered and threatened bird species of our 
hemisphere. ABC has put together a long term project to save the Junin Grebe 
from extinction. There are less than 300 grebes currently on Lake Junin, a 
high altitude lake in the Andes of Peru. Due to decreasing water levels from 
various man made sources and pollution problems on the lake the Junin Grebe 
has been in a steady population decline since the 1980's. ABC is now in 
phase two of the project which is to determine the health of the population 
so survival stratagies can be evaluated.
I want to do my part to help save this animal from extinction. I made a list 
of all the birds, mammals, reptiles & amphibians, butterflies, dragonflies, 
and damselflies that have been recorded on the Delmarva Peninsula. The list 
totals are over 700 species. I am going to try to photograph as many species 
on the list as possible. What I would like from you is to pledge an amount 
per photo. Realistically, I believe I can get between 400 and 500 species 
photographed in a year. If you pledged .05 cents a photo at 400 photos that 
would only be $20. Not that much money right? But if I can get many .05 cent 
pledges it will add up. Of course I will take any pledge amount. If you 
would like to support by just giving a certain amount and not per photo that 
will be fine as well.  I want to emphasize that I am not going to see any of 
the money.  All you are sending me is a pledge and at the end of the year I 
will send you an email and you can send a check straight to ABC.
I have set up a blog

www.delmarvabigyear.blogspot.com

where you can follow my adventures as I try to capture the beauty of life on 
Delmarva and try to save the Junin Grebe from extinction.  On my blog there 
is a link to my photo website where everyone can keep track of the years 
photos and you can also see if I make any ID mistakes :>)  Also on the blog 
is the email address where you can send a pledge or read more about the 
Junin Grebe and the American Bird Conservancy.  I hope everyone enjoys my 
blog and photos and can make a small donation.

Thank you,

Jim Brighton
Oxford, Maryland

www.delmarvabigyear.blogspot.com
www.jimbrighton.smugmug.com

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