Join Johanna Beam, former Boulder County Audubon Teen Naturalist and 2017 ABA Young Birder of the Year, on February 25th for an evening of talking about participating in the Champions of the Flyway competition and conservation fundraiser. Champions of the Flyway is a 24-hour birding race set in Israel.
The 2018 Subadult Wheatears (L to R): Nate Swick (driver), Aidan Place, Johanna Beam, and Marky Mutchler
Teams bird for 24 hours straight across the lower half of Israel, usually starting in Eilat, which sits on the Gulf of Aqaba. While the premise is to find as many birds as possible, the race wasn’t set up just for birding. In order to participate fully in the contest, a team of 3-5 people must set a goal to raise at least $5,000 for that year’s conservation issue. Prizes are available for raising the most money, as well as promoting that year’s cause, and finding the most birds within that 24-hour time period. In the months leading up to the race, many teams travel to birding conferences and festivals, giving talks in order to spread the cause. In 2020, we are focusing on Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) conservation in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, in Central Asia. Steppe Eagles are currently an endangered species, with a steeply declining population, 80% of which breed in the Central Asian Steppe. They currently face habitat loss due to steppe grasslands being converted into agricultural lands, electrocution from power lines, and chick predation. The population in total is estimated at 50,000 birds across its range, and is experiencing a 60% decline in population size.
Champions of the Flyway was created to raise money for important bird conservation issues worldwide. Conservation projects from years previous include vulture conservation in the Rift Valley of Africa, and illegal killing of birds in Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Georgia. Champions of the Flyway has raised over $500,000 in the last 6 years alone, creating positive and powerful changes on behalf of birds across Europe and Africa, and as of this year, Asia as well.
Johanna’s team, the ABA-Leica Subadult Wheatears, is the only young birder team from North America to participate in the race. Collectively, they’ve raised over $10,000 for bird conservation. 2020 will mark their third race in Israel, and they’re ready to take on the challenge. Armed with Leica optics, backing from the American Birding Association, and your support, they will be able to conquer the grueling 24-hour race with enthusiasm and save the Steppe Eagles of Central Asia. Qushlarni himoya qiling! Protect the birds!
Johanna has always been a nature addict and has fond memories of hiking and camping with her family when growing up. Her love of science and conservation has been growing since childhood when her father helped perform science experiments in their kitchen, and her mother gave her books on ornithology and botany at a young age. The 22 year old loves climbing mountains and finding White-tailed Ptarmigan in her home state of Colorado. She is currently a senior at the University of Colorado – Boulder where she studies Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is defending her honors thesis in March, which focuses on evolutionary genetics and taxonomic structure of North American meadowlarks. She is planning on starting a PhD in evolutionary genetics in 2021.
While Johanna has only been birding for six years, she has already risen to great levels in American birding. She became the American Birding Association-Leica Young Birder of the Year in 2017, only three years after picking up binoculars for the first time. Her love of birding has taken her all across the United States, from Florida to Maine to California, where she most recently presented her research on Townsend’s Solitaire song use and structure. She dreams of far off places, like the Negev desert of Israel, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and the tropical rainforests of Nicaragua and Panama. She hopes to travel around the world and study population structure in birds, learn as many languages as possible, and draw as many birds as she can!
When: Tuesday February 25, 2020. Socializing starts at 7:00 PM with the presentation starting at 7:15 PM.
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, 5001 Pennsylvania Avenue, off 55th St. between Arapahoe and Baseline.
No animals, except trained service dogs, are allowed in the meeting space.