Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society—Birdathon Hall of Fame
The original SCVAS Birdathon Champions Plaque—created and updated by Bob Hirt
Every year, SCVAS recognizes teams and individuals in a variety of categories. Teams that bring in the greatest funds are awarded prizes at our annual Birdathon Awards Event. Teams that see, photograph and record audio for the most species and the best species are memorialized in plaques that hang in our Cupertino headquarters at McClellan Ranch. For those that can’t make it to the Ranch, below are two tables showing all the award winners over the years. Blanks represent years where no one competed in that category.
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Awards Part I (Also See Part II below)
| Year | Most Funds Raised |
Most Species (24-Hour) |
Most Species (4-Hour) |
Most Species (Distributed, 24-Hour) |
Most Species (Distributed, 4-Hour) |
Best Bird |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| 2021 | “Rock Wrens" $8,062 | “Varied Twitchers" (Mike Rogers) 160 | “The Flycatchers” 87 | “Rock Wrens” 164 | “Wrong Terns” 128 | “Hot Spotters” COMMON TERN |
| 2020 | “Rock Wrens” $8,739 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 155 | “5-Milers” (Matthew Dodder) 131 | “The Sharpies” & “The Rock Wrens” 166 | “Almaden Eagles” CASSIN'S KINGBIRD | |
| 2019 | “Rock Wrens” $5,991 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 153 | “Wandering Kestrels” (Barry Langdon-Lassagne) 101 | “The Sharpies” BLUE GROSBEAK | ||
| 2018 | “Rock Wrens” $9,348 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 152 | “The Fledglings” (The Khanzodes) 107 | “Rock Wrens” COMMON LOON | ||
| 2017 | “Rock Wrens” $8,238 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 153 | “The Fledglings” (Rob Furrow) 94 | “The Fledglings” BLACK RAIL | ||
| 2016 | “Rock Wrens” $7,705 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 157 | “Mean Green Birding Machine” (Rob Furrow) 105 | “Varied Twitchers” LITTLE STINT | ||
| 2015 | “Rock Wrens” $6,175 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 153 | “Raptors to Rails” (Caroline Lambert) 107 | “Rock Wrens” SOLITARY SANDPIPER | ||
| 2014 | “Cheeky Chickadees” $5,921 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 166 | “Cheeky Chickadees” (Debbie Thompson) 100 | “Varied Twitchers” RED KNOT | ||
| 2013 | “Rock Wrens” $9,370 | “Santa Clara Skimmers” (Rob Furrow) 181 | “Mean Green Birding Machine” (Rob Furrow) 102 | “Geared Grebes” CAPE MAY WARBLER | ||
| 2012 | “Rock Wrens” $10,525 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 170 | “High-Speed-Rails” (Bob Power) 108 | “Persistent Picades” HARRIS’S SPARROW | ||
| 2011 | “Rock Wrens” $15,088 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 160 | “Death by Funyuns” (Rob Furrow) 114 | “Snipe Hunters” SHORT-EARED OWL | ||
| 2010 | “Rock Wrens” $12,718 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 158 | “Rushing Thrushes” (Bob Power) 98 | “Counting Crows” PURPLE MARTIN | ||
| 2009 | “Rock Wrens” $12,470 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 164 | “Rock Wrens” SOLITARY SANDPIPER | |||
| 2008 | “DeDUCKTIONS” $12,130 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 165 | “DeDUCKTIONS” HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER | |||
| 2007 | “DeDUCKTIONS” $11,770 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 163 | “Varied Twitchers” CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD | |||
| 2006 | “Wild Women Birders” $8,800 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 165 | “Jack Sparrows” LONG-EARED OWL | |||
| 2005 | “Varied Twitchers” $5,800 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 157 | “Varied Twitchers” DUSKY FLYCATCHER | |||
| 2004 | “Rock Wrens” $4,200 | “Varied Twitchers” (Mike Rogers) 158 | “Varied Twitchers” LAPLAND LONGSPUR | |||
| 2003 | “The Wry Wrentits” $3,500 | “The Rock Wrens” 165 (48-hours) | “Varied Twitchers” CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, “Megatiks” LEAST BITTERN (Merced County) | |||
| 2002 | ? | ? | ||||
| 2001 | ? | “The Vagrants” 158 | ||||
| 2000 | ? | “The Rock Wrens” 120 | ||||
| 1999 | “The Wry Wrentits” ~$3,000 | “The Vagrants” 131 | ||||
| 1998 | “The Wry Wrentits” >$3,000 | “The Vagrants” 149 | ||||
| 1997 | ? | “The Vagrants” 138 | ||||
| 1996 | “The Wry Wrentits” | “The Vagrants” 147 | ||||
| 1995 | Harriet Gerson for “The Wry Wrentits” >$1,300 | “The Vagrants” 158 | ||||
| 1994 | ? | “The Vagrants” and “Owling Babblers” 145 | ||||
| 1993 | “The Wrentits” >$2,000 | “The Vagrants” 165 | ||||
| 1992 | “The Wrentits” | “The Vagrants” 163 | ||||
| 1991 | “The Wrentits” $2,000 | “The Vagrants” 160, “The Poorwills” 148 | ||||
| 1990 | ? | ? | ||||
| 1989 | Probably “If You’ve Seen One Bird, You’ve Seen them All” | “Eagle-eyed Goatsuckers” 162 | ||||
| 1988 | “If You’ve Seen One Bird, You’ve Seen them All” >$1,500 | “The Vagrants” (Grant Hoyt, Dick Stovel) 148 |
Awards Part II
| Year | Most Species Photographed (24-Hour) |
Most Species Photographed (4-Hour) |
Most Species Audio | Best Bird Photographed |
Most Artistic Photograph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| 2021 | “Shutterly Fabulous” (Mike Armer) 77 | “Patient Listening”, (Mike Ambrose) 71 | |||
| 2020 | “The Spider Hunters” 70 | ||||
| 2019 | |||||
| 2018 | |||||
| 2017 | |||||
| 2016 | |||||
| 2015 | “Plover Exposure” (Steve Tracey) 113 | “Eagle Eyes” (Gina Zolotar) 65 | |||
| 2014 | “Plover Exposure” (Steve Tracey) 119 | “Lens Loons” (Caroline Lambert) 81 | “Plover Exposure” WHITE-THROATED SPARROW | Tom Grey GREAT BLUE HERON | |
| 2013 | “Plover Exposure” (Steve Tracey) 121 | “Jack Sparrows” (Barry Langdon-Lassagne) 64 | “Oh My! Godwits” SOLITARY SANDPIPER | Steve Patt RING-NECKED PHEASANT | |
| 2012 | “Varied Twitchers” (Barry Langdon-Lassagne) 123 | “Surf Scoters” (Julio Mulero) 49 | Steve Patt WESTERN MEADOWLARK | ||
| 2011 | “Jack Sparrows” (Barry Langdon-Lassagne) 98 | “Rushing Thrushes” (Julio Mulero) 63 | “Hawk Riders” “Jack Sparrows” SOLITARY SANDPIPER | Julio Mulero GREATER YELLOWLEGS |
Historical data (anything earlier than Bob Hirt’s first wall plaque) was gleaned from the pages of The Avocet as found in our Avocet Archive. If you have any additional information that could fill in some of the blanks above, or any corrections, please email admin@scvas.org.