The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology proudly announces that its Fifth Annual Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation will occur from June 6-16, 2025, and support three projects across the Commonwealth.

Birders are invited to join the Blitz by forming a team, raising funds, and competing in various competition categories to document birds wherever they are during the Blitz period.

Teams enlist their friends to support their efforts with a donation; all donations are distributed to conservation partners based on the needs of their projects.

Bird-lovers of all ages and skill levels are invited to visit the Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation webpage to learn more about the event, to form and register a team, or to make a donation.

Registration is open now!

New Team Category

We are adding a new feature to the Blitz this year!

If your roots are in Pennsylvania, but are living out of state, on vacation during the Blitz, or if you are just passionate about bird conservation, you can now participate in the “Blitzing Without Boundaries” category!

Form a team of one person or more, fundraise for our conservation partners, and bird during the Blitz period anywhere in the world to compete against other teams across the globe!

This new category is in conjunction with our returning, “Cumulative Count,” “Big Day,” and “Block Boosting” options.

More information about these competition categories can be found at the Breeding Bird Blitz Contest webpage.

The Goal

The 2025 Blitz aims to raise $25,000 to support the following bird conservation projects:

-- Manada Conservancy, Dauphin County: Swatara Creek Preserve expansion and Bird Habitat Enhancement project.

The Conservancy owns a 6.5 acre preserve containing woodland, meadow, and wetland habitat.  The preserve provides public parking for access to recreation on Swatara Creek including ample birding opportunities and nature walks.

Funds received from the Blitz will help cover acquisition costs of land, and will support fall planting of native trees and shrubs to restore the property’s riparian buffer.

Through this project, the preserve will be an accessible space, rich in biodiversity, and enjoyable for the local community

-- Pymatuning Lake Association, Crawford County: Invasive plant removal, visitor education, and fishing line receptacles.

The Pymatuning Lake Association is a volunteer driven association in partnership with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Pymatuning State Park.

The park is home to Pymatuning Lake, which is an Important Bird Area for many waterfowl species, including the 7 state endangered bird species.

Funds from the blitz will go toward ongoing efforts of reducing invasive species in the lake, including European Frog-bit and Hydrilla. Pymatuning State Park is the second most visited Pennsylvania State Park, seeing heavy fishing traffic and overall recreational activity.

Funds from the blitz will also go towards implementing more fishing line receptacles, and training sessions for volunteers who rehabilitate waterfowl and raptors.

-- Lycoming Audubon Society, Lycoming County: Purchasing native plant species, mitigating invasive species, and implementing educational signs.

Lycoming Audubon serves Lycoming and Clinton County and has roughly 350 members. They host bird field trips, provide educational programming in schools, and facilitate habitat restoration projects in multiple locations within their counties.

Funds from this year’s Blitz will support the ecological restoration of the Robert Porter Allen Natural Area. Here, invasive plants will be removed and replaced with native plants to increase the native plant biodiversity along the riparian edges of wetlands.

In addition to purchasing native plant species, and controlling invasives the Blitz funds will provide for educational signs that highlight the value of healthy habitats to birds and other wildlife.

History Of Success

In its first four years, the Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation has raised more than $67,000 in support of 12 projects.

The 2024 Blitz featured more than 100 birders competing on over 20 teams. Those birders raised $22,290 for bird conservation.

This year we aim to raise 25,000 dollars for 2025!

We are excited to organize this event for its fifth year and are proud of the conservation projects we help fund.

We hope you will consider registering a team, and will join us for the Fifth Annual Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation!

Visit the Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation website for updates on the event and all the details and stories from the event’s history.

Questions about creating a team can be directed to blitz4conservation@gmail.com  where a member of the PSO Conservation Committee will be excited to answer.

Conservation Committee members are Laura Jackson, chair; Brian Byrnes; Vern Gauthier; Carolyn Hendricks; David Barber; Mary Alice Koeneke; and Karter Witmer.

Media inquiries about the Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation should be directed to Karter Witmer, kgw5107@psu.edu or call (570) 439-4787.

The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1990 to foster the study and appreciation of the wild birds of Pennsylvania and to promote the conservation of birds and their habitats.

PSO organizes and supports several bird monitoring projects, hosts field trips, an annual meeting, and publishes the quarterly journal Pennsylvania Birds.

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NewsClips:

-- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership: Conservation Partnerships Drive Public Land Access In Pennsylvania

-- NextPittsburgh: Unraveling Bird Mysteries At The Avian Research Center At Powdermill Nature Reserve In Westmoreland County 

-- Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Spring Migration Hawk Watch Update

-- KDKA: Watch Live: US Steel Bald Eagle Nest Cam

-- York Daily Record: Photo Gallery: Bald Eagles Fish In The Susquehanna River At The Conowingo Dam 

-- Williamsport Sun - Bill Bower: Reflections In Nature - Birds Recognize Their Own Species By Colors

-- Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Spring In-Person Native Plant Sale May 17 & 18 In Berks County

-- Penn State Extension: May 8 In-Person Workshop On Gardening With Nature - Creating A Pollinator Paradise In Cumberland County, 7:00 p.m.

[Posted: April 11, 2025]

4/14/2025