Mult Madness 2021

Wink Gross and I have been leading the Mult Madness Birdathon team for the past 9 or 10 years. Two years ago we set our record of 123 species in a 13-hour day. We've usually met up at Vanport, make a quick stop at Smith-Bybee, get over to Mt Tabor before rush hour, head up to Larch Mountain, etc. Naturally, there just isn’t enough time to hit many of the known hotspots in the county. And, by the time we finish late in the afternoon at Oak Island and Wapato Access, the birding has slowed considerably--and so have we, truth be told. (If you thought White-breasted Nuthatches never shut up, well, in the afternoon they do.) We’ve wondered how many species could we get if we were able to magically be at every good birding site in the county first thing in the morning. Well, last year we found out. In a virtual birdathon with people participating individually or with those in their COVID-pod, we collectively saw 139 species in Multnomah County in one day. We are again doing Mult Madness virtually this year, and we'd love for you to join us. On Wednesday, May 5, let’s each go birding by ourselves in Multnomah County, send me your results and I'll total up what we find. It would be great if we could identify some volunteers to hit key locations early in the morning such as Vanport, Smith-Bybee, Mt Tabor, but also Parts of Sauvie Island including Wapato and Oak Island Springwater Trail Forest Park Powell Butte Larch Mountain Pittock Mansion Oaks Bottom Sandy River Delta Sandy River West Bank Oxbow Regional Park Gresham-Fairview Trail hotspot (for American Bittern) Broughton Beach Bonneville Dam and Eagle Creek (latter for dipper) and/or your favorite patch. Birdathon is Portland Audubon's largest annual fundraising event and much of their regular revenue such as from camps and the Nature Store has gone away during COVID. We'd love you to participate in this for the fun involved, but we also want to support Audubon, and ask that you sign up at https://portlandaudubon.securesweet.com/teampage.asp?fundid=842#.YHEI0OhKiUl You can email me with any questions at andydfrank at gmail.com Thanks, Andy Frank and Wink Gross