[EBB Sightings] LUKE COLE BIRDING EVENT SEPTEMBER 26 AND 27, 2009

Hello, Alameda County birders:

As you may already know, friends of Luke Cole are organizing an  
event, the Luke Cole Memorial Challenge, to honor Luke and to help  
support the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE), the  
organization he founded in 1989 and led until his death in an auto  
accident in Uganda this past June.  Steve Glover summarized the event  
as follows:


?As many of you know, the primary focus of our efforts over the  
weekend of
September 26-27 is to see how many species of birds can be found  
within the
state. We have set a goal of 400 species though, admittedly, that is  
setting
the bar awfully high for a single weekend.  This kind of effort has  
never
been undertaken in California and we know Luke would have loved the  
idea.
Also, since almost everything in California seems to work at a county  
level,
we will be tracking totals for each of the 58 counties. So, at a county
level, this will operate much like the America?s Birdiest County  
competition
that is run each spring.?


You can learn more about the event by going to

Bob Lewis and I agreed to head up Alameda County's participation.   
Which depends upon YOUR participation!

Here are three ways you can help:

1.  GO BIRDING ANYWHERE IN ALAMEDA COUNTY.  Then send your species  
list to
Bob at wingbeats.org
He'll consolidate all the Alameda County species lists once the dust  
settles, and post a summary, to EBB, on his website
http://www.wingbeats.org/
or maybe both.

Oh, and if you wish to also help support CRPE, you can make a pledge  
at the LukeColeChallenge website mentioned above.

2.  JOIN BOB FOR BIRDING, beginning at 9 am Sunday, September 27 at  
Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.  Please expect to  
contribute $25.  Details are in the September issue of The Gull,  
available at
0909Gull_FINAL.pdf>

3.  MAKE A PLEDGE, AS I HAVE DONE.  If you can't bird that weekend,  
either with Bob or on your own, you can still help.  I went to the  
site mentioned above, and pledged $10 for every owl species that's  
SEEN in Alameda County during the weekend event and reported to me.   
(So, if you see an owl in Alameda County that weekend, send me a note  
saying what you saw, and where, and when, and I'll make good on my  
pledge in early November, when I'll be back home.)

Why not make a pledge yourself -- either to support others' birding  
efforts, as I have done, or in conjunction with your own birding?

Thanks very much for considering how you can contribute to this fine  
event.


Dave Quady
Berkeley, California
davequady at att.net