Sunday, May 28 is the Ralph Ritcey Big Bird Day.

Red-winged blackbird female (Gary Hunt photo)

Two teams will compete to find the most bird species. This fun, friendly competition takes place on Sunday, May 28th. The search begins at MIDNIGHT and ends at 4:00 PM on the 28th. Phone Glenn Dreger at 250-372-3837, gdreger45@gmail.com to be placed on Team South (Note: Glenn is away until the 22nd, can be reached by e-mail or Facebook only until then). Team North leader is June Kitamura at 250-374-8734 or email Teresa Corboy, teresa_corboy@hotmail.com. HOME BIRDERS are most welcome.

The tally will take place after dinner which starts at 5 pm. Bring your own picnic dinner and lawn chairs to the home of Bruce and Anne Ritcey at 877 Crestline Street in Brocklehurst. Beverages will be provided by the club. This is a friendly, fun event with no prizes, only bragging rights going to the winning team, North or South.

If you can’t make it to the tally in person, please phone your results to Teresa at 250-320-0889 or email teresa_corboy@hotmail.com. Teresa will compile the totals for each team to discover which team won bragging rights for the greatest number of species seen.

Big bird day boundaries are 50 km radius from Mount Dufferin Tower. Teams are divided into North and South using the South Thompson and Thompson Rivers as dividing line. The circle below is the approximate boundary.