Birding for 24 hours straight, can it be done?

The answer is obviously yes. Birding is only physically challenging when you make it that way, like running a marathon in the dark to start the day.

Using current eBird data, advice from this one old guy I know, and a 1998 San Diego Bird Atlas, I've plotted a 26.2-mile course through the most primo habitat of every single nocturnal species in the county. The finish line is in the middle of the Anza-Borrego Desert, where my teammate Maddie and I will continue chipping away at the record of 196 species in one day.

The three other people on my team Isaiah, Daniel, and Ben will spend their day birding the mountains, wetlands, and other hotspots of San Diego.

Whether or not we break the record (we will), we are pledging to pick up one kitchen-sized bag of trash for every ten species. To be clear, not a bag of trash the size of a kitchen, just a bag of trash the size of the standard trash bag commonly kept in the kitchen.

Fundraising

Along with spotting the most birds, we're going to raise the most money as well. That's what this whole thing is really about: raising money for bird conservation. The San Diego Bird Alliance, formerly known as the San Diego Audubon Society, is a non-profit dedicated to San Diegan birds and wildlife through their efforts in advocacy, education, and restoration.

The old record is about $7500 for the regular timeline; one team stopped just shy of $12,000, but they had an extra month. My goal is $10,000, but I'll still probably shoot for 12 just cuz.

Here's the link if you want to support.

If you don't want to support, here's the link again because you should anyway.