GA Big Day 2023: Pendleton King Park Fundraiser

On April 28th, 2023, Sam Murray, John Mark Simmons, John Patten Moss, and Mac McCall (The Zugun-crew) will attempt to break the Georgia Big Day record (currently at 196 species) by identifying 200 bird species in the state within a 24-hour calendar day. Our marathon will begin with the tremolos of Eastern Screech-Owls in the pines of the Piedmont and end the following midnight with wailing Limpkins in the blackwater swamps of the coast.

During our march to the sea, we will stop at Pendleton King Park in our hometown of Augusta to pick up some of the most electric birds of the day; new-world warblers and other flashy neotropical migrants. Despite being only 64 acres, Pendleton King is an ecological oasis in urban Augusta, hosting dry upland Longleaf Pine woodlands, mesic slope forests, and seepage slope swamps. These habitats support thriving communities of plants, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and 149 species of birds. In particular, the Park provides critical overwintering habitat for Rusty Blackbirds, a species which has suffered over a 90% decline in the past half-century.

Unfortunately, as in much of the South, noxious exotic weeds have invaded the Park, threatening to choke out the native plants that serve as the cornerstones of these ecosystems. John Patten Moss founded the Pendleton King Restoration Initiative to roll back the spread of these invasives and restore the Park to its former glory. While the work already completed has been promising, the Initiative still needs additional funding to complete its mission.

We have decided to devote our big day to the restoration of Pendleton King. We’re asking anyone interested in supporting us or conservation in general to donate to this GoFundMe, which will be fully and directly transferred to the Pendleton King Restoration Initiative to permit the purchase of additional native plants, power tools for eradicating woody invasives, and birdhouses for Purple Martins and Eastern Bluebirds. Please join us as we attempt to make history by breaking the 200-species barrier and help us protect the birds and ecosystems that make it worth doing.

Additional Information:

2021 Georgia Big Day Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/2504

John Patten's Blog: https://stewardsofpkp.blogspot.com/

American Birding Association Big Day Rules: https://www.aba.org/aba-big-day-count-rules/#:~:text=ABA%20Big%20Day%20Count%20Rules%20A%C2%A0Big%20Day%20Count%C2%A0is,be%20conducted%20in%20accordance%20with%20the%20following%20rules%3A