During last year’s Starr Ranch Birdathon, the superstar team corralled by Starr Ranch Sanctuary Manager Pete DeSimone, saw or heard 174 species in 24 hours.  Expert birders Bruce Aird (President of the Sea and Sage Audubon Chapter) and Steve Alter (Sea and Sage’s Christmas Bird Count Coordinator) played a huge part in setting that record and have agreed to accompany me again this year – and to hopefully set yet a new record.  Also joining the team will be Tom Ford-Hutchinson. Pete say's, "the route for this year's birdathon was meticulously planned over a round of beers on the back side of a napkin and the group has high hopes of breaking the old record but low expectations of just not failing miserably. The route brings us wildly looking for birds in the dark before venturing into the Santa Ana Mountains and finally making our way along the coast.  Many hours of scouting birds that might or might not be here in just over a weeks time has left us with the feeling that we just might do alright and raise some needed funds for Star Ranch."

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Here are is more about this year's birders in their own words:

Bruce Aird

I started birding at age 21 as a senior at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, after being a nature enthusiast my entire life. I've been birding for over 33 years. I birded Chicago through graduate school, and then post-doc'ed in Texas for 3.5 years where I became more active with National Audubon and got more involved in conservation as well as being a birder. I did fieldwork as a contractor on Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler studies in the Texas Hill Country. I moved to California in 1994, and have been here ever since, where through Sea & Sage Audubon, I became a field trip leader. I led trips for the Salton Sea International Bird Festival, and am a tour operator for SouthwestBirders.com. I am the only member of Sea & Sage Audubon ever to be slapped by a Northern Saw-whet Owl! A bad day birding beats a good day of doing just about anything else.

Steve Alter

Steve Alter is yet another over educated professional student.  Back when I was in Graduate School I wanted to impress my girlfriend, so I feigned interest in her birdwatching hobby.  Little did I know at the time, but that was the start of a life-long passion,  and yes, over thirty years later I'm still interested in birding too.  All of our vacations are linked to birding.  When we flew East for my father's funeral we arrived a couple days early to go looking for a rare gull.  In 2012 we were back East for a family reunion and had to cancel our birding plans for the Jersey Shore, which happened to be the day that Hurricane Sandy made landfall.  We seem to regularly go to places that others flee; Duluth in February, Tucson in August, Portland in the rainy season, Detroit....'nuf said.

I've been doing Big Days in Orange County for about 20 years.  I enjoy the strategy of planning a route, and keeping tabs on where certain birds can be found when you want one.  This interest has grown, so that now I coordinate two Christmas Bird Counts every year, with close to 200 participants in each.  Again, I enjoy the strategy and logistics of the count, and finding out where people are finding different birds, all information to be tucked away for next year's Big Day.

Tom Ford-Hutchinson

When he’s not busy spending time working in a dark laboratory as a mad scientist, Tom ventures out to the daylight to look at birds as a reminder of brighter childhood days.  Having long ago lost his sanity in the long hours working as a graduate student Tom joins the team on his first Birdathon fresh off the heals of doing some crazy thing called a Big Year in Orange County.  Having done competitive Big Days exactly once in each of the States he has lived in, this marks Tom’s first (and maybe last?) quest for big numbers in a single day in California.

Having scouted for the better part of a year, Tom finds himself dismayed that all of the great birds he found last year have long since migrated.  Despite this, this years team has received special permission to venture far into the wilderness of Orange County to look for elusive species not often seen in the foothills.