Congratulations Reed Robinson & Weston Barker - ABA Young Birder of the Year

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Doug Hitchcox

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May 19, 2022, 4:21:12 PM5/19/22
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Passing along the good news and a huge congratulations to Reed Robinson for winning the 2022 American Birding Association Young Birder of the Year. Reed won gold in the conservation & community leadership module, and silver in the writing module. And another congrats is due to Weston Barker, who took gold in the illustrations module, and bronze in the photography module. Pretty impressive to see Maine birders taking honors in four of the five categories!

I’m sure many of you have had the chance to meet Reed and Weston out in the field, and it has been a joy to watch both of them develop their skills rapidly in the short time I’ve known them. The time and effort they are putting into birding is really showing off in their abilities, as is recognized by these awards, but as you can also see in the quality of their notes and photographs in the eBird lists.

Here is a link to the ABA’s announcement: https://www.aba.org/2022-aba-young-birders-of-the-year/

And I hope they don’t mind me showing off their amazing photography via eBird/Macaulay Library:
Reed Robinson: https://media.ebird.org/catalog?searchField=user&userId=USER1319546&sort=rating_rank_desc
Weston Barker: https://media.ebird.org/catalog?searchField=user&userId=USER513087&sort=rating_rank_desc

Congrats again, Reed and Weston!

Doug Hitchcox
Maine Bird Atlas - Outreach Coordinator
Maine Audubon - Staff Naturalist
207-781-2330 x237
dhit...@maineaudubon.org

Tod Abrahams

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May 19, 2022, 4:28:29 PM5/19/22
to Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
That’s 👏 awesome news.  Great job and well deserved😎💥

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rob speirs

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May 19, 2022, 4:34:05 PM5/19/22
to Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
Congratulations Reed and Weston. A very big deal to be nationally recognised. Huge achievements for you both. BRAVO!!

Julie Perrin

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May 19, 2022, 4:38:15 PM5/19/22
to Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
Awesome news! Congratulations to you both! Well done and well deserved! 😁🐦😁

Julie

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Julia Hanauer-Milne

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May 19, 2022, 5:19:03 PM5/19/22
to Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
Big congratulations Reed and Westin! That’s a wonderful accomplishment by both of you.

On Thu, May 19, 2022 at 4:21 PM 'Doug Hitchcox' via Maine birds <maine...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Tracy Hart

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May 19, 2022, 5:30:50 PM5/19/22
to Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
Congratulations Reed and Weston!

 I’d also like to add that Reed designed a modular version of an artificial loon nesting raft that biologists are now testing and using throughout northern New England. Maine Audubon and our partners on the Maine Loon Restoration Project have deployed a number of Reed’s design this year to aid loon pairs that are failing to hatch chicks year after year. Multi-talented! We’re so thankful to him for being a part of Maine’s conservation community.

Tracy

On Thu, May 19, 2022 at 4:21 PM 'Doug Hitchcox' via Maine birds <maine...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
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Tracy Hart
Wildlife Ecologist
Maine Audubon


Reed Robinson

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May 19, 2022, 5:44:33 PM5/19/22
to Maine birds
Thanks so much for your kind words Doug, and Congratulations Weston!!!

Our successes are a direct reflection of the incredibly supportive birding community here in Maine. Thank you all for the tips and time taken to share your incredible knowledge of birds —  not to mention the exciting adventures along the way. 

With gratitude,
Reed


Ingrid Whitaker

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May 19, 2022, 6:02:05 PM5/19/22
to Tracy Hart, Doug Hitchcox, Bird Alerts
Well done, guys!! You make all Maine birders proud - not just for your birding skills, but also because you are so helpful to other birders and fun to be around! Congratulations!!!

Ingrid

On May 19, 2022, at 5:30 PM, Tracy Hart <th...@maineaudubon.org> wrote:



Kristen Lindquist

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May 19, 2022, 7:08:41 PM5/19/22
to Maine Birds
Congratulations to both Reed and Weston! Thank you for representing Maine birders so well! 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/CCF43A68-8BFD-4466-88B6-9F9CF3E80C0C%40gmail.com.


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Kristen Lindquist (she/her)
Camden, ME

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." 
--Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
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