Community Corner

GVHS Student's Birding Team Claims Historic Win

Austin Smith, 16, is one of the Upper Main Line YMCA's 'B.B. Kingfishers.'

If you've ever seen the movie The Big Year, starring Steve Martin and Jack Black, you know how exciting birding can be.

Three local teens recently experienced that thrill firsthand, as they spotted 186 bird species to claim a historic title on May 11—the first youth team to win the New Jersey Audubon Society's World Series of Birding:

The Upper Main Line YMCA’s “B.B. Kingfishers”, comprised of three high school students from suburban Philadelphia, tallied 186 bird species for the historic win.
This year’s event proved daunting, as teams braved heavy rains, high winds and in some cases hail, in addition to the usual hazards of ticks, mosquitoes, rising tides, and overall exhaustion.

Great Valley High School student Austin Smith was one of the three students on the team.

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The Kingfishers were also overseen by two Great Valley alums—Brian Quindlen, who teaches weekly bird-identification skills through at the YMCA, and Brian Raicich, the YMCA’s Senior Director of Youth Development, who originally started the birding program there.

Read more about the B.B. Kingfishers' big win in the Patch announcement.

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