Winners! We got yer winners here!

WildBird has the pleasure of sponsoring teams in two competitive conservation events each year: the Great Texas Birding Classic and the World Series of Birding in New Jersey. This year, our teams won their categories in each event. Woo hoo!

In the Classic on May 3, the TAMUG WildBirders, from Texas A&M University Galveston and led by Susan Knock, won the upper coast tournament with 179 species identified in 24 hours. Here's the team's checklist.

In the World Series on May 10, Zen Zugunruhe -- led by Dave Hedeen -- won the Cape Island category with 145 species in 24 hours. Here they are, reclaiming the trophy at Sunday's awards brunch.

Zen Zugunruhe: Matt Garvey, Tait Johannson, Glen Davis, Dave Hedeen

For the first time, I participated in the World Series -- as a driver for the Swarovski Digiscoping Hawks. A last-minute invitation put me behind the wheel of a Chrysler Town & Country while Sharon Stiteler (aka Birdchick) and Clay Taylor of Swarovski Optik used digiscoping to photograph birds in southern Jersey. The duo turned in a checklist (actually, a PowerPoint slide show) of 113 species at the finish line and won the category.

Congratulations to the award-winning birders!