Hello, I'm Oliver Burrus, a fourteen-year-old young birder from northern Illinois and founder of Whimbrel Birders Club (WBC).



Whimbrel Birders Club was founded at the first annual Illinois Young Birders Symposium in August 2016. Our first walk was in October 2016 when we went to Nelson Lake FP and Fermilab in Batavia, IL. That trip was great as we saw over 60 species and four species of geese (pretty good for Northern Illinois in October). We are a birding club truly meant for all ages, meaning that we offer walks for anyone 0 to 100. In fact, our motto is "a birding club for all ages". We have kept growing our club by starting competitions, offering two or more bird walks a month, by blogging, and now by having other birders start their chapter of WBC in their part of the country (or world). Visit us at whimbrelbirders.org.



We have created competitions such as the Whimbrel Patch Birding Competition (WPBC) - when trip leaders lead people around their local patches, and at the end, the winning team will be revealed. Another, the Backyard Migratory Bird Count Competition (BMBCC) is a contest where people bird in their yard for a weekend and submit their counts through the website. Our final competition is the Whimbrel Big Day Competition (WBDC) in which a few birders from each chapter will go around their state trying to find as many birds as possible! Although the WBDC does have a $10 entry fee (which will pay for a prize and the leftover money will go to a charity of the winning team's choice), in my opinion, it is the most exciting contest that we offer.



We do not want this great opportunity to be limited to birders just in northern Illinois. So we are asking birders everywhere if they would like to start their chapter of Whimbrel Birders Club in their part of the country or the world.

We are looking for (preferably young) birders that can:

- ID the birds by sight and sound in their area

- That feel comfortable leading bird walks with everyone including adults.

- Can keep an up-to-date upcoming trip list.

- And can write trip reports.

If you meet the criteria, please fill out the form (see below), and I will get your chapter of WBC up and running ASAP.



Benefits of becoming a WBC chapter founder:

- You will meet many new birders who share your passion.

- This is the easiest way to start a birding club.

- You can chat on our site with every other member of every chapter!

- You get to compete in all of our competitions.

- and many other great benefits.

If you are interested in starting your chapter of WBC, please fill out the form at https://whimbrelbirders.org/start-your-wbc-chapter/





Oliver Burrus - oliver.burrus at whimbrelbirders.org

Founder and trip leader for Whimbrel Birders Club