Interurban Bird Rally 2016

The upcoming birdwatching contest between towns in Estonia takes place on 27th of March 2016. British and other teams are welcome to join this event!
Every spring, in the last weekend of March, an original birdwatching contest is held - The Inter-urban Bird Rally. The purpose of this event is to turn public attention to the big number of birds in the urban environment and also to the arrival of migrating birds. The most important feature of the competition is the rule not to exit town-borders when seeking species.

Each year and average of 15 towns take part.  From 5am till 1pm the competing teams try to find as many bird species as possible. Very often they search either on foot or by bicycle instead of using cars.

The weather so early in spring may be vastly different from year to year, making a big difference to the results of the competition. The exeptionally early spring in 2014 resulted in new records being set with birders in 18 different towns of Estonia counting 116 bird species in total. Winners were overwhelmingly the coastal towns.  In Pärnu 88 bird species were recorded, followed by Tallinn with 82 and Haapsalu with 76 species.  During the half-day birding event the contestants spotted some exciting birds for within city borders including Black Grouse, Hazel Grouse, Three-toed Woodpecker, Pygmy Owl, Woodlark and Bearded Tit.

The tradition of the inter-urban bird-rally dates back to 2002, when the Bird Club of Lääne County launched the birding contest in Haapsalu town. Within a couple of years birders from other locations were taking an interest in the event and the rest - the Inter-urban Bird Rally - is history. These days the contest is run by the Estonian Ornithological Society.