NEWBURYPORT — The best bird-watchers around will flock once again Saturday to vie for the Joppa Cup when the Mass Audubon Joppa Flats Education Center hosts the 21st annual Superbowl of Birding.
"We get some of the most skilled New England bird-watchers involved in the Superbowl of Birding," Mass Audubon North Shore Community Science and Coastal Resilience Manager David Moon said. "They come from all over the eastern Mass. metro area but also out of New Hampshire and we've even had teams from Pennsylvania and Cornell University from Ithaca, New York, which is the epicenter of ornithology in America right now."
The event, which runs from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., covers not only Essex County but New Hampshire's Rockingham County.
Moon added that the Superbowl of Birding is a fun, well-curated competition to find the greatest number of species of birds and earn the greatest number of points based on each bird's rarity.
"We assign points according to how hard the species of bird is to encounter," Moon said. "It runs from one to five. Five-point birds are those really rare birds that do show up with some regularity. But you might find only one or two in Essex County at the time."
Endurance, strategy and multiple layers of clothing each play an essential role in a successful Superbowl performance, according to Moon, who added that all levels of bird-watchers, from beginners to experts, are welcome.
"Most of the teams are groups of friends who sign up together and have done this event for many, many years," Moon said. "But we will also help individuals find a team."
The Joppa Cup is then awarded to the team that receives the most points.
"That's the highest award," Moon said.
A number of award categories, including new-to-birding participants, youth birders and participants with limited mobility, will be handed out during an online gathering Sunday, when the Joppa Cup will be awarded to the team that collects the most points.
"We will tally up all the results and enjoy hearing about what everybody did," Moon said. "We will be giving awards for the most points, which is a combination of the most species and the highest difficulty to spot. We also award the most species spotted and other nuances."
Rebecca Suomala, captain of New Hampshire-based Twitchers out of Rye, is especially interested in competing for the townie award, which is given to the most number of birds that can be seen in a single town or city, each year. It's an award the Twitchers have taken home several years now.
She said the secret to their success is simply being out in any weather and competing.
"January is a quiet time for birding as this makes it so worthwhile to get out and is a great encouragement to get out birding, before and during the event," she said. "I'd also like to let people know, if they see a number of cars stopped by the side of the road in Rockingham County, peering with binoculars at feeders, don't worry. It's just your average 'Superbowl' team that plays without a football."
The Joppa Flats Education Center is probably best known for its annual Merrimack River Eagle Festival, which will take place Feb. 17.
"We get thousands of people who come into town for that," Moon said. "There are sites all up and down the river and it attracts an audience that is either new to birds or less experienced bird-watchers."
