Big Week 观鸟挑战周

摘要：日间自然营老师给每人发了一张纸，宣布他们将进行一项新的挑战赛。一周内，找到清单上所列鸟类数量最多者胜出。卡尔文瞬间开启“战斗模式”。之前每项比赛卡尔文都屈居第二，而他的好友格拉迪斯总是拿第一，这次他发誓要超过她！几天里，卡尔文收获了许多惊喜，他观察到哀鸽、白鹭

Big Week 观鸟挑战周

By Karen DelleCava

Art by Jennifer Naalchigar

日间自然营老师给每人发了一张纸，宣布他们将进行一项新的挑战赛。一周内，找到清单上所列鸟类数量最多者胜出。卡尔文瞬间开启“战斗模式”。之前每项比赛卡尔文都屈居第二，而他的好友格拉迪斯总是拿第一，这次他发誓要超过她！几天里，卡尔文收获了许多惊喜，他观察到哀鸽、白鹭、夜鹭、燕鸥等各类鸟儿，甚至还有一只钻纹龟。卡尔文的求胜心愈加强烈，除了那些他能确定的鸟类，在遇到不确定的鸟类时，他也暂且勾选。结果，他一共勾选了29个品种。最后，格拉迪斯报告发现了26种鸟类。但当老师询问还有谁比格拉迪斯的发现更多时，卡尔文的脸倏地红了，他知道自己顶多认出了22种。他回想起观察夜鹭时发自内心的喜悦，意识到竞赛的真谛在于探索自然的乐趣而非胜负之争。这些收获与领悟又何尝不是一个重要的Big Week呢？

Calvin’s day camp counselor, Autumn, passed out a sheet of paper to each camper.

Calvin turned to his friend Gladys and groaned. “Looks like homework.”

“Yeah, I thought Nature Camp was supposed to be fun!” Gladys said with a laugh.

Autumn continued, “There’s something called a Big Year, where people try to identify, or ID, as many species of birds as they can in one year. We’re going to do a one-week challenge and call it ‘Big Week.’”

Another challenge? Ever since camp started, Gladys had beaten Calvin at everything. Calvin had been so close to winning the forest scavenger hunt and the hiking challenge. If he won this one, maybe he’d finally show Gladys that she wasn’t unbeatable.

“So, whoever ID’s the most birds on this checklist wins?” Gladys asked.

Autumn nodded. “Keep your eyes and ears out at home, too, not just here.”

Calvin looked down at the paper. On the front and back of it were pictures and descriptions of different New Jersey birds.

“How will you know if I really saw . . .” Calvin scanned the list. “. . . a glossy ibis?”

“I won’t,” Autumn said. “A Big Week is based on the honor system.”

She handed each camper a small pair of binoculars to use for the week.

After camp that evening, Calvin spotted two mourning doves, a sweet red-winged blackbird, a northern mockingbird, and a dark bird with a blue green head. He confirmed it was a common grackle. Oh yeah. He was definitely going to win this challenge.

The next day at camp, everyone called out totals. Uh-oh. Calvin had some catching up to do. But he’d score big at the nature preserve. That’s where they were going today.

At the preserve, there was plenty of bumping and shushing as everyone followed the trail that snaked through the woods. It led to a boardwalk that threaded through some wetlands. The rich scent of earth mixed with salt water filled the air.

Gladys stopped short. “It’s a great egret!” she whisper-shouted.

A tall, long-legged white bird stalked the shallow water.

“That was my gift to you,” Gladys said with an I’m-going-to-win-this tone.

“Like I would’ve missed that giant bird,” Calvin retorted.

Calvin paused and crouched near some dense brush, trying to spot another bird before Gladys did. Then something else caught his eye—a turtle he’d learned about last week.

“Diamondback terrapin!” he shouted.

Frantic flapping. Squawks! Birds exploded above Calvin’s head. “Whoa!” He tipped over onto his back. Thunk!

Gladys rushed toward him. “Cal, are you OK?”

Hiccup.Calvin nodded.

Gladys held out her hand and hoisted him up. “Here’s a tip: try being QUIET.”

Calvin slinked off and waited for his hiccups to subside. Sitting on a bench, he ID’d a laughing gull.

Ha ha. Very—hiccup— funny.

That evening, a large bird swooped down and landed on Calvin’s neighbor’s dock.

Calvin focused the binoculars. The bird had a bright red eye, a thick straight bill, a white throat and breast, bluish-gray feathers on its head and back, and—oh, wow—long, thin, wispy white feathers on the back of its head.

“A black-crowned night heron!” he whispered.

As the week went by, competition became fierce. The beach trip brought up everyone’s totals: ospreys, terns, and a few different gulls and shorebirds.

He hadto win this contest.

On the hiking challenge, he’d found a feather that Autumn thought belonged to a Cooper’s hawk. Close enough. He checked that off, plus a few extra birds. What was the difference? He’d seen them in the past, or he’d see them eventually. He swallowed hard. No one will know.

Later in the week, Calvin reviewed his list. There were a lot of “extra” check marks. Agh.It felt like an ostrich had plopped down in the middle of his chest. As annoying as it was, Gladys always beat him fair and square. Was this really the way he wanted to beat her and the other kids?

On the last day of Big Week, Autumn waved Gladys’s checklist in the air. “Twenty-six is the number to beat.”

Calvin had checked off 29. Even the glossy ibis!

“Anybody else?” Autumn called out.

Calvin’s face heated up. At best, he’d had 22 legit sightings. He remembered how cool it was to ID that black-crowned night heron. He got it now. That’s what a Big Week was really all about.

“Sounds like Gladys wins,” Calvin said.

Autumn awarded Gladys with a Big Week T-shirt as everyone cheered.

And when Calvin congratulated his friend, he felt as light as a downy feather.