ABA Young Birder of the Year Contest

The ABA has an annual contest to establish who is the "Young Birder of the Year". To compete in this contest, one has to complete 2 or 3 projects aimed towards birds. The project categories are:
1. Field Notebook: A book of your sightings and descriptions of behavior, as well as sketches.

2. Conservation/Community Action: Help to conserve birds, or educate people about birds.

3. Illustration: Detailed drawing/painting of birds.

4. Writing: Piece about birds, birding, or birders.

5. Photography: Photographing birds (duh...) :)

Numbers 1&2 are major projects, while 3,4, and 5 are minor projects. To compete in the full contest, one has to complete either 2 major projects or 1 major project and 2 minor projects. I am going to do  Conservation, Writing, and Photography projects (because I can't draw...)

My Conservation project will be designing a Guide to Birding in Carlisle. This will include a list of hotspots, observations at those hotspots, and birding hints.

For Photography, I have to choose 6 photos, which I will do later, but here are a couple of contenders:

Piping Plover - Allen's Pond

American Coot - Celery Fields, FL