The June Challenge

The June Challenge – 2025

The birders in June won’t be nappin’
When a rarity comes a-flappin’.
They won’t miss the word
About a good bird —
They’re twenty-four-seven WhatsAppin’!

To learn more about the June Challenge result, read more

  • The June Challenge – 2024
    I had low expectations for this year’s Challenge. After last year’s record-setting results it felt like a reset was in order – a return to normalcy, as it were – especially given our near-drought conditions, the exhausting heat, and the scarcity of lingering migrants during the latter half of May (not a single White-rumped Sandpiper,… Read more: The June Challenge – 2024
  • The June Challenge 2023
    Long ago, in 2012, I won The June Challenge with 126 species and a friend commented, “I don’t think anyone will ever beat that total.” The phrase hadn’t been invented yet, but the proper response would have been, “OK Boomer.” My friend hadn’t foreseen today’s crop of birders, or the amazing communications network they would… Read more: The June Challenge 2023
  • Results of The June Challenge – 2022
    Tim Hardin (left) and Jose-Miguel Ponciano shared the first place prize – possession of the trophy! There was a real spirit of adventure in this year’s June Challenge, and it was as much fun to watch as it was to participate in. Tim Hardin had told me in May that he wasn’t planning to push… Read more: Results of The June Challenge – 2022
  • Results of The June Challenge – 2020
    By Rex Rowan, July 2020 The 2020 June Challenge was … well, I’ll defer to Mitch Walters, who posted this on the Alachua County Birding Facebook page: “The year 2020 hasn’t been the best year, in fact, it’s been the literal worst. But June 2020 was arguably the best month of birding I’ve ever experienced… Read more: Results of The June Challenge – 2020
  • RESULTS OF THE JUNE CHALLENGE – 2019!
    by Rex Rowan The 2019 June Challenge wrapped up with a party at the home of Becky Enneis, who founded the contest in 2004. Winners were announced, prizes were given, good food was eaten, conversation was enjoyed, and we finished the evening with a slide show, photos of birds, birders, and scenery taking during the… Read more: RESULTS OF THE JUNE CHALLENGE – 2019!
  • The June Challenge – 2017
    Deep, deep in the labyrinthine recesses of the Alachua Audubon Society web site are some rarely-visited pages. One of the most interesting and useful – or so we thought when we created it – is “Meet the Birders of Alachua County,” which displays a photographic gallery of birders you might meet on the trail. “Who… Read more: The June Challenge – 2017
  • The June Challenge – 2016
    This year’s June Challenge attracted 42 participants, down from 46 last year and 50 in 2014. However a few birders who chased around enthusiastically at the beginning of the month and probably had totals in the vicinity of 100 species – Mike Manetz, Peter Polshek, and Matt O’Sullivan – had to leave Florida by mid-month… Read more: The June Challenge – 2016
  • The June Challenge – 2015
    From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com> To: Alachua County birding report Greetings from New York! I’m visiting my son here in the absurdly beautiful village of Sackets Harbor at the east end of Lake Ontario, a place so small that it doesn’t have a traffic light and so old that the stonework Army barracks constructed during the… Read more: The June Challenge – 2015
  • The June Challenge 2014 – Alachua County results
    From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com> To: Alachua County birding report Huh. I guess summer’s already over. I escorted visiting Clay County birders Martha Fethe and Jan Morgan out to see a Prothonotary Warbler today. We started at the Lake Alto Preserve, where I found one singing just two weeks ago, but no dice. So we tried… Read more: The June Challenge 2014 – Alachua County results
  • The June Challenge in Alachua County … and Beyond!
    The massive June Challenge trophy has a new home. Despite being a relative newcomer to Alachua County and spending the first week of the month in Maine, Jonathan Mays beat everyone else to win The Tenth Annual Alachua County June Challenge! An amazing performance. And if you look at the following list, you’ll see quite… Read more: The June Challenge in Alachua County … and Beyond!

The Super Bowl of birding occurs in Alachua county each summer with the eagerly awaited June Challenge!

According to the Great Florida Birding Trail website: “It’s a friendly competition designed to keep us birding through the summer heat while non-birders retreat indoors and miss all the fun. The aim of the competition is for individual contestants to see as many bird species as possible within the boundaries of their county between June 1st and June 30th.”

The June Challenge first started right here in Alachua County in 2004. Becky Enneis created it as a way to get folks to get outside in the summer, birding after the spring migration winds down. Read more from Rex Rowan about the history here.

RULES

– Count only birds found within a single county, ideally the one you live in. 
– Each bird on your list must be seen, not just heard. 
– You’ll be competing with birders in your own county to see who can amass the longest individual list, but let the others know if you find something good so they can go out and look for it. (Remember, this is a friendly competition!) 
– Any free-flying bird is countable for the purposes of the Challenge, but keep track of how many ABA-countable and non-countable species are on your list. 

You can read more about the rules here. Download the June Challenge Checklist as an Excel file that automatically keeps tally or as a PDF.

PAST JUNE CHALLENGES