It was just after midnight in northern New Jersey when a white SUV screeched to a halt beside a deserted park. Three teenage boys leaped from the vehicle into the dark, sprinting across a field and vaulting a fence with a singular focus. Armed with binoculars and the adrenaline of a ticking clock, they strained to see through the dark holes of giant nests perched atop a pole, searching for a momentary flash of a sleeping parrot’s tail.
After ten minutes of breathless waiting, 16-year-old Otys Train broke the silence: “I got it, I got it, I got the monk parakeet!”
For Train and his teammates, 17-year-old Jack Trojan and 16-year-old Zade Pacetti, this wasn’t a casual midnight excursion. It was the first official sighting of the 43rd annual World Series of Birding. From that first stroke of midnight on Saturday, the trio had exactly 24 hours to traverse the state of New Jersey and document as many bird species as possible. Their goal was ambitious: 200 species. Their motivation: a relentless drive for victory and a deep-seated passion for ornithology.
The team, calling themselves “The Pete Dunnelins”—a portmanteau of the dunlin shorebird and event founder Pete Dunne—represents a growing trend of youth engagement in conservation. Organized by the nonprofit New Jersey Audubon, the competition serves as both a high-stakes sporting event for birders and a critical fundraiser for conservation efforts. This year, 87 teams competed across various age divisions, ranging from seasoned veterans to first-graders, with the high school division serving as one of the most competitive brackets in the field.
Precision Planning Against the Whims of Nature
For the Pete Dunnelins, birding is treated with the tactical rigor of a professional sport. The team has placed first in the competition for the past two years, a feat achieved through months of preparation and a level of organization that rivals corporate logistics. Team captain Jack Trojan revealed that the group utilized a detailed spreadsheet, planning their route and sightings “down to the minute.”
However, as Trojan noted, the primary challenge is that birds do not follow spreadsheets. “Birds are animals, and you can’t really predict too well when you’re going to see or hear everything,” he said. To mitigate this, the team relies on highly specialized skills, particularly the ability to identify birds by sound alone.
Otys Train, in particular, spent months memorizing the calls of every possible species likely to be encountered during the World Series. This auditory training became vital at 3 a.m. In the pitch-black marshlands, where the team searched for the elusive sora. Because competition rules require unanimous team agreement before a species can be listed, the boys spent hours conferring in whispers, distinguishing the whinny of a sora from the cheep of a swamp sparrow or the nasally “peent” of an American woodcock.
| Timeframe | Location/Activity | Key Targets/Sightings |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM | Northern NJ Parks | Monk Parakeet, Owls, Bitterns |
| 3:00 AM – 6:00 AM | Marshland Trails | Sora, Swamp Sparrow, American Woodcock |
| 6:00 AM – 12:00 PM | High Point State Park | Warblers, Thrushes, Sharp-shinned Hawk |
| 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Malibu Beach Wildlife Area | Piping Plover |
| 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM | Edwin B. Forsythe Refuge | Nighthawk, Yellow-breasted Chat, King Rail |
The Social Cost of a ‘Niche’ Passion
While the competition is about numbers, the journey reveals a deeper narrative about teenage identity. Birding is not traditionally viewed as a “cool” hobby in high school, and the members of the Pete Dunnelins have felt that social pressure. Train admitted he was mocked for his passion in the past, while Trojan noted that birding is generally not seen as prestigious by their peers.
Yet, the boys found that confidence transforms perception. Zade Pacetti observed that when you approach a passion with confidence, classmates eventually offer respect. This resilience is mirrored in their physical approach to the sport. To maximize their efficiency, the teens often sit on the ledges of their SUV’s rolled-down windows, torsos leaning out to better hear and spot warblers as the car cruises slowly through the woods—a high-risk, high-reward move borrowed from elite college birding teams.
Supporting this intensity is a “village” of mentors, including experts from Cornell’s famed lab of ornithology and local coordinators like Tom Reed of the Cape May Bird Observatory. The boys are also supported by their fathers—Mark Trojan, Chris Pacetti, and Jeff Train—who serve as drivers, nutritionists, and emotional anchors, ensuring the boys eat actual food rather than relying solely on energy drinks and M&Ms.
The Three-Bird Margin
The final hours of the competition were a “do or die” sprint at the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, a known migration hotspot. As the sun set, the trio fought through exhaustion to find the remaining species needed to crack the 200-mark. The tension peaked with the sighting of a nighthawk and the elusive call of a yellow-breasted chat, followed by a final, last-second nail-biter: the king rail.
The results, announced the following morning in Cape May, were heartbreakingly close. The Pete Dunnelins finished with a total of 206 species, easily surpassing their personal goal. However, they were edged out by their rivals, the Flying Penguins—comprising Christian Scheibe, Noah Bieljeski, Ethan Kang, and Ellie McDonald—who finished with 209.
In a game of margins, three birds made the difference between a championship and a second-place finish. Despite the loss, the teams maintained a respectful rivalry, swapping notes on routes while carefully guarding the locations of their most prized “secret” spots.
The victory for the Flying Penguins marks the end of an era for the Pete Dunnelins. With Jack Trojan heading to college this fall, he will age out of the high school division, leaving Pacetti and Train to find a new teammate for next year’s quest. While Trojan has suggested returning as a mentor to verify strategies, his teammates remain skeptical of having their best friend in a position of authority.
As the 43rd World Series of Birding concludes, the focus shifts to the upcoming migration seasons and the preparation for the 44th annual event. The New Jersey Audubon continues to track conservation data gathered during these events to better protect the habitats of the species these teenagers have spent 24 hours chasing.
Do you have a passion that your peers don’t understand? Share your story in the comments below or share this article with a fellow nature lover.
