The joys of reporting on 3 teenagers chasing glory in the World Series of Birding

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🗓️ 13 June 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Reporting assignments can often lead to unexpected joys and lessons. That was the case when NPR's Natalie Escobar and Ava Berger were sent on the road to tag along with three teenage boys competing in the World Series of Birding. The teens had 24 hours to crisscross New Jersey and tally up the number of bird species they spotted. For this week's Reporter's Notebook we hear from Escobar and Berger about how the assignment was both challenging and illuminating.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's considered this where every day we go deep on one big news story.
0:05.6	At NPR, we bring listeners to the front lines of conflict.
0:09.3	We report on political upheaval.
0:11.6	And we also share people's passions, like for the natural world.
0:15.4	Oh, a mess.
0:16.3	Whoa.
0:16.6	Whoa.
0:17.8	Pin, pen, pen, pen.
0:19.7	Sharpie nest. Where is it? Sharpiness is good. Yeah, that's really good. Holy. We are listening to the sound of some teenage birders. So we're using our scopes to try and find an owl on that pipe out there across the river, or across the pond. Do you guys see, in the water, two black skimmers.
0:38.4	Everyone.
0:39.0	Both.
0:39.9	Yes, they are.
0:40.8	Skimmers?
0:41.5	Look, they're flying very low.
0:42.8	The wings are pointed.
0:44.6	Do you guys see two black skimmers?
0:46.2	Wow.
0:46.9	Yeah, we just got skimmer.
0:48.6	These boys were competing last month in New Jersey Audubon's 43rd annual world series of birding.
0:56.0	So the gist is that you have, it's an entire day from midnight to midnight.
1:01.7	And this is Natalie Escobar, an NPR editor who spent that entire day with them.
1:06.1	And the goal is that you have to count as many species of birds as physically possible within the borders of the great state of New Jersey.
	...

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