Exciting opportunities

Each year, the ABA hosts three week-long young birder camps; Camp Avocet in Lewes, Delaware in August, and Camp Colorado I and II in Estes Park, Colorado in July. These camps are full of educational workshops offering young birders the opportunity to increase their birding skills, learn about bird conservation, and about careers in ornithology. Above all, young birders have the opportunity to meet other young birders while experiencing great birds! Click here for more information on the ABA Young Birder camps. Note: If your young birder is interested in an educational opportunity other than the ABA camps, please contact us to discuss whether Iowa Young Birders can help.

The Iowa Young Birder Camp Scholarship

Iowa Young Birders is committed to encouraging the development of young birders and we are excited to offer a scholarship of up to $500 to one or more Iowa young birders interested in attending an ABA camp. The ABA Young Birder Camps typically fill early each year.  If you are interested, we encourage you to register as soon as possible with the ABA. Once you are registered and know you have a spot, we encourage you to apply for our scholarship. Scholarships are available to any young birder who is a resident of Iowa and is ages of 13 to 18 (the age range eligible for the ABA camps). Young birders need not be a member of Iowa Young Birders nor do they need to show financial need.

How to apply

Interested young birders can apply using our online application form found at the link below. In addition to the brief online application, you will be asked to submit an essay written by the young birder applicant of no more than 750 words describing your most memorable Iowa birding experience and how it has changed their thoughts, ideas, or outlook on conservation. You will need to be ready to upload your essay as a Word or PDF document so we suggest you preview the online application, then write your essay and have it ready to upload when you complete the online application. The essays of successful scholarship applicants will be published online by Iowa Young Birders. Receiving the scholarship (as a direct payment from Iowa Young Birders to the American Birding Association) is contingent upon space availability at the camps and your completion of a camp registration form with the ABA. The deadline to apply for the Iowa Young Birders Camp Scholarship is February 1.

Those applying for an Iowa Young Birders scholarship may also want to consider applying for an ABA young birder scholarship.  More information on the ABA young birder scholarships can be found here. The application deadline for the Iowa Young Birders Camp Scholarship and the ABA scholarship are both April 1. Applications will be reviewed and scholarships awarded by the staff and board of directors of Iowa Young Birders. Scholarship winners will be notified by May 1.  If you have any questions about the Iowa Young Birders Camp Scholarship, please contact us.