1. Field of Competition: Erie, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties, Ohio. All teams will receive an official check list and map.

2. Competition Period: The competition period begins at 12 A.M. (midnight) and ends at 9 P.M. on the third Saturday in May.

3. Teams: Each team will consist of either 3 or 4 members, including one member designated team captain, and will register and compete under a team name.

4. Divisions: The three competitive categories and their qualifications are:

Junior Division: All team members must be 18 years of age or younger on the day of competition.

Senior Division: All team members must be 60 years of age or older on the day of competition.

Open Division: All teams not qualifying for Junior or Senior Divisions will compete in this division.

1. Free-style Event: Registration of non-competitive team will be accepted in the Free-style Division. Teams are eligible for awards at the discretion of the Board of Trustees of the Toledo Naturalists' Association.

2. Registration & Entry Fee: Each competitive team must complete and return an official registration form, together with entry fee of $25 (by check or money order made payable to: Toledo Naturalists' Association). Registration must be hand delivered or received, if mailed, at: North Coast Open, North Coast Open Coordinator ( Greg Links, 7710 Fir Drive, Temperance, MI  48182 ), before the day of the competition.

3. Team List: Each competitive team will compile a team list comprising all the wild, unrestrained, non-released bird species the team identifies within the field of competition during the competition period. All members of each team must identify (visually or aurally), during the competition period and within the field of competition, every bird species on the team fist.

4. Non-participants Permitted: Competitive teams may be accompanied by drivers or other non-participating companions, but such non-participants shall not locate and shall not identify any birds for the competing team members.

5. Tapes Prohibited: No tape recordings, CD recordings or other electronically produced or reproduced bird calls or songs are permitted during the competition.

6. Finish Line: Each competitive team captain will submit to the Event Coordinator one official team list at the finish line (at Blackberry Corner's Restaurant) at the end of the competition period.

7. Penalty: A penalty, of one species deducted from the team total for each five minutes late, will be assessed to any competitive team submitting its list after the regulation 9 P.M. end of the competition period. Penalties will be calculated and assessed by the Event Coordinator.

8. Challenges: All competitive team lists will be available for review by other team captains prior to the announcement of winners, and challenges to any birds on the team lists may be made by the captain of any team in the same division as the team list being challenged. Challenges will be decided by a simple majority vote of the team captains in the same division present. Tie votes will be broken by the Event Coordinator. Successfully challenged species will be deducted from the challenged team's total list.

9. Winners: The competitive team in each division with the highest accepted (corrected for penalties and successful challenges) team list will be declared the winner in its division. The team with the highest accepted team list win be declared the over-all champion team. Ribbons will be given to the winners in all divisions


10. Event Coordinator: An Event Coordinator will be appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Toledo Naturalists' Association for the purpose of receiving competitive team lists at the finish line, assessing penalties, arbitrating list challenges, breaking challenge ties, declaring winners, presenting awards and all other duties as necessary. The decisions of the Event Coordinator are final.