PORTSMOUTH — It’s the time of year again when the best in the sport compete in the Superbowl.

Not the National Football League’s venerable Super Bowl, but the Superbowl of Birding.

The avian spectator spectacular will be held Jan. 27 and once again the NH Audubon’s “Twitchers in the Rye” will be taking part. The team will spend the entire day in Rye in the annual competition that takes place the last Saturday in January. The competition involves looking for as many bird species as possible in 12 hours and is run by Massachusetts Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center. Teams can compete in Essex County, Massachusetts, and/or Rockingham County.

This will be the Twitchers’ 10th year birding solely in Rye and for the first time there’s actually a town category in the competition.

“We wanted to show people how many birds can be seen in just one town,” said Twitchers team captain Becky Suomala, “but now that there’s a category for a single town its especially exciting. Rye has great birding habitat and gives us a great name.”

Twitchers is a British word for avid birders.

“We’ve never had anyone compete in any other town,” Suomala said.

Team members will scout the area for unusual birds before the competition. Rare species are worth more points than common ones, and teams are required to call in and report the 5-point birds so sightings can be shared with other teams. The first team to find a “5-pointer” gets bonus points. Last year’s highlights included two species that were new for the Twitchers: Common Merganser and Barred Owl. This year will be especially challenging after all the cold weather so far this winter.

The Twitchers team is also raising money to support NH Audubon and accepting pledges to support New Hampshire Bird Records and NH eBird. Help the Twitchers by pledging an amount per species or per point – and support the collection of bird data for conservation at the same time.

“When the mercury drops and the winds blow, pledges help keep us going – knowing each species or point will help build contributions for conservation,” Suomala said.

If you see a car full of four bundled figures stop suddenly, and peer out the window with binoculars, don’t be alarmed. They are likely the Twitchers or another team of birders competing in this annual birding competition.

To make a pledge, email Suomala at rsuomala@nhaudubon.org, call (603) 224-9909 ext. 309 or visit www.nhbirdrecords.org, where you can also read last year’s results. For more about NH Audubon, including membership, volunteering, programs, sanctuaries and publications, visit www.nhaudubon.org.