Global Big Day

While exploring some birding apps, I came across eBird. It is a great app for bird counting and you can submit your observations directly to the eBird website. The app is free and easy to use. Their website lists that the maximum number of birds recorded in a single day was 294. On that note, Global Big Day is on May 14th. For all you birders out there, this is a great way to make your observations count. It a 24hr challenge and the observations are tallied on a database maintained by Cornell Ornithology Lab. Check out the link here: http://ebird.org/globalbigday/

Their first Global Big Day was held last year on May 9^th.

Audubon lists the numbers from that day as below (excerpt from their website):

• 12,536 global participants; 8,840 participants in the Lower 48
• 5,827 species spotted in total.  This number is over half of the (approximately) 10,500 bird species that exist (and are known). 
• 635 species spotted in the Lower 48. Out of the participating countries, Brazil came in first for the total number of species spotted, with 1,055 out of the country’s 1,700 species being recorded.
• 468 species spotted by the top group, Audubon de Venezuela. That’s just over 8 percent of the total species spotted.
• 5,000 Lesser Flamingos spotted, the most of any species counted. Rounding out the top five: American Flamingos (3,936), the Gray Gull (2,000 spotted total), Gray-headed albatross (700) and the Black Guillemot (650).
• 21 species spotted in the South Polar region, logged by two participants: Adina Scott and Lucy Zoo.
• 51 species were found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Their facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/events/1570420463248283/

For those of you who would like to donate to this conservation effort, you can donate here:

https://give.birds.cornell.edu/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1806&ea.campaign.id=49372

May 14^th also happens to be International Migratory Bird day in North America. It’s a great day to go birding, whether you choose to do it at an event hosted at one of the nature centers or in your own backyard! To find an event near your location, you can check it out here:

http://www.fws.gov/refuges/news/SuperBirdFests2016.html

Happy Birding!