Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Big Sit is Approaching!

The Big Sit is Coming Up!

Attention birders! Unfold the lawn chairs and set up your scope! The Big Sit, the world's most sedentary annual birding event, is Oct. 11 or 12 (you pick) this year. Get together a team, map out a 17-foot diameter circle, pour yourself a beverage, and start tallying birds. It's like a tailgate party for birders, and it's free!

The team with the most species in 24 hours wins bragging rights and a place in history! Every team that sees the Golden Bird, a species randomly selected after the event by the New Haven Bird Club, will enter a drawing for a $500 conservation prize. Teams must register before the event to qualify for the Golden Bird drawing and to be listed as a participant on the event website. Register at www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/connect/bigsit/register.php.

Bird Watcher's Digest organizes and hosts the events, and Swarovski Optic sponsors it.

In 2013, 184 circles participated, across North America and as far away as Sweden and Israel. Team COAN San Blas, of San Blas, Mexico, took first place, with 122 species. HSU Conservation Unlimited, of Arcata, California, was second with 106 species. The Golden Bird was gray flycatcher, seen by only one team, Maricopa Audubon's Katheryn F. Anderson Granite Reef Asterisks, of Mesa, Arizona. Congratulations to the winners and to all participants. We hope you had a great time birding with your Big Sit friends!

For more information on The Big Sit, visit http://tinyurl.com/BigSit

The Big Sit! is a registered trademark of the New Haven (CT) Bird Club and is hosted annually by Bird Watcher's Digest and sponsored by Swarovski Optik NA.

Media Contact: Bill Thompson, III
Bird Watcher's Digest
740-373-5285 x308
editor@birdwatchersdigest.com