It’s exciting to see some little-known birds, like this White-throated Kingfisher, which was reported and photographed during last year’s Global Big Day in Thailand by Natthaphat Chotjuckdikul. Every bird counts during the Global Big Day, and what more iconic bird is there on this continent than an American Robin, reported with this photograph taken by Aidan Brubaker in California. How many species will you find during the Global Big Day this Saturday?

Add your bird counts and photos as a team member of the world’s biggest birding team by participating in the Global Big Day, this Saturday, May 11th. You can join birders worldwide to identify and count all the birds you see at any location(s) you choose. Last May, birders set new records reported a record total of 7,746 different species, counting about 3.2 million birds during the Global Big Day! Will we set new records Saturday? Birders from 199 countries also submitted 72,561 photographs of 3,667 species of birds along with photos of their birding groups.

Participating is easy, and fun; identify and count all the birds you see for as long as you prefer – for as little as 15 minutes, or as long as you wish between midnight and midnight local time on Saturday May 11th. And you can make counts at more than one location. Then share list of bird sightings on the eBird website.

It’s a great Saturday to enjoy some time birding with family members, birding friends, and best of all: You can invite someone who has never been birding to join you – introduce them to a new insight into birds in your area. Make it fun, take a birding walk, or see how many birds come to your yard during a given period. Go birding by bike, boat, auto, on horseback, on foot – combine another favorite outdoor activity as part of your bird counts.

Throughout the Global Big Day, you can follow the progress of birders worldwide as they report their lists of birds and share their photos from about 200 countries in real-time on the Global Big Day page You will see that the data are divided into several categories, including national totals, which is interesting to review.

Also, until Friday you can access the information provided during last year’s Global Big Day to see how valuable the information collected can be and how it all adds up. In fact, your observations help biologists better understand global bird populations and create resources like the animated abundance maps produced by eBird Science. Overall, the Big Day is an extraordinary spring day when birders from all over the world gather information about the birds around them, while at the same time creating an atmosphere of unity among all birders.

To learn more about how to participate in the Global Big Day, you can refer to Global Big Day—11 May 2024 - eBird

You can also access an interesting overview of last year’s results, along with a wealth of other information about the 2023 Global Big Day at Inspiring Results from Global Big Day 2023 - eBird