The results are nearly complete for the recent worldwide birding event – the October Big Day, which took place October 10th – and the preliminary total is 7,958 different species of birds during a single fall day! (A spring day in the Southern Hemisphere.) Birders from 204 nations and territories contributed information about the numbers of each species they observed, and some participants also shared photographs, audio recordings, habitat descriptions, or stories of their birding activities. This year's global team of participants really emphasized how birds can bring people together in a united effort during a peak migration day.
Even though totals weren't finalized yet as we went to press Tuesday afternoon (yesterday), preliminary totals already show October 10th is the biggest day in October birding history! American birders tallied an impressive 699 bird species to rank 13th among nations, with Canada ranking 30th with a total of 342 species. At press time, Colombia was leading the way with 1,476 species, followed by Peru (1,326 species), Brazil (1,257), Ecuador (1,129), Bolivia (871), Venezuela (857), Kenya (807), India (772), Tanzania (762), Argentina (760), Mexico (753), Costa Rica (744), and the United States (699); followed by Panama (658), and Australia (604) to name the Top 15 nations in terms of species reported. You can check on all the results up to the minute at October Big Day - eBird
Obviously, countries with tropical climates have a greater variety of birds and more for potential high totals than nations in far northern or southern latitudes, but the numbers also underline the importance of a variety of elevational habitats to species diversity, such as those created by the Andes Mountains in South America. (By the way, as October Big Day began in the American Midwest, at 12:30am CDT Saturday October 10th there was already a total number of 2,506 species listed by birders in the Eastern Hemisphere, with India and Australia vying for first place at that time, although both nations had less than 600 species reported.)
The annual organizer of the October Big Day – eBird – noted that the October Big Day wouldn't be the global phenomenon it is without the incredible participation by the birding community at large, and we at The Birding Wire thank all our readers who participated in this monumental October day of birding! You can take a look at the kinds of activities birders shared during the 2025 event to get a better idea of the excitement and level of interest generated about October Big Day '25 at Collective Achievement on October Big Day 2025 - eBird. We expect participants have shared even more social interactions while birding during this year's celebrations.