Where will you be identifying and counting birds for this year’s October Big Day? How many birds will you report on October 17th? Silver-eared Mesias should be reported by birders in Southeast Asia who participate in the October Big Day.

Mark your calendars for this year’s October Big Day on Saturday October 17th! It’s one of the biggest days of birding and everyone is encouraged to join the fun! The October Big Day is a 24-hour opportunity to count and report the birds you observe and coordinate with birders from around the world. This is an opportunity for you to join the world community of birders in a common goal of documenting “what birds are found where” on a mid-October day – worldwide. Last year, a total of 6,709 species of wild birds were observed in 165 different countries!

Participating in the October Big Day is a simple 4-Step Process:

·1) Start an eBird account: If you aren’t already signed up for eBird online, it’s Easy – and it’s Free. eBird is a bird checklist program used by millions of birders worldwide, that allows eBird to compile everyone’s sightings into a single massive October Big Day list, while at the same time collecting the data for scientists to use to better understand birds and their movements. Sign up for eBird at https://secure.birds.cornell.edu/cassso/account/create

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·2) Observe birds on October 17. Just identify and count all the birds you see at a given location – it’s that simple! You can participate in your yard, your neighborhood, a local refuge or nature center, anywhere you choose – you can even participate by birding at more than one location; just report your results separately for each site. The October Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone, but you don’t need to participate all day – even a half-hour of birding in your favorite location will help. You don’t need to be a wild bird expert, and you can report birds from anywhere in the world.

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3) Report the birds you see and hear on eBird: You can report your sightings at https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000957911

4) Watch the bird sightings roll in: Throughout the day and night October 17, it’s great fun to watch the numbers of sightings, the kinds of birds people see, and where other birders are reporting from across the country and around the world – from more than 165 countries last year! Statistics will be updated in real time at https://ebird.org/octoberbigday Although this interesting webpage currently shows the exciting statistics and information from last year’s October Big Day – you will surely enjoy comparing different countries and birds reported in 2019.

For more information about the October Big Day, see https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2020-bigger-than-ever

Everyone recognizes that the Covid pandemic continues to impact our communities, and even if your local conditions have improved, organizers encourage everyone to put your health safety and the health safety of others first, and follow local Covid guidelines, yet enjoy your birding activities under safe conditions. If you are homebound for health reasons, you can still participate during October Big Day by recording the birds you see out your windows! Everyone can participate, everyone is welcome, and you will find joining the fun personally fulfilling in that you will be contributing to an expansive citizen-science event.