What birds will you see during the “biggest weekend of spring birding?” (drake Harlequin Duck photographed by Christian Briand). The World Migratory Bird Day global map artwork themed Water: Sustaining Bird Life.

This weekend, May 13 & 14, must be counted as the biggest weekend of the year for birders. Starting with the Global Big Day on Saturday, it’s also World Migratory Bird Day, the World Series of Birding will be taking place, there are a host of birding festivals and other events taking place across the North America, and songbird action at The Biggest Week in American Birding will peak – plus Mother’s Day is Sunday, a perfect time for mothers and their families to enjoy a birding walk together.

Described in the previous article, the Global Big Day is taking place worldwide Saturday – it’s easy and it’s fun, and it gives you a certain sense of pride to join the biggest birding team ever assembled. Keep a checklist and a tally of the birds you see – enjoy birding anywhere, including your own yard, for any length of time you wish to participate. You can share more than one checklist during Saturday’s event, and for a complete description of how to participate in the Global Big Day, see Global Big Day—13 May 2023 - eBird

World Migratory Bird Day provides an opportunity for groups and individuals to participate in a local event as part of the worldwide celebration of spring bird migrations. Last year, thousands of participants attended 511 events in 66 countries. Water: Sustaining Bird Life is the campaign slogan for this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, which will be celebrated Saturday, May 13th. This year’s theme highlights the importance of water for migratory birds and identifies actions to protect water resources and aquatic ecosystems. You can learn more at https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/

The 40th World Series of Birding will take place Saturday to raise awareness for the importance of protecting birds and birds’ habitats in a competitive venue that has evolved into an annual 24-hour competition where nearly 100 teams compete to count as many bird species as possible by sight or by sound, while raising awareness and funds for bird conservation efforts. To learn more, refer to World Series of Birding | New Jersey Audubon (njaudubon.org)

The Biggest Week in American Birding is a huge birding festival that takes place in the midst of the “Warbler Capitol of the World,” and although the activities began May 5 the songbird abundance and variety will likely peak the final 2 days of this prestigious event, May 13 & 14. Organized and operated by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, hundreds of enthusiastic birders make the pilgrimage to this songbird migration hotspot centered near Oregon, Ohio. To learn more, see BWIAB - Home (biggestweekinamericanbirding.com)

There are a wealth of excellent Birding Festivals taking place this weekend across the continent, which are described festival by festival, state by state in a previous issue of The Birding Wire, which is directly linked at May Birding Festivals | Birding Wire

Take your Mom birding for Mother’s Day – enjoy a birding walk, a country drive, or a serious field trip, if she prefers. Make it an enjoyable time together outdoors focused on birds and Mom. It’s an exciting weekend that emphasizes a peak of migrating songbirds and other species crossing North America as they reposition from wintering areas to nesting ranges. Enjoy the thrills these birds bring us all!