eBird’s October Big Day 2020 is coming up! Take the opportunity to get outside and bird on October 17th. You can participate in a huge citizen science project while birdwatching your patch, or exploring a new site. Birders from more than 70 countries around the world will be submitting checklists of the birds that they see. You will be directly contributing to our understanding of global bird populations as the spring and fall Big Days capture where birds are during their annual cycle as well as how abundant they are in specific lcoations.
In Hawai‘i, there should be lots of sightings of one of our most beloved travelers, the kolea (Pacific Golden-Plover). It’s also a good time to get out and look for some of the rarer migrants such as Sharp-tailed Sandpiper or kioea (Bristle-thighed Curlew). Recent avian rarities in Hawaiʻi include Nazca Boobies in the Kona area, but there’s also joy to be found in ticking off the common, introduced birds–and value in keeping tabs on their abundance and distribution.
You can join in as an individual, local group, or a larger team. If you want to extend the fun, you can take part in Global Bird Weekend which includes the Big Day on the 17th as well as additional activities and events. You could be contributing to the world record for the number of species seen or the number of people taking part in an October birdwatching event. Some people are calling it ‘ornitherapy’; in our Covid world, maybe we could all use another reason to get outside and take a natural mental health break.
Learn More and Register:
