Tag Archive | Global Big Day

Citizen Science in 2021 – Get Involved!

Jan23

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

One of the great things about being a birder or nature enthusiast is the opportunity to get involved in citizen science projects. There are dozens of ongoing projects every year where you can contribute data to scientific studies, learn about local habitats and wildlife populations, and contribute to the public’s understanding of nature and of the importance of conservation.

Photographing a Black-capped Chickadee on a Christmas Bird Count in Calgary.

In addition to permanent year-round projects like eBird which records birds all over the world and iNaturalist which records any living thing, there are a number of annual events that you can participate in.

  • Winter Bug Count
  • Great Backyard Bird Count
  • City Nature Challenge
  • Global eBird Big Day
  • May Species Count
  • Christmas Bird Count
  • and many more

If you are interested in taking part in any of these local citizen science projects, or in getting more information about them, please fill out the form at this link:

Citizen Science Events 2021

Matthew Wallace, who created this form and organizes several local citizen science projects, will send you information or put you in touch with the organizers of whichever projects you are interested in. Whether you have participated before or are new to these projects, please fill out the form and get involved in 2021!

Global Big Day, Saturday May 4

May3

Tomorrow is eBird’s Global Big Day, during which birders all over the world are encouraged to submit their sightings on eBird to create a one-day snapshot of the state of the world’s birds. All you have to do is go birding anywhere and submit your sightings on eBird! Even a few minutes of birding will help to contribute to the Big Day. Click the link above to read all about it.

Global Big Day 2019

Last year over 30,00 people submitted lists, recording over 7,000 species of birds. Let’s see if we can top this!

The Cornell Lab has also started doing an eBird Big Day in the fall. The first one was on October 6, 2018. Over 6,000 species were recorded, including these rare Greater Sage-Grouse photographed by Gavin McKinnon. Gavin was the only birder to report this species on the Big Day.

Greater Sage-Grouse
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Greater Sage-Grouse
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

You can see a band on the leg of the bird in the second photo. These birds are part of a program by the Calgary Zoo to try to at least help this species hang on to its very restricted range in Canada. Here is a news article about this program.

Not everyone will see a rare bird tomorrow, but every sighting of any species counts!

Global Big Day 2019

October Global Big Day This Saturday

Oct4

For the last four years, eBird has held a Global Big Day in May to try to count as many of the world’s bird species as possible in one day, with citizen scientists counting birds all over the world. May is the height of spring migration in the northern hemisphere, and the count has been extremely popular and successful. This year eBird is holding another Big Day on Saturday October 6th, when many birds in the northern hemisphere are on migration, and spring is under way in the southern hemisphere.

Global Big Day

Image from the eBird Global Big Day page.

All you have to do to participate is to submit an eBird list from any birding you do on October 6. There is information on the Global Big Day page on how to set up an account if you haven’t already done so. You can also watch the results come in from all over the world during the day on this page.

Get out on Saturday and participate in this event! If you can’t get out, send a list from your yard. Every little bit helps!

Global Big Day, Saturday May 5, 2018

May4

Tomorrow is the fourth annual Global Big Day organized by the Cornell lab of Ornithology. Birders all over the world are encouraged to go birding and report their sightings on eBird. The goal is to see how many of the world’s 10,000+ species can be found, and to get reports from as many places and as many people as possible.

Global Big Day

Global Big Day 2018. Image from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The first such Big Day in 2015 had 6,085 species reported, which almost doubled the previous best day on eBird. Last year, on May 13, almost 20,000 people from 150 countries contributed more than 50,000 checklists containing 6,564 species. This is truly an important record of the state of the birds in the world.

To take part, just go birding anywhere you want to, and report your sightings on eBird. There is no need to spend the whole day – just spend some time counting birds in your local park, your yard, or anywhere you like.

You can read more about the 2018 Global Big Day here. You can also watch in real time as the results come in on this page.

If you have not used eBird before, it is very easy to get started. All the information you need is on their site. Start here to learn how it works, and then sign in and get started.

Note: If you want to contribute on Saturday but have not yet started using eBird, please just record the information about your outing (the location, the time spent birding, the species you see, and their approximate numbers), and you can enter the data into eBird later. Your sightings will be added to the Big Day. If you have trouble getting started with eBird, email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com and I’ll try to help. But read the information on the eBird site first.

Global Big Day, May 13, 2017

May12

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Tomorrow, Saturday May 13, is the third annual Global Big Day, organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The hope is that birders all over the world will go out that day and report as many species as they can.

Can you find a Long-eared Owl on the Global Big Day? Fish Creek Park, November 7, 2010. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

In 2016, 15,953 birders in 145 countries contributed 43,848 checklists, and recorded a total of 6,263 bird species. Your individual contribution this Saturday is important in preserving a record of our local bird life. Here’s how to make your sightings count.

There will also be a random draw from everyone who submits at least three complete checklists on May 13, with the winner getting Zeiss Conquest HD 8X42 binoculars.

The results are already coming in from the Eastern Hemisphere, and you can watch the worldwide results as they come in here.

The Cornell Lab’s team of birders is raising money by trying to find 300 species of birds in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in twenty-four hours. You can sponsor the Cornell Big Day team here.

Locally, many birders are making a special effort to get out and put in their three checklists. Dan Arndt and a few others are actually doing a Calgary Region Big Day, trying to see as many species as they can within the local 80-km radius birding circle. You can follow Dan’s progress and see how many species they have (and perhaps learn where some really good birds are located) by following him on his Twitter account. Dan’s handle is @ubermoogle, so follow him, or go to his page on Twitter to see what he posts.