October Big Day, 2021

During last year’s October Big Day, the world’s birders managed to find a record 7,064 species–the most species EVER recorded in a single day!  Can we top that this year?  We are certainly going to try!

How to participate

1. Get an eBird account: eBird is a worldwide bird checklist program used by millions of birders. It’s what 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. Sign up here. It’s 100% free.
2. Watch birds on October 9. It’s that simple! October Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone. You don’t need to be a bird expert, or go out all day long. You can report birds from anywhere in the world—even 10 minutes in your backyard will help.
3. Enter what you see and hear on eBird: You can enter your sightings via the eBird website or—even easier—download the free eBird Mobile app. The app allows you to keep and submit lists while you’re still out birding, explore nearby Hotspots, and will even track of how far you’ve walked so you can focus on watching birds.

Finding birds and keeping checklists is easy with the free eBird Mobile app. Download for iOS or Android.

Global Big Day Pro Tips

• If you’re new to eBird or want to make your checklists more valuable for science and conservation, take the free eBird Essentials course.
• Use Cornell Lab’s Merlin Bird ID app for help identifying tricky species, then use eBird to report them so your sightings are part of the October Big Day totals.
• Take photos and add them to your checklist—they might end up on the October Big Day page!
• Make your sightings more valuable: submit complete checklists, keep counts of the birds that you see, and keep multiple checklists throughout the day.
• Share what you’re seeing on social media with #octoberbigday!