Join Us for October Big Day!

October Big Day? What is that?? October Big Day is a day dedicated to Bird Watching and Bird Counting in a single day event. Furthermore, it began, obviously in October, for the first time in 2018. Due to the large amount of migration occurring in October, it is a great time to get a view and count of the many different species of birds!

Who is Responsible for the Creation of October Big Day?

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Team, Team eBird, are the coordinators of October Big Day. Team eBird is a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (the study of birds). Furthermore, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is supported completely by grants, sponsors, and donations. Their Partners include Audubon, Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation and Leon Levy Foundation.

When is October Big Day?

October Big Day is an annual event in the month of October. It starts at 12:01AM and continues all day through 11:59PM Saturday night. For updated annual dates for all Bird Watching/Bird Counting Activities, see SOWLE RV’s FUN BIRD AWARENESS DAYS OF THE YEAR article!

Where is October Big Day Held?

First, October Big Day is held Worldwide and is available to “attend” from any location! Therefore, observing Birds on October Big Day is as simple as watching out a window in your own backyard or take a drive to your favorite place and note what you see on the way!  Another great way to find a spot, if you would like to find an eBird hotspot near your location, simply click here!

Why Does October Big Day Exist?

October Big Day enables the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to combine an entire day of worldwide bird counting and data collection for their scientists to better understand birds and migration. While the Scientists do their job, it also allows the public to enjoy their love of bird watching and counting in addition to helping out an important cause! Like Team eBird states, “Because in our world, every bird counts.

What Does it Cost and How Do You Sign Up for October Big Day?

It’s FREE! You will need an eBird account to get your checklist. Sign up here or download the FREE App (link below)!

What Do You Need to do on October Big Day?

First, simply login to the eBird Account you created either on the App or Desktop. Next, watch those birds in the sky and either take notes on what you see or enter your count in the checklist as you see them!

Also, if you travel to a different location, make sure you start a new checklist! Besides that, you can take photos on October Big Day and add them to your checklist AND SOWLE Facebook Page! Most importantly, they may be shared on the October Big Day Page!! How AWESOME would THAT be!

Finally, you may not have time on Saturday to enter all your information to your checklist. No worries. Rather than rush to get your checklist complete, the eBird Team allows us until October 8th at midnight to enter our data!

Tips and Ideas for a Successful October Big Day for YOU!

Read through SOWLE RV’s Bird Watching for Beginners for all of the tips and tricks for bird watching you will need including suggestions for your bird watching area.

Then, get these 2 FREE Apps for the best experience:

eBird App

The eBird App is designed for you to:

1. create your free account
   B. sign up for October Big Day
   C. enter information into your checklist of birds you see
   D. watch all the sightings on October Big Day as they are entered in real-time
2.  

Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID App 

The Merlin Bird ID is designed for anyone interested in learning more about the birds they see every day or a specific bird they don’t recognize! The Merlin Bird ID App includes an AWESOME Photo ID tab! It allows you to take a photo from your phone or a saved photo and add it to the App to get an identification of most birds!

Please join the SOWLE RV Team for Bird Watching Facebook Group and share your birding photos and bird counts with us! We would love to know that you’re watching and counting those birds right along with us on October BIG Day!