Looking a bit like one of the tropical hawk-eagles, a young Red-tailed Hawk was among the 7,702 different species of birds reported by birders worldwide during last year’s October Big Day (photo by Paul Konrad).

Saturday October 12th you can participate in the biggest birding day of fall, the October Big Day. Wherever you are, whenever you have a few minutes or a couple hours, you can join birders participating from around the world. It’s easy, just identify and count the birds during any time period you choose this Saturday, then report your results to eBird to join tens of thousands of people from nearly 200 countries during this “global day of birding.” Participate from your favorite birding hotspot, a new location you choose especially for this event, or from an easy chair at home or in your yard. You can even visit more than one location to make it especially exciting for you and anyone you would like to invite to join you.

Each fall, October Big Day activities clearly demonstrate the power of birds to bring people together for a common goal. The importance of the OBD is that the bird lists participants share with eBird provide an excellent snapshot of what species are being found in which locations in each state, nation, and continent during the midst of fall migration – and it all adds up to a wealth of useful information for biologists, conservation groups, and birders. Be a part of the global team to help set a new world record for the number of people participating and the number of birds observed.

To learn more about how you can participate in the October Big Day, simply refer to October Big Day—12 Oct 2024 - eBird and consider inviting a family member, friend, or co-worker to join you birding during the October Birding Day – it’s a worldwide celebration of birds and birding!

Another exciting activity during October Big Day weekend is that you can watch the results add up as birders’ reports are posted on eBird – Live! During the day you can follow along as bird reports from nearly 200 countries will be tallied in real-time at the October Big Day page. It is really impressive to see all the different national totals, species totals, hemisphere and continental totals – and Saturday the action is Live as birders around the world report the birds they see. Even before October 12th, you can visit the webpage to review the many categories and totals garnered during last year’s October Big Day! It’s all very interesting, impressive, and inspiring.