Among the 7,838 different species of birds reported by birders worldwide during Saturday’s October Big Day, this Sparkling Violetear was photographed in Colombia, where birders tallied about 1,400 species (photo by Carlos Ulate). American birders led the way with the most birders participating in the October Big Day (Say’s Phoebe photo by Becky Matsubara in California).

As we went to press Tuesday evening, it was clear that several records were smashed with almost all the results posted by participants of the worldwide October Big Day birding event, held last Saturday, October 12th. New records were established by more than 43,614 birders (previous record: 33,559) from at least 198 countries who reported a record-setting 7,838 species of birds (previous record: 7,702 species), making last Saturday the biggest day in October birding history! This year’s global reach in participation shows the power of birds to bring people together, with a common interest in mind – to document where different species of birds are in the midst of fall migration.

American birders tallied an impressive 692 species, which currently positions us in 12th place, with Canada’s total of 332 species placing them in 30th place. Colombia leads all nations with 1,397 species and other countries in the top 10 and their counts on Tuesday included Peru (1,315), Brazil (1,237), Ecuador (1,130), Bolivia (822), Tanzania (771), Argentina (768), India (747), Kenya (739), and Costa Rica (729). As usual, there is an obvious trend for South American countries to tally the highest species counts, especially those with the influence of where the Andes Mountains meets the Amazon River basin, but East African nations and India rank especially high too. It’s really exciting to see the level of interest among birders worldwide, and this year it’s notable that birders in Tanzania birders made a big push forward in participation and species totals.

While eBird noted that the October Big Day wouldn’t be the global phenomenon it is without the incredible birding community, we at The Birding Wire thank all our readers who participated in this record-setting day of birding! To view all the details about the species of birds found and the numbers of birders involved nation by nation, hemisphere by hemisphere, and worldwide, see the October Big Day page