On 14 October, people in 191 countries around the world joined together to celebrate birds for October Big Day. More than 36,000 people contributed 83,735 checklists, setting three new records for the single biggest day in October birding history.
E.J. McAdams, Chief Development Officer at BirdLife International and Executive Director of Friends of BirdLife International in the United States, said:
“Global Bird Weekend is not just a celebration of birds, it’s a call to action. Sometimes it may be hard to take in the scale at which BirdLife works or the diversity of members living around the globe. But, by participating in this event and contributing to our fundraising efforts, people are actively shaping the future of birds and their habitats.
BirdLife staff, other members, and our Advisory Group all went out and came back with amazing sightings, such as the endangered Purple-naped Lory (Indonesia), Long-tailed Shrike (Nepal), Sacred Kingfisher (Australia), Sabine’s Gull (Netherlands), Schlegel’s Asity (Madagascar), and others.”
This year’s October Big Day was also an opportunity to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day and Global Bird Weekend. Tremendous thanks to eBird, Global Birding’s Tim Appleton MBE and Penny Robinson and Swarovski Optik for making Global Bird Weekend possible, and to the World Migratory Bird Day team for their efforts.
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