A Big Day will keep you on your toes, but it doesn’t have to be grueling. Here’s how to have fun while seeing more birds than you ever thought possible.
By Hugh Powell
September 19, 2024
Originally published April 2018; expanded and updated September 2024.
Big Days are a great way to enjoy birding while giving it an extra dash of excitement. Sure, Big Days (and Big Years) can have a reputation as competitive, pedal-to-the-metal affairs, but they don’t have to be. You can just as easily head out on a relaxed outing that lasts a day, a morning, or an hour, with goals as simple as spending a little extra time birding with friends.
Now is a great time to try out a Big day—interest in birding is rising, and helpful learning tools like Merlin Bird ID are widely available. During the 2024 Global Big Day, more than 1.3 million people participated worldwide and reported a staggering 7,725 species of birds in total.
To make the most of your Big Day, you’ll benefit from a bit of strategy, some preparation, and a few key tips for the day itself. And we’ve got you covered:
Plenty of Big Day Opportunities Every Year
A Big Day can happen anytime that’s convenient for you. But twice a year an opportunity comes along to join in with the rest of the birding world—thousands of other birders all out birding on a massive group Big Day.
- Global Big Day is an annual event in mid-May, timed for peak spring migration in the Northern Hemisphere.
- October Big Day gives the Southern Hemisphere a chance for a spring Big Day, while Northern Hemisphere birders get to enjoy fall birding.
That said, there’s not really a wrong time to do a Big Day. Migration seasons are likely to net you the most species, but other times of year have their own seasonal rewards and resonances. Other popular times include Christmas Bird Count season, the Great Backyard Bird Count, World Migratory Bird Day celebrations, and New Year’s Day.
1. Design a Big Day That’s Right for You
- Right-Size It. Big Days can be as big or small, long or short, as you want. You don’t have to spend all 24 hours awake, outside, and birding. You can zoom from hotspot to hotspot in a car, bicycle at a slower pace, or even just pick one fine vantage point and do a Big Sit. And there’s nothing wrong with doing a Big Morning or a Big Hour, either.
- Find Your Inspiration. Many Big Days are about species totals—but you can choose any goal that catches your fancy: Perhaps it’s a chance to visit a new place. Maybe it’s the challenge of carbon-free birding, or a reason to scope out that giant flock of gulls at the lakeshore. Or you could focus on rounding up all the members of your favorite bird family in your area—anything.
- Set Your Expectations. Once you’ve decided on your Big Day focus, use eBird to help you plan your route and get a sense of how long your day is shaping up to be. And remember to celebrate everything you see, even the small stuff. Big numbers and mega-rarities are not mandatory for enjoying a Big Day. Finding success in little things, or setting a few achievable goals, will keep you motivated.
2. Plan Your Route
Every day, millions of people around the world enjoy watching birds and recording their sightings.
What if there were a way to take all of these observations – yours, ours, everyone’s, and put them all in one place?
If we could do this we would fundamentally transform not just birding, but science and conservation. From this idea emerged, eBird.
Put simply, eBird is a way for anyone around the world to store their birding observations, their photos, their sound recordings, and make them available to educators, scientists, and birders. It’s incredibly easy to use and it’s incredibly powerful. All you do is let us know where you went birding, when, how far you traveled, and what you saw. It’s powerful because hundreds of thousands of people all around the world are doing it and it’s growing.
eBird already safeguards half a billion sightings…information that allows all of us to understand the movements and needs of birds at global scales. eBird maintains your lists for you and shares them with other birders from around the world.
By sharing, it’s now possible for anyone, anywhere to find your target birds and the best birding hotspots any time of the year.
Before eBird there was no way to comprehensively understand population level movements of many species.
By combining your sightings with remote sensed habitat data from NASA we’re able to generate species distribution models that provide an unparalleled view of where and when birds are in the landscape.
Scientists and students all over the world are now able to use eBird datasets for the research at a variety of spatial scales. These observations help inform better conservation strategies; opening the door to the future of bird conservation. And this is just the beginning.
With the help of millions of people who come to eBird each year, we are creating a free open access system that is easy to use, fun, and rewarding. Rewarding for birders, for scientists, for conservationists, and ultimately the birds themselves.
Go to eBird.org or download bird mobile to get started all for free. By joining eBird, you’re joining a global team of people that share your passion for birds. Be a part of it!
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- Use eBird and eBird Mobile to Find Hotspots. eBird can help you plan any birding trip, to spots new or old. Two great tools are eBird Hotspots and the eBird Mobile app. Use these to figure out which birding spots deserve a place on your route, and to learn where you need to go to have a chance at hard-to-find species.
- Mix Up Habitats. Woods, fields, thickets, marshes, lakes, mudflats, valleys, mountaintops—look for a route that takes in all the habitat types in your area—each one will bring you new birds. In general, short visits to multiple habitats will boost your species total more than long stays in a single spot.
- Choose Good Dawn and Sunset Spots. These are times that birds are on the move. Place yourself near a wetland, lakeshore, or other busy area with good visibility and watch for birds leaving or coming in to roost.
- Look for Water. From a humble birdbath or trickling stream to wide rivers, lakeshores, and coastlines—where you find water, you’ll find birds. In winter, finding a patch of open, ice-free water is even more advantageous.
- Make Time for Raptors. Remember, hawks, eagles, and vultures often don’t start soaring until the air warms up. Build in a stop with a good view of open sky, but save it for late morning or early afternoon.
- Draw Up a Rough Schedule. How much travel time will you have between spots, and how much time do you need at each spot to find birds there? This can help as a reality check for your proposed route and keep you on track during the day itself. Be sure to build in rest stops for necessities like bathroom breaks and water refills.
- Have a Backup Plan. Surprises can happen on a Big Day. If one of your spots is unexpectedly unavailable, do you know of a similar patch nearby, as an alternate?
3. Be Prepared
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- Know What’s Around with eBird. You’ve used eBird to strategize your route; now use it to keep tabs on recent sightings so you can pick them up on the day. Check latest sightings in your area or use eBird Targets. Use eBird Mobile’s Explore feature to see birds recently recorded within a set radius.
- Check BirdCast Forecasts. Migration is a great time to do a Big Day, but not all days are equal. If you’re in the U.S. Lower 48, BirdCast’s 3-day migration forecasts can tell you how many birds are on the move and which species are most likely. More on how to use BirdCast.
- Study Bird Calls with Merlin. Birding by ear is the key to finding more species. Our free Merlin Bird ID app includes every bird species in your region. In the lead-up to your Big Day, brush up on what your target birds sound like, so you can pick them out at a distance. Merlin also has a great Sound ID feature that tells you what’s singing in real time.
- Scout Your Route. You’ll save time on your Big Day if you know where target birds are hanging out. Visit your key stops a few days ahead to get a feel for which species are present and where exactly to look for them. For best results, aim to visit at the same time of day as on your Big Day.
- Talk a Friend into It. It’s fun to bird together, and more sets of eyes mean you’ll find more birds. You can keep each other going when fatigue sets in, share snacks, crack jokes, and make memories.
- Tune Up Your Equipment. Big Day is not the best time to be cleaning your lenses, setting your diopter, finding your raingear, or breaking in new shoes. If you’re bringing a scope, practice setting up the tripod, focusing on distant specks, and following birds in flight. If you’re birding by car or bike, make sure you’re prepared for a flat tire.
4. On the Day, Don’t Forget To:
- Give Owling a Try. Carve out a couple of hours to sit in a quiet location before dawn or after sunset. You might hear a number of owl species, as well as (possibly) nightjars, cuckoos, and a variety of marsh birds.
- Bring Snacks. Don’t let your energy levels tank! It’s a bit of an open secret that snacks are a favorite part of any Big Day. They’re crucial—after a few hours of birding, refueling is a must—so bring your favorites.
- Wear Comfortable Shoes. Even if you’re doing a car-supported Big Day you’ll probably walk farther than you think. Wear comfy socks. If you’ll be tromping through wet ground, consider having rubber boots on hand so you can avoid having wet feet the whole day.
- Bring a Scope If You Can. Spotting scopes are nearly essential for faraway birds such as raptors, ducks, and shorebirds. With a good scope you can scan empty sky (or water) and pick out species that otherwise would remain invisible.
- Know When to Move On. No matter how well you scout, every Big Day will include some inexplicable “misses.” Waiting around for a bird that stubbornly won’t appear can put you behind schedule, meaning you miss more birds later on. Set a time limit and stick to it.
- Don’t Set Anything on the Roof of the Car. Especially your binoculars. In the rush of getting in and out, it’s so easy to drive off with a bird book, coffee mug (or worse) on the roof and not realize until it comes off.
- Roll with the Changes. Every Big Day contains magical moments of elation and serendipity. But you’ll also have periods that seem dull, tiresome, or impossible as birds go quiet and conditions refuse to cooperate. Often this is a great time to dig into your snack bag for a splash of energy and a pause to reflect on what you’ve achieved already. It only takes a moment for the next bird to come along and re-brighten your day.
- Be Safe. Big Days can be exhausting—with long hours, intense concentration, and lots of travel. Check in with others, be careful driving, be aware of your surroundings if you stop suddenly for a bird, and don’t push yourself or your teammates to the brink of exhaustion.
- Keep It Fun. If rain sets in, or the temperature plunges, or birds refuse to cooperate, remember that you’re in charge. Sometimes it can be fun to grind through bad conditions; but it can be just as fun to go home, warm up, change clothes, and start planning the next one.
5. Getting Serious? Try These Pro Tips
As people get comfortable with planning and pulling off Big Days, some are drawn to the challenge of planning the perfect route and pursuing the highest species tallies. There are even Big Day competitions like New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding. If you’re stepping into a more competitive Big Day, try these advanced tips:
- Rank Your Target Birds. When planning a route, sort birds into categories based on how likely they are: easy to find anywhere; easy to find but only at one or two spots; likely to find but require work; too infrequent to count on; etc. This will help you judge how your day is going and know when/where to put in extra work to fill gaps in your list.
- Divvy Up the Car Birding. The front passenger will have the best view forward and to their side. The driver needs to pay attention to the road, so the person on the driver’s side in the back seat should watch that side. Back seat passengers can keep track of birds while stopping or turning around. A sunroof can help you pick up or track flying birds.
- Bird as a Team. “Serious” Big Days typically require all team members to see at least 95% of all the birds in the final list. This means team members need to stay fairly close together so as not to miss a fleeting sighting.
- Develop Scope Skills. It takes practice to be able to aim and focus a scope on a distant moving bird. Once focused, teammates will need to quickly and smoothly take turns looking in order to count the bird. With fast-moving birds, move the scope a little ahead of the bird before swapping places, so it moves back into view in time for the next person.
- Be Ready for a Flat. Some Big Day itineraries are so packed that every minute counts. A flat tire can be disastrous—but you can make the best of it if you know where your spare is and are ready to change it.
When a Big Day has the right mix of effort, planning, and challenge—not too much, not too little—the feeling can be magical. Even the most laidback Big Days involve birding intentionally and making time to be outside in nature. Sunrises, sunsets, changes in the weather, seeing new places, the serendipity of an unexpected bird, the feeling of having stretched your senses farther than you thought they could go—these are the reasons to embark on a Big Day. We hope you enjoy yours.
Thanks to the many Cornell Lab staff, students, and friends who shared tips and suggestions for this article, including: Kathi Borgmann, Jenna Curtis, Marc Devokaitis, Emily Engle, Holly Grant, Laura Kammermeier, Kevin McGowan, Matt Medler, Erin Pierce, Tom Schulenberg, Santi Tabares Erices, Katherine Welch, Chris Wood.
