Be a part of birding’s biggest team! Global Big Day is an annual celebration of the birds around you. No matter where you are, join us virtually on 13 May, help celebrate World Migratory Bird Day, and share the birds you find with eBird.
Participating is easy—you can even be part of Global Big Day from home. If you can spare 5 or 10 minutes, report your bird observations to eBird online or with the free eBird Mobile app. If you have more time, submit several checklists of birds throughout the day. You never know what you might spot. Your observations help us better understand global bird populations through products like these animated abundance maps brought to you by eBird Science.
Last year, Global Big Day brought birders together virtually from more countries than ever before. More than 51,000 people from 201 countries submitted 132,000 checklists with eBird, setting new world records for a single day of birding. Will you help us surpass last year’s records?
How to participate
- Get an eBird account: eBird is a worldwide bird checklist program used by millions of birders. It’s what allows us to compile everyone’s sightings into a single massive Global Big Day list—while at the same time collecting the data to help scientists better understand birds. Sign up here. It’s 100% free from start to finish.
- Watch birds on 13 May: It’s that simple. You don’t need to be a bird expert or go out all day long, even 10 minutes of birding from home counts. Global Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone. You can report what you find from anywhere in the world.
- Enter what you see and hear in eBird: You can enter your sightings via the website or download the free eBird Mobile app to make submitting lists even easier. Please enter your checklists before 16 May to be included in our initial results announcement.
- Watch the sightings roll in: During the day, follow along with sightings from more than 200 countries in real-time on our Global Big Day page.
Global Big Day Pro Tips
- If you’re new to eBird or want to make your checklists more valuable for science and conservation, take our free eBird Essentials course.
- The Cornell Lab’s free Merlin Bird ID app can help you to identify the birds you see and hear on Global Big Day.
- Use eBird Mobile Explore to find recently reported species or new places to go birding nearby.
- Discover new things about your favorite species with Birds of the World—FREE ACCESS starting 8am ET May 12th through 11:59pm ET May 15th.
- Take photos and sound recordings and add them to your checklist—they might end up on the Global Big Day page!
- Make your sightings more valuable: submit complete checklists, keep counts of the birds that you see,and keep multiple checklists throughout the day.
- Share what you’re seeing on social media with #globalbigday!
On 13 May, we hope you’ll be a part of our global birding team. Have fun, enjoy the birds you find, stay safe, and share your sightings on eBird. Because in our world, every bird counts.