Global Big Day – Counting birds together around the world

Posted on by birdwatchingcuracao

On Saturday, May 9, it’s that time again. Global Big Day will be held worldwide. An international day, organized by Cornell Ornithology Lab, on which thousands of people go out into gardens and nature reserves to search for land and water birds to count them. This takes a snapshot of bird diversity and density around the world with everyone active on the same day. All counting data is entered on the eBird website, www.ebird.org, creating a massive database of bird diversity.

In addition to the semi-scientific data collected, the day is primarily intended to get people into nature, to go for walks, look for birds, and above all, to observe. Alone, in a group, with family, or with friends.

On all three islands Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, there are volunteers participating in Global Big Day by heading out into the field to count birds in the wild. Additionally, people are encouraged to count in their gardens. And that only takes fifteen minutes, from the comfort of a chair in the garden or on the porch. To count birds, you can easily use the eBird app, which can be downloaded from the well-known app stores and also from the website www.ebird.org. See the instruction sequence below for the step-by-step process of creating an account, setting it up, and creating your first checklist.

Download the eBird app on your phone via your Appstore and install it. When you have made an account following the instructions in the app you can finetune the settings for your location. Click on Settings and chose how you want to see the species names (Common and/or Scientific). Chose the bird pack for your location so you well get the correct suggestions and all the new species updates in the species list. Close your settings and you can start with your first checklist by pressing on the dark green button with Start checklist!
Start your checklist and you will get a full list of possible bird species to be expected at your location. The first ones are the most expected, some species are in a separate list that is lower in the row of names. These are less expected and even rare. You can tally each species by simply pressing on the PLUS sign in front of each name. Every press in an additional individual. If you click on the name of the bird you will get the third screen in which you can manually write the number of birds of the species you have seen as well as additional details. Click on each purple button to see what each one is. Here you can put details of breeding, youngsters and more. If you want to see additional information on the species you think you have spotted you can press on the Merlin button on the top right and you will get a large photo, information and sounds that the birds make. Simply press on the arrow button on the top left and the cross button when you are back in the details window to go back to your list. Continue counting until you have finished. Then press STOP.
You can run the eBird app offline and submit your checklists later when you have Wi-Fi. If you are done birding and want to complete your checklist, press on the green button with the word STOP. The app will ask if you are done birding, affirm this. Then you will have to chose the location you have been birding from. There are choices of hotspots, if you have been counting there and other known locations to the app. However you can select a personal location as well and chose not to make it a public location if it is your personal garden. Change the number of observers if needed, the app should have recorded the minutes you have birded and the track if applicable. Press YES at the question of a complete checklist. Click on Continue, and submit your list. Or wait till you have Wi-Fi to get back to your unsubmitted lists and submit now.

Create an account and you can immediately start creating counting lists with your phone. Are you counting birds in your garden? Then stand or sit in a strategic spot in the garden and wait 5 minutes before you start counting. Turn on the app and start a checklist. Count all the bird species you see and the number of birds of each species for about 15 minutes. When you are finished, stop the checklist with the green button (see photos of the app in the instruction illustration), select a location, indicate that you are submitting a complete checklist, and submit the checklist immediately if you have data on your phone. If you do not, you can also return to your list later and submit it when you have Wi-Fi. There are two counting methods in eBird that apply to counting on Global Big Day. You can count stationary, that is, from one (1) spot, but you can also record a track, and the app will keep track of exactly which route you walked, for example when counting in nature or in a large garden. Even then, it is important to count all the birds you see by species and the number of birds per species. This provides very valuable information about bird density and diversity in certain areas.

For your convenience, we have created a special overview with photos of the most common bird species you can find in the garden to help with identification. You can also use them to count by hand and later create a checklist with your account on eBird. Download the overview here:

Poster tuinvogelsDownload

If you are having trouble identifying a bird species, try taking a photo and sending it to us, or describe the animal in an email or message on our Facebook page Bird Watching Curaçao or on Caribbean Footprint or to info@caribbeanfootprint.com. Are you joining in too!?

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