Spring is just around the corner, and April 14 to May 14 will be the reporting period for the Green Big Day event this spring! Time to gear up and beat your own green big day record from last year. I will update website and blog in the days to come…please contact me if you would like to coordinate your region.:)
Hey, I encourage you to go to www.greenbirding.ca and register to become a part of their online greenbirding community! These are the visionary folks who brought us the BIGBY idea in 2008 and who were supportive of the Green Big Day competition.
I want to encourage you to consider using your BIGBY (Big Green Birding Year) or your personal “green big days” for fundraising to support your local bird-friendly non-profit organizations. Gary Prescott and some of his friends have been doing this in the UK for years – check out “The Biking Birder’s” blog here: http://bikingbirder2010.blogspot.com/.
Also, look at the Urban Ecology Center’s May 14 “Greenbirding Challenge” for ideas about how to organize your local birding community into a green fundraising force for good – http://urbanecologycenter.org/greenbirdingchallenge/index.html.
Yes, I’m still working on posting all those lists and results…!
I am pleased to announce the winners of the first ever Green Big Day competition! There are biking and walking categories, as well as inland and coastal for US teams. Of 29 teams reporting, 2 hailed from Australia, 6 were from the UK, and 21 from the US.
Over the next week or so, I will be posting everyone’s results in the drop down menus. Please continue sending me your stories. Congratulations to you all, and thank you for your time and effort! I hope you had as much fun as I did.
Australia
United Kingdom
USA – Coastal
USA – Inland
Hello there,
In the friendly spirit of competition, I urge you to check the Map & Scores tab to make sure your effort has been represented. If it has gotten lost in the shuffle, please let me know. Or if you haven’t sent me your bird list yet, please do so today! I will announce final winners Wednesday of this week.
Keep sending me stories of your green big day experience, and they will find their way to this website & blog.
Hey birders,
Some of you have had trouble uploading your lists to the website. If that is you, try converting your list to a .txt or .doc or .pdf. If all else fails, just email me directly and attach your list.
I am on track to publish final results of our friendly greenbirding game this weekend. Don’t forget to comment to this blog or email me with your team info and stories. If you already have, it will be up soon! Check the drop down menus for your team’s geographic area, best birds, etc.
Thank you to everyone in Australia, United Kingdom, and United States who participated this year…your comments about how to improve and expand this event are most appreciated!
I’ll be in touch soon with final numbers for each country…
Good birding!
Scott Smithson
Check out this article in SF Weekly about Josiah Clark’s and Dominik Mosur’s green big day adventure:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-04-27/news/bird-watching-bike-world-record-matt-smith/
Also, Dominik’s post to SFBirds below:
Yesterday, I set out on a biking big day with Josiah Clark and Brian
Turner (joined for part of the morning by SFWeekly writer Matt Smith)
As I rode out to the concrete bridge at South Lake Merced to meet my team, AMERICAN ROBINS, CALIFORNIA TOWHEES and DARK-EYED JUNCOS were already singing away at 5:00 a.m.
At the bridge we added a fly-by GREEN HERON and MALLARDS in the dawn’s
early light while BARN and TREE SWALLOWS could already be heard vocalizing overhead, mingling with sound of foraging bats. MOURNING DOVE, MARSH WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, SONG SPARROW, NUTTALL’S WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, BREWER’s BLACKBIRD and LESSER GOLDFINCH added to the “dawn chorus.” Continue reading
Hello birders,
Our friends in the northern parts of the US have had a long winter, and in order to give them another chance at good weather, I’ve extended the Green Big Day window to May 16. The catch is that all lists and reports are due by May 16 as well if you’d like your effort to be included in the Spring 2011 competition.
So, if you’ve been skunked multiple times by rain or snow, your regional spring migrants are late, or you just found out about this competition, get out there this weekend and do a hiking, biking or kayaking big day!
Also, don’t forget to celebrate International Migratory Bird Day on May 14 by doing a Green Big Day in your home county or participating in a local event. See their Explorers’ Map at http://www.birdday.org/birdday/explorers-map?id=100.
Greenbirders, if you were planning on joining this friendly big day game, get out there today or ask your mom for permission to go birding tomorrow! Please submit your team lists by May 15…
As I have time, I’ll be updating the website with more results and team information. Birders, unless you’ve given me permission, I’m using code names for each team. If you want your names and team descriptions up, just post a comment to this blog or email me.
Disclaimer: I do not recommend doing a big day on Mothers’ Day unless she is with you and wants to be there!
