Global Bird Weekend Soars to Success!
BirdLife International joined forces with Global Birding and eBird to take part in the Global Bird Weekend annual celebration of migrating birds. Over the weekend, our amazing birding community raised more than £25k for BirdLife's conservation work, with an impressive count of more than 400 species spotted.
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.
We would also like to say a big thanks to Stowe Family Law who donated £1,000 to our efforts.
The global birding community reported 7,525 species—an incredible 72 more than last October Big Day. This remarkable growth is a testament to the power of birds to unite people in a common effort.
Tim Appleton MBE and Penny Robinson from Global Birding said: “It’s always exciting to see how many people react so positively when we reach out to them, especially for these events. We love to encourage those in more remote areas to be part of the Global Birding Community. This year we are delighted that so many smaller groups have joined together as birds unite our world. We are incredibly grateful to all the teams who joined in, from the international teams to much smaller local groups including many youth organisations and schools who participated across the globe.”
Header Image: © Barend van Gemerden
“I was high in the Austrian mountains with not a soul in sight, but it was an amazing feeling to be connected with birders around the world.”
Dale Forbes, Swarovski Optik
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