On October 17 you can celebrate the birds near you and around the world by participating in Cornell Lab’s 2020 October Big Day. To be part of this Big Day just watch birds on Saturday October 17 any time from midnight to midnight in your local time zone, and report what you see to eBird. You can report birds from anywhere in the world, and watch for any amount of time.

You don’t need to be a bird expert, or go out all day long. Even 10 minutes in your own backyard will help. You can use the eBird website for your reporting or the free eBird Mobile app. If you don’t have an eBird account yet, you can sign up at ebird.org. It is easy, and totally free. After you report your sightings, you can watch the sightings roll in from over 150 countries around the world on the ebird.org Global Big Day page. To learn more visit ebird.org.

In addition, this year’s October Big Day 2020 is happening during the first Global Bird Weekend. The goal of Global Bird Weekend is to make October 17-18 the biggest ever birding weekend and support Bird Life International’s appeal to end illegal bird trade. To participate, watch birds on both Saturday and Sunday October 17 and 18 and report your sightings on eBird. And on Sunday take your camera, phone, friends and/or sketch pad along, share your birding places on the Global Bird Weekend social media pages, and upload your images to eBird’s dedicated Global Bird Weekend page. For more information, including how you can help support Bird Life International’s efforts, go to globalbirding.org.