[Maine-birds] Global Big Day Challenge

Hello,

Last year the Cornell Lab of Ornithology invited the world to join in a global big day. They have sent out the invitation again, asking everyone around the world to join together to count as many species as possible on May 14th and support bird conservation through this fundraiser. 

You can find more details about the Global Big Day here: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/savethedategbd2016/

Of particular note to Mainers is that the artwork for both last year's and this year's big day was done by Luke Seitz (from Falmouth, Cumberland Co.), "a local birder gone big time." Last year he made a map of the world with birds nestled into the shape of their respective core continents. His map is available to download (see link on the web site), and the all-important donation links are there too.

It was suggested last year by Louis Bevier that Maine have a friendly competition between counties. He wrote, "Obviously Maine does not have any endemic species to contribute to the global total, but perhaps we could get some local competition going. It's not fair to challenge Aroostook birders with the diversity that York County can muster on an early May date, but perhaps some paired county competitions might be fun, e.g. York versus Cumberland, Hancock versus Washington, or Lincoln versus Sagadahoc."

So in the spirit of local, friendly competition and as a resident of Cumberland Co. who works in York Co., I am issuing a friendly challenge to the York Co. birders. Last year York Co. had 145 species on the Global Big Day, while Cumberland Co. had 138. I am challenging the York Co. birders to log more birds into eBird than Cumberland Co. birders on May 14th, 2016. I am also issuing a side challenge to birders in Maine's other 14 counties. My additional challenge is for you too to challenge another county.

To join in the Global Big Day, simply enter your observations for May 14th into eBird (ebird.org). It is really as simple as that. If you are out birding that day, take some notes of what you see, and enter them into eBird.

If you are unfamiliar with eBird or would like to learn more I can recommend Josh Fecteau's website (http://joshfecteau.com/ebird-basics/) or you could attend Doug Hitchcox's eBird Primer offered by Maine Audubon at Gilsland Farm, Falmouth on March 9th (http://maineaudubon.org/events/ebird-primer/). And Louis Bevier (lrbevier@colby.edu) is another great eBird resource, who will happily answer any questions you might have about eBird.

Happy birding and good luck York Co.

Nathan Hall

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