Wetland Wednesday
April 8, 2020
I know many of you are stuck at home looking for something to do. We have noticed an increase in bird activity due to the decrease in traffic and human activity. I can sit on my back porch and hear all the sounds of the forest without the din of traffic in the background. I think the birds have noticed this too and they are a lot more active.
We are sponsoring a Big Day Challenge for the next two weeks. The way this works is that you record all the birds that you see or hear over a 24-hour time period. This can be at home, in the field, at a park or wherever you are. It is just a matter of making a list. You can put as little or as much effort into it as you wish. It can also be done while you are working if you are fortunate enough to have field work.
What you need to do is pick a day between now and next Friday (April 17, 2020) to do your Big Day. Then write down the common names of all the birds you see or hear. It is on the honor system, but you do need to be sure. We don’t need any photographs, just your word is good enough. We are not collecting numbers of individual species, just the bird species itself. So, if you see a cardinal in your back yard 5 times, it will only count once.
We ask that you gather your data in an excel compatible spreadsheet to include the following headers:
- Date of Your Big Day
- Common Name of Bird
- Location of sighting (just county and state)
Once you have finished your Big Day, email us your list to: BigDay@SwampSchool.org
Be sure to include your name and email with your spreadsheet.
We will compile all the data into one spreadsheet and make that available to all participants. You do not need to pre-register for this. Your data entry will serve as your registration. The winner of the Big Day will be announced, and an official Swamp School Big Day Award Certificate will be sent to the top three birders. We will also post this on our website for all to see!
If you have any questions, please reply to this post.
Happy birding, Marc
