This weekend, Rainforest Expeditions is participating in a global event along with thousands of other people. Known as the "Gobal Big Day", this is the day of the year that probably sees more people watching birds than any other. At least that's one of the main goals of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the organization behind this major birding event.
The first Global Big Day was held in May, 2015 and took place to see how many bird species could be identified across the globe in just one day. Since participants uploaded their lists into eBird, it also acted as a fun and easy means of getting more people involved with this popular citizen science application. The first year saw more than 14,000 people counting birds from every continent, and the following year, more than 16,000 people raised binoculars to identify a cumulative total of 6332 species! In 2017, even more people are expected to enter their eBird totals into eBird, including our very own team in Tambopata.
Under the guidance of head Rainforest Expeditions birding guide Silverio "Silver-beak" Duri, six of our best guides will spend nearly 24 hours on May 13th looking for birds on a route that includes TRC, Refugio, Posada and the Infierno road. Given that over 600 bird species have been identified from the area of the route, we expect them to have one of the top totals for any team. Hopefully, they can also tick target species that are tough to get elsewhere and give Peru the highest species total for the day. Will they find a Harpy Eagle? Bamboo specialties like the beautiful Rufous-headed Woodpecker and rare White-cheeked Tody-Tyrant? Cheer them on and watch the totals at eBird on May 13th to find out how they do!
Harpy Eagle- ruler of the rainforest canopy.
Remember that anyone can participate in Global Big Day, every bird counts, even the ones in your backyard. Visit eBird to see how easy it is to share a day of birds with people from around the globe and visit our blog for stories about birds and birding in Tambopata, Peru.