Early Global Big Day results: More than 90% of Central American birds observed in a single day!
The fourth Global Big Day was held this past Saturday, May 5. We still do not have the final results, but we can already report that in Central America and around the world it has been a great success. Many national and regional records for participation and species observed were surpassed, and by far!
eBirders in Central America have uploaded more than 4073 lists for the Global Big Day in 2018, reporting at least 1036 species. They have far exceeded the highest results of the event in previous years (2315 lists, 954 species, both in 2017). The number of species observed during just one day represents an incredible 91% of all species reported for Central America in eBird throughout last year.
The Northern Raptors team in Costa Rica reported 232 species during Global Big Day, the highest result this year for their country. Photo courtesy Diego Quesada. Photos of many other teams have been posted on the eBird Centroamérica Facebook group.
Another Global Big Day record broken this year is the number of observers who participated. In 2018, at least 992 eBirders uploaded lists in Central America, approximately twice the number last year. A quarter of this year’s Big Day eBird checklists are from Panama, which is fifth in the world by number of uploaded checklists, and sixth place by number of species. The Panamanian eBirders reported 750 species, more than were reported in all of Mexico or throughout the United States. Well done, Panama!
Of course, with so many observers, several surprising birds were found. Enjoy this list by Christian Bech in Belize, which seems to be a Big Day on foot. Check out the photos, which include the first White-faced Ground-Sparrow documentation for Belize. Don’t miss the Bright-rumped Attila fledglings!
For the third year in a row, Team Sapsucker of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology visited the Region, helping to highlight the great diversity and importance of the birds of Central America. This year, three team members, Jessie Barrie, Kathi Borgmann and Chris Wood, visited Honduras, and together with local observers John van Dort, Roselvy Juárez, and Norman Espinoza set a new Big Day record for Honduras: 244 species.
We congratulate Kathi Borgmann, who returned to first place in the Top 100 of Central America, during the Global Big Day. Despite living in New York, she has reached 971 species in Central America, 79% of all species reported in eBird for the Region.
Finally, we thank and congratulate all the teams of eBirders that collaborated in making Global Big Day a huge success in Central America, and in the world.
Contributed by Oliver Komar, Zamorano University, Honduras, on behalf of eBird Centroamérica.