Central America

Birds unite people. On Saturday, 8 May more than 51,000 people spanning 192 countries celebrated the birds around them for Global Big Day. Together, the global birding community accomplished FOUR world records! Global Big Day 2021 set new records for the greatest number of birders, from the most countries, reporting more species and more checklists on a single day of birding than ever before. Thank you.

The global eBird community achieved another major milestone on Global Big Day: 1 billion bird observations! eBird’s billionth bird observation was an Australasian Swamphen reported on this checklist by Heidi Krajewski. eBird now contains 1,005,014,471 observations of birds around the world. As eBird grows, it becomes an increasingly powerful resource for science, conservation, and education.

These Global Big Day accomplishments are only possible with the tremendous efforts of eBird’s partners and collaborators around the world, including the eBird portal collaborator network. The enthusiasm of these groups is truly inspiring and we can’t thank them enough. Thanks also to Carl Zeiss Sports Optics for their continuing sponsorship of eBirder of the Month, including the opportunity to win Zeiss binoculars by participating in Global Big Day. We are also excited to have Global Big Day align with World Migratory Bird Day, giving another opportunity to celebrate the birds that we all care about.

Global Big Day by the Numbers

• 51,816 people from 192 countries went birding
• 133,887 checklists submitted
• 7,234 species recorded
• 69,311 photos shared with the Macaulay Library
• 2,391 audio recordings shared with the Macaulay Library

Global Big Day in Central America

• 7,978 checklists were submitted (6% of the world’s GBD checklists)
• 1,733 eBirders participated (3% of the world’s GBD participants), 299 of whom were first-time eBirders: welcome!
• 1,027 species were reported (14% of the world’s GBD species, and 83% of all species ever reported in eBird in Central America)

Explore all Global Big Day stats here 

Birds are constantly surprising and inspiring us—and also ensuring that no two Global Big Days are ever the same! As Twitter user Eagle Fandom BNF wrote, “You never know with birding, which adds to the magic”. We couldn’t agree more.

Global Big Day in Central America

In Central America, more people than ever participated, and they submitted more checklists on a single day than ever before: 7,978 checklists! The species count was the second highest ever reported for a single day in Central America, with 1,027 species reported—only the third time in history that more than a thousand species were reported from Central America in a single day. Those 1,027 species represent 83% of all species ever reported in eBird for all of Central America!

If Central America was a country, it would be third worldwide in terms of species as well as checklists—an impressive feat for a small region. GBD is especially strong in southern Central America, i.e. in Panama and Costa Rica, countries with long-standing birding traditions. Note however that the sharpest rise in checklists was in El Salvador and Nicaragua, which both more than doubled their participation compared to the previous year. Sweet!

This year, despite the ongoing pandemic, lots of people birded together in teams, or teamed up virtually to cover different parts of their countries. One cool team effort that stands out is Team Jacanas Costa Rica, an all-female team who together reported 419 species! Impressive!

Rarities

With so many birders in the field, it was hardly surprising that some great rarities were turned up. Some of the fantastic birds that were found on the May 2021 Global Big Day in Central America include Markham’s Storm-Petrel in Panama and two stunning White Terns in Costa Rica.

Shorebirds

Although most winter visitors to the region typically have left during the preceding weeks, some straggling migrants can usually be found on the May big days. Early May, however, coincides with peak migration of the long-distance shorebirds, i.e. those species that typically winter in South America, such as Hudsonian Godwit, White-rumped Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Many individuals overfly Central America without ever dropping down, but each of these species was reported in Central America on GBD.

Regional endemics

In each of the countries, eBirders focused on the regional endemics, contributing species to the global effort that otherwise might not be included. Think of Honduran Emerald, Costa Rican Brush-finch, Fiery-billed Aracari, Black Catbird, Resplendent Quetzal, Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow, Green-breasted Mountain-gem, Nicaraguan Grackle, Rufous Sabrewing… this list is really far too long to include all species.

We hope to see you again on future Global Big Days. The next one is coming up already in October—stay tuned for the exact date. October can be a challenging month in Central America because of local climates, but it’s a time when more migratory species are present in the region. We invite you to get ready and encourage you to invite some friends out on your birding trips. The more people birding—and eBirding—the better are the prospects for conserving the region’s birds.

Until the next Global Big Day!