SO WHAT IS A BIG YEAR?
A big year is an informal competition among birders to see who can see or hear the largest number of species of birds within a specified time and within a specific geographical area.
SO WHEN IS IT?
This years big year competition begins May 30, 2016 and it ends May 29, 2017. Plenty of time to get as many species as you can!
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE AND HOW DO WE SIGN UP FOR IT?
Everyone is welcome! There are categories for each as well as an overall category for the competition. Do you want to impress everyone with your birding prowess? All you have to do to participate is email the OSU Bird Nerds, give us your name, and tell us whether you are an undergraduate, graduate, faculty member, or a Corvallis Audubon Society member (CAS) as well as what categories you want to participate in and we will put you into our Academic Big Year Competition. It's that easy!
WHAT BIRDS COUNT?
The 2016-2017 competition is separated into 3 categories: Oregon, United States, and World. You can join one, two , or all of the categories.
The only requirements are that the birds must be alive, wild (no trips to the zoo for you), and unrestrained for the bird encountered. Diagnostic characteristics, enough for you to identify the species, must have been seen, heard, and/or documented through ebird.
The only requirements are that the birds must be alive, wild (no trips to the zoo for you), and unrestrained for the bird encountered. Diagnostic characteristics, enough for you to identify the species, must have been seen, heard, and/or documented through ebird.
WHAT, HOW, AND WHY DO WE USE eBIRD?
eBird is an online checklist program, launched by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, that has allowed birders to submit their observations during birding trips into a large database that can be used for educational and recreational purposes. BirdLog NA is the app associated with eBird that utilizes your smartphone so you can record your observations and upload them on the spot. Tutorials on how to use eBird can also be found on Oregon2020. The video below shows you how to go about sending in your bird logs.
The two emails that you can submit your logs to are either The current secretaries email or the Bird nerds mailing list. Remember, only observations from May 30, 2016 to May 29, 2017 will count.
The deadline to join the competition is May 1st, 2017.
All of your logs MUST be submitted NO LATER than Monday, May 29th, 2017 at 8:00pm. No logs after that time will be accepted.
Please make sure to include your name when you send your logs.
The two emails that you can submit your logs to are either The current secretaries email or the Bird nerds mailing list. Remember, only observations from May 30, 2016 to May 29, 2017 will count.
The deadline to join the competition is May 1st, 2017.
All of your logs MUST be submitted NO LATER than Monday, May 29th, 2017 at 8:00pm. No logs after that time will be accepted.
Please make sure to include your name when you send your logs.