WORLD RECORDS TUMBLE AT The BIGGEST BIRDWATCHING EVENT IN HISTORY
17 November 2020
The Global Bird Weekend, organised by Tim Appleton MBE of Birdfair fame, has inspired over 38,000 wildlife watchers from an incredible 169 countries to pool their bird spotting talents together, for the benefit of conservation and to smash world records.
Two world records were set in fact, over the weekend of 17th-18th October during the inaugural Global Bird Weekend – an event that brought together more than 38,000 birders from all over the world to participate in what has been described as “The Biggest Bird Watching Event in History” as the event focused on the Autumn migration.
7,101 species of the estimated 10,000 bird species that are known to exist in the world were recorded on the eBird app on the Saturday, beating the previous one-day world record of 7,060 set in May 2018. The next day, a further 180 species were added to the total, bringing the final number to 7,281 and securing a second world record in as many days.
Tim Appleton MBE commented: “I was amazed at the response considering we only launched Global Birding in August 2020”, says Appleton. “Being able to unite a worldwide community for Global Bird Weekend by asking them to ‘Go Birding Together for Conservation’ went beyond my wildest dreams and has already produced significant scientific data and inspired new networks of communication”.
The numbers are all the more impressive considering they were achieved in the midst of a pandemic, with participants encouraged to minimise their global footprint and stay near home. The first sighting, if you are curious, was a Pacific Golden Plover alongside a Common Barn Owl, submitted by Dominik Maximilian Ramik in Vanuatu at 00:04 am on the first day. Thanks to the magic of time zones, the day ended with nocturnally-calling Common White Terns and Tristam’s Storm-Petrels from Midway Atoll, considerably longer than 24 hours later. The most species were recorded in Colombia (1,289) ahead of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya and India.
Far from a mere frolic, the event had tangible conservation impact, with over £24,000 raised for BirdLife’s Stop Illegal Bird Trade appeal (so far). And just as importantly, an incredible 50,383 photographs and 1,101 audio recordings found their way onto eBird, making the event a tremendously successful citizen science project.
Global Bird Weekend is staged by Global Birding in association with Swarovski Optik, powered by eBird and supporting BirdLife International.
Two world records were set in fact, over the weekend of 17th-18th October during the inaugural Global Bird Weekend – an event that brought together more than 38,000 birders from all over the world to participate in what has been described as “The Biggest Bird Watching Event in History” as the event focused on the Autumn migration.
7,101 species of the estimated 10,000 bird species that are known to exist in the world were recorded on the eBird app on the Saturday, beating the previous one-day world record of 7,060 set in May 2018. The next day, a further 180 species were added to the total, bringing the final number to 7,281 and securing a second world record in as many days.
Tim Appleton MBE commented: “I was amazed at the response considering we only launched Global Birding in August 2020”, says Appleton. “Being able to unite a worldwide community for Global Bird Weekend by asking them to ‘Go Birding Together for Conservation’ went beyond my wildest dreams and has already produced significant scientific data and inspired new networks of communication”.
The numbers are all the more impressive considering they were achieved in the midst of a pandemic, with participants encouraged to minimise their global footprint and stay near home. The first sighting, if you are curious, was a Pacific Golden Plover alongside a Common Barn Owl, submitted by Dominik Maximilian Ramik in Vanuatu at 00:04 am on the first day. Thanks to the magic of time zones, the day ended with nocturnally-calling Common White Terns and Tristam’s Storm-Petrels from Midway Atoll, considerably longer than 24 hours later. The most species were recorded in Colombia (1,289) ahead of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya and India.
Far from a mere frolic, the event had tangible conservation impact, with over £24,000 raised for BirdLife’s Stop Illegal Bird Trade appeal (so far). And just as importantly, an incredible 50,383 photographs and 1,101 audio recordings found their way onto eBird, making the event a tremendously successful citizen science project.
Global Bird Weekend is staged by Global Birding in association with Swarovski Optik, powered by eBird and supporting BirdLife International.
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