The Big Sit 2014!

 

Attention Birders Worldwide!

The 2014 Big Sit is coming soon! On the weekend of October 11 (Saturday) and 12 (Sunday) people just like you will be  positioning themselves in the middle of 17-foot diameter circles and watching/counting birds for as much of a 24-hour period as possible.

There's no rule about the number of birders you can fit in your Big Sit circle.

Big Sit teams get the chance at two prizes: one is simply bragging rights for your geographic area. For many years my Big Sit circle had the highest totals in Ohio and I bragged about that until I lost several friendships. The other prize is The Golden Bird, a cash award of $500 sponsored by Swarovski Optik NA. The Golden Bird winner is selected this way: All the species seen by all of the teams are thrown into a hat. One species is chosen to the the Golden Bird, let's say it's winter wren. Then all the teams that saw a winter wren are thrown into a hat and one lucky team is chosen to receive The Golden Bird prize! They are able to use the $500 to support the conservation cause of their choice. Cool, huh?

You can learn more and watch a goofy Big Sit video here. If you need further justification to do a Big Sit, here are my Top Ten Reasons. Teams can register here: http://www.TinyUrl.com/BigSit

The Whipple Bird Club in the indigo Hill birding tower during the 2011 Big Sit.

Some would argue that The Big Sit is the social highlight of the birding year.

After several requests from participants, and a bit of internal discussion, the Bird Watcher's Digest and the New Haven (CT) Bird Club (the organization that holds the trademark on The Big Sit!™) decided to open the dates for future Big Sits to include both Saturday and Sunday on the second weekend of October. For the 2014 Big Sit, sitters can choose to sit on either Saturday, October 11 or on Sunday October 12. Or you can choose to sit on both days and pick the best one to record for your Sit circle.

The Big Sit is a non-competitive event (although I compete with myself every year to top our Sit site record for number of species). This year we'd love to beat our all-time record of 72 species, but I'd be happy to top last year's measly 55 species. Weather has a huge impact on our numbers in southeastern Ohio. If a cold front comes through the week before, it clears out a lot of our warblers, vireos, tanagers, and other insect eaters.

So please make plans to Sit! Anyone can participate—it's free—and you don't HAVE to register, but we appreciate it if you do. And afterwards, please come back to the Big Sit web pages to enter your bird list and share your sightings. You can even share some of your team's photos. And you can see how your Sit compares with other Sits in your region, state, or country.

Mainly the Big Sit is FUN! It's like a tailgate party for birders. I'm already looking forward to sitting for parts of both days. And if Saturday is rained out, well there's always Sunday!

Good luck and happy, birdy sitting!