the #BigYearAtHome Team
Our August #BigYearAtHome challenge is to bird watch from home (#BirdingFromHome) – truly a challenge that is within the nature of the #BigYearAtHome campaign. This challenge is inspired by the relatively new green birding movement.
What is the green birding (#GreenBirding)? In his book Green Birding: How to see more birds and protect the environment at the same time, author Richard Gregson describes green birding by describing green birders:
“A small but ever-increasing number of people are now green birding—some all the time others for at least part of their birding activities. Green birders differ from mainstream birders in just one important way: they make a conscious decision that all, or at least most, of their birding is going to be carried out using only human power to travel from home to bird and back again. This can be as simple as out of our front doors and seeing what birds are in the front yard… When you think of it, this is actually rather appealing, unless you happen to be someone enjoys sitting in a car for hours rather than looking at birds in the open air.”
Courtesy of Gary The Biking Birder (@bikingbirder2015 on FaceBook)
Join us for our August #BigYearAtHome challenge by bird watching from home (#BirdingFromHome). You can participate by simply stepping outside to see what you can see (or hear) from your home. Or, if you want, take the next step into the #GreenBirding movement and go bird from home by walking or biking.
- Remember, one fun way to participate in #BigYearAtHome is to use eBird to track your observation and contribute them to science:
- Here is an article about how to get started with eBird (CLICK HERE)
- When you use eBird please share your checklists with the #BigYearAtHome eBird account (Account name – bigyearathome)
- Remember to include #BigYearAtHome, #BirdingFromHome, and in the notes section of your shared checklist
- How to Share eBird Checklists (CLICK HERE)
One additional way you can enhance your #BirdingFromHome is to use eBird Yard and Patch listing tools. You can use these tools to keep an ongoing list of the birds you see you your yard or neighborhood. Hears more info — Patch and Yard Lists in eBird (CLICK HERE).
Stay tuned – later this month we will share an article written by one of our #BigYearAtHome Core Team Members, Mike Green. Mike is a life-long bird watcher and he will share with us a story about his experiences #BirdingFromHome and #GreenBirding in an article titled My Green Birding Big Year.
BREAKING NEWS — we’ve added a prize to the August Challenge. We will add all new participants who share a #BirdingFromHome eBird checklist with the #BigYearAtHome eBird account to a raffle for this reusable Klamath Bird Observatory water bottle. How to enter —
Thanks for participating in our #BigYearAtHome August Challenge — #BirdingFromHome. Please share your stories on social media — be sure to use our hashtag #BigYearAtHome, our August Challenge #BirdingFromHome hashtag and the #GreenBirding hashtag to help us spread the word. You can also share your #BigYearAtHome stories with us directly using the Contact Form found at the bottom of our #BigYearAtHome webpage (CLICK HERE).