Official Big Days

Big Days are a specialized type of birding—the ultimate team effort. They are single day attempts to tally as many bird species as possible in a defined area. Howard County has a relatively extensive history of Big Days, both official and unofficial.

To be considered official, they must follow rules established by the American Birding Association (ABA). The guidelines include the following: 1. Only full species may be counted; 2. Birds may be identified conclusively by either sight or sound; 3. Every effort should be made for every team member to identify every species recorded; 4. Any number of people may constitute a team; however, if they are traveling by motorized vehicle, they must all ride in the same vehicle; 5. The team must avoid receiving information from non-participants.

Official Big Days in Howard County date to May 11, 2013 when the team of Russ Ruffing, Harry Fink, and Matt Rogosky established 122 species in 17.5 hours as the Howard County single day record. Official Big Days have continued to be run annually. The current record of 129 was set on May 10, 2021 in 17.5 hours by the team of Russ Ruffing, Kristin Trouton, Steve Luke, and Gregg Petersen.

Click on any of the links below to view the writeup for that day.

Months of the year are listed first, followed by the years in which there was a Big Day that was written up. Highest overall total is shown in red. Highest total for any other month is shown in green.

Unofficial Big Days

The first two decades of the 21st century were a golden age of Big Days in Howard County. Not only were official Big Days being conducted during many of those years, but Howard County Bird Club (HCBC) was innovatively scheduling a variety of unofficial Big Days. Under Field Trip Chair Bonnie Ott and, from 2010 on, with Co-chair, later Chair Joe Hanfman, the following were run: 15 Big Day field trips (1999-2013), three Little Big Days (2011-2013), ten Sparrow Big Days (2003-2012), and a single Half Day Big Day (2016). The highest unofficial Big Day field trip total of 119 species in 16.0 hours on May 3, 2003 was established by a nine-member group of Bonnie Ott, Ralph Cullison, Karen Darcy (Heffernan), Kevin Heffernan, Emy Holdridge, Nancy Magnusson, Daryl Olson, Jo Solem, and Helen Zeichner. The three Little Big Day field trips, organized by Kevin Heffernan, were held on the same days as the Big Day field trips, but were designed to be less intense and more flexible. The Sparrow Big Day field trips were under the enthusiastic leadership of Bonnie Ott and were an extension of numerous half day Sparrow Searches dating to a 1989 trip led by Scott Atkinson at the University of Maryland Central Farm(UMDCF). Sparrow trips in the 1990s were led by David Holmes, Nancy Magnusson, Bonnie Ott, and Jim Wilkinson. The Half Day Big Day, May 7, 2016, was designed as a leaderless field trip, providing a group of birders the opportunity to enjoy a half day of birding at multiple sites at the peak of spring migration.