Howard County Bird Club

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.