Willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) | May 9, 2020 | Louisville, KY, USA | © Greg Walker
My final tally for Global Big Day 2020 was 94 species, easily my biggest single day of birding! Ron Hirsch and I got the first 60 or so at Cherokee Park, and I continued solo until sunset. It might seem strange that I’ve gone back and forth on the final number, but real-world bird identification is not an exact science. I've been focusing on learning calls and that helped significantly. There are a number of species that are essentially indistinguishable by sight alone (flycatchers of the genus 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘹, for example). You can only tell them apart by combining appearance, sound, behavior, and/or habitat, and even then it's not always 100%. This willow flycatcher was kind enough to sing for us so we could confirm its identity.
Consider this: on Saturday I was just one of 48,318 participants who submitted 115,082 eBird checklists. My 94 species were part of the total of 6,404 different birds observed around the world, more than 60% of the world’s known species. The internet challenges us in many ways, but it also makes amazing things possible. Imagine how powerful citizen science like this can be - never before could a researcher in any field dream of getting almost 50,000 people working to provide hundreds of thousands of data points from around the global in a single day.
I am continually amazed by our natural world - most people I talk to are shocked that it's possible to find nearly 100 different species of birds in a single day without leaving metro Louisville!
My complete species list (with counts) is below:
Canada Goose (2)
Wood Duck (2)
Blue-winged Teal (3)
Mallard (2)
Hooded Merganser (3)
Wild Turkey (4)
Rock Pigeon (3)
Mourning Dove (1)
Chimney Swift (3)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1)
Semipalmated Plover (1)
Killdeer (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Solitary Sandpiper (1)
Lesser Yellowlegs (5)
Double-crested Cormorant (8)
Great Blue Heron (1)
Great Egret (1)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (1)
Black Vulture (1)
Turkey Vulture (1)
Bald Eagle (1)
Red-shouldered Hawk (1)
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Great Horned Owl (3)
Barred Owl (1)
Belted Kingfisher (1)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Pileated Woodpecker (1)
Eastern Wood-Pewee (1)
Willow Flycatcher (1)
Least Flycatcher (1)
Great Crested Flycatcher (1)
Eastern Kingbird (1)
Yellow-throated Vireo (1)
Philadelphia Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (1)
Red-eyed Vireo (1)
Blue Jay (1)
American Crow (3)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Tufted Titmouse (4)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (15)
Tree Swallow (5)
Barn Swallow (14)
Cliff Swallow (4)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (3)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5)
Carolina Wren (2)
European Starling (2)
Gray Catbird (3)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Eastern Bluebird (1)
Veery (1)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)
Swainson's Thrush (1)
Wood Thrush (2)
American Robin (4)
House Sparrow (1)
House Finch (4)
American Goldfinch (2)
Chipping Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow (1)
Eastern Towhee (1)
Orchard Oriole (1)
Baltimore Oriole (1)
Red-winged Blackbird (5)
Brown-headed Cowbird (2)
Common Grackle (8)
Blue-winged Warbler (1)
Black-and-white Warbler (1)
Prothonotary Warbler (2)
Tennessee Warbler (5)
Nashville Warbler (5)
Common Yellowthroat (1)
American Redstart (3)
Cape May Warbler (1)
Northern Parula (2)
Magnolia Warbler (1)
Blackburnian Warbler (3)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (3)
Blackpoll Warbler (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)
Palm Warbler (1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1)
Yellow-throated Warbler (1)
Canada Warbler (1)
Summer Tanager (1)
Scarlet Tanager (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)
Indigo Bunting (2)