Can We Find Over 150 Bird Species in One Day? (Spring Big Day Challenge)

A Big Day in the birding world is where you try to find as many species as possible in a single day. In May of 2024, we went out in Wisconsin with our friend Cole to see if we could break our previous Big Day records as well as a benchmark of 150 species.

Special thanks to our members Liz McQuaid, Sarah Coffey, Barbara Cole, Chris Slagle, Sally, Sarah, Scott Carmichael, and Laurie Borgers!

Gear Links (As Amazon Associates we do earn from qualifying purchases)

Panasonic LUMIX FZ80 4K Digital Camera
Used for most bird videos) - check credits as we do source some photos/videos elsewhere which is noted in the description

Cayer FP2450 Fluid Head Tripod, 75 inches Aluminium Tripod
Derek's lighter tripod

Andoer Video Tripod Aluminum Alloy 67 Inch
Derek's heavier tripod

Nikon D5300
Derek's vlogging and macro camera

Rode VideoMicPro Compact Directional On-Camera Microphone
Derek's external microphone for Nikon D5300

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Canada Warbler in cover image by Alan Scmierer (Public Domain, edited)
Eastern Meadowlark in cover image by Jim Hudgins (Public Domain, edited)
Black-billed Cuckoo in cover image by Gary Leavens (CC by 2.0, edited)

All other photos and videos by Derek and Ryan Sallmann

#Birding #BirdWatching #BadgerlandBirding

[qwpmlrd]

Seeing 149 species of birds in a day is excellent!

[TheDutchBirder]

Very very cool! I love Big Days. We did a Big Day on a single dutch Isle and also got around the 150 species mark. Don't want to spoil it if you perhaps are gonna watch the video which comes online tomorrow 7 p.m. CEST

[g]

Very impressive, especially the amount of warblers observed, very good, enjoyed video 📹

[ChuckDarwin]

My big day report: I limited myself to stay within my home county in upstate NY. The day before, I made a checklist of all the species I thought I could possibly get - around 160 - that way I could easily see what I was still missing.

Started off the day at 4 20 am with barred owls and whippoorwills. Big prize of the day was a migrating mourning warbler, a species I had heard sing twice before, but never managed to get a look at. With only one real location left and 99 species marked, I thought I might just fall short of my goal of 100 as sunset approached. The last location, a remote conifer forest, was an absolute treasure trove - so many forest warblers that weren't present at the usual migration spots, plus a ruffed grouse drumming. Ended up getting 110, shattering my previous big day record - all while keeping it super local!

[kevincox]

That was a seriously good days birding. Three knowledgable guys helps i’m sure

[hspg]

Partial leucistic robin was pretty cool

[darylbernard]

Wait! Did I see Derek using binoculars? Whaaaatttt???? 😉

[Beryllahawk]

This was so much fun to watch. I love that Derek decided House Sparrow was a win, without missing a beat. Even though they're a problematic species so often, heh. Reminds me of "there are no trash fish"!
Definitely an intense day! Thank you for sharing!!

[darylbernard]

My son Daniel and I did a Big Day this year in May in a single county in Michigan - Gladwin - one of the least birded and considered one of the least birdy counties in the state. We hit 100 at 10:44 AM, 110 by 11:40 AM, and 125 at 2PM before stalling out a bit during late afternoon. We finished a few good birds, though, and Danny ended at 132, while I had 124 officially (I don't hear most birds, so Danny had some heard-only birds that I didn't get, plus two quickies I didn't get on). Great single-county day! Fun stuff!

[BirdNirdz]

Ah. Really want to see the cerulean warbler. Maybe next year 😊😢

[nickpaarlberg]

I did a big day for the South Chicago Sand Ridge Nature Center area at work. I was at one location (8 hours) all work day but ended up getting 81 species! Including a barred owl. 🦉😉

[bopyranks]

I really enjoyed this video. Nice work guys!!

[brighteyedbirding]

First of all. Congrats. That Sanderling miss came back to haunt you. What an incredible day of birding though! 149 is insane! My total was 101 this year with 93 of those in one county. Not too bad, but know I can do better next year.

[NaturallyCourtneyChannel]

Wow 149 is amazing! I’ve never done a Big Day, and I know that I haven’t come close to that number on a regular birding day. My husband and I planned to do one recently, but something came up.😕 This video is giving major inspiration!

[davebennett]

Awesome. Looks like a fun and exhausting day.

[Gigi.eq]

You guys looked like you had so much fun! Awesome finds ❤️

[barbaracole]

So jealous of your big day total! Looks like such a fun day! I only got about 40, but I didn’t have much time to go birding that day. I just got those from walking around my area.

[johannroos]

Hi there love your videos I did also do an big birding day this year in South Africa I have got 162 bird species in one day ❤

[rickhowson]

😮 Whooping crane! It’s so rare! TEACH ME YOUR

[captain]

Incredible the biodiversity around us! I’ve never done a big day and this is my first time hearing about it but it sounds fun!