Independent birding guide — not affiliated with the original Bird-a-Day challenge or the domain's previous owner.
Birdaday Field Notes

Backyard birding, one day at a time

A bird a day, starting in your backyard

"A bird a day keeps the doldrums away." That line opens a 2017 Audubon magazine piece on one of the simplest games in birding: try to find a new species every day, and keep the run alive as long as you can. Birdaday Field Notes is an independent, sourced reference built around that idea. It explains the challenge, gives you a free tracker to play it, and collects the backyard basics (feeders, food, nest boxes, identification) that make a long streak possible.

What is the Bird-a-Day challenge?

The rules are short. You log one bird species per day. In the words of Audubon contributing editor Rene Ebersole, who played it publicly in 2011, "The goal is never to repeat a species, nor to go a day without seeing a new one." Early on it is easy: the first days of the year let you pick from everything at your feeder. The hard part comes weeks later, once the common birds are spent and you have to go looking.

Audubon says most people don't last a month or two, and only a rare few keep going past six months. Ebersole's 2012 run ended with a Rock Pigeon on April 1, Day 92. In 2015 a field-naturalist newsletter in Victoria, Australia, reported that a retired Australian couple were the only birders worldwide to see a bird a day for the whole of 2014.

There used to be an online version of the game at this address. Audubon pointed readers to birdaday.net as an "online competition" where you could "log your daily observations in a public forum." Tropical Audubon Society says that site was created by Trey Mitchell, a Miami software developer and nature photographer, so that "birders from all over the world could post and share their observations." Mitchell died unexpectedly in November 2017. This site is not connected to his project. We only document the idea he helped popularize, using published sources.

Read the full challenge guide and strategy →

Start today: the free streak tracker

Our Bird-a-Day streak tracker runs in your browser. Type the species you found today. It flags repeats, counts your streak, and shows the day number. Nothing is uploaded. If your browser allows local storage, your list is saved on your device only. To plan ahead, the species planner turns your own list into a month-by-month hit list.

Backyard guides

A long streak is built on knowing your yard. These reference pages pull their numbers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, the Smithsonian and university extension services:

Bird-a-Day species plannerTurn your own species list into a month-by-month hit list and see the date it runs dry. Hummingbird feeder guideThe 1:4 nectar recipe, no red dye, and a cleaning schedule by temperature. When to put out hummingbird feedersSpring arrival by region, the fall migration myth, and when to take feeders down. Nectar calculatorHow much sugar for any amount of water, including the cold-snap and oriole mixes. How to clean a bird feederThe 1:9 bleach soak, a schedule for each feeder type, and disease signs to watch for. Bird feeder types comparedTube, hopper, platform, nyjer, suet and window feeders, and which birds use each. Suet recipes and hot-weather rulesRaw vs rendered suet, three published recipes, and the temperatures when suet should come down. What to feed backyard birdsA seed-by-species table: sunflower, safflower, nyjer, millet, suet and more. Common backyard birds of the USField profiles of eight birds you can start your streak with. Northern Cardinal profileField marks, song and chip, best feeder foods, nest facts and a month-by-month year chart. Black-capped vs Carolina ChickadeeSide-by-side field marks, songs, the hybrid zone, nest-box sizes and a chickadee year chart. American Robin profileMale, female and juvenile field marks, song, worms vs fruit, nest facts and where robins go in winter. Bird ID basicsCornell's four keys: size and shape, color pattern, behavior, habitat. Birdhouse dimensionsEntrance hole, floor, depth and mounting height by species.

How to use this site for a streak

  1. Days 1–14: spend your rarities, not your regulars. Audubon says to "always note the most unusual species you see" and to save reliable feeder birds for hard days.
  2. Build a backyard bank. A stocked feeder, a clean birdbath and a nest box add species you can count on. The feeding table shows which food brings which birds.
  3. Plan by season. Winter favors waterfowl, spring brings songbirds, summer suits shorebirds and fall brings raptors. Check eBird bar charts for your county to see when each species is usually reported.
  4. Learn the common ones cold. Most streaks end on a busy day, not a slow one. Being able to name a chickadee by its call in five seconds keeps you in the game. Start with the ID basics.

Whether you last nine days or the full year, the payoff is the same one Audubon describes: the habit of scanning your surroundings, and learning when and where birds show up.

Sources