The Bird-a-Day challenge turns ordinary birding into a daily puzzle. Every day you record one species you have not yet used this year. Your run lasts until the first day you cannot find a new one. Audubon magazine has covered the game several times since 2011, and the strategy below comes from those articles.
The core rules
There is no governing body. As Audubon puts it, "there's no such thing as the 'bird-a-day' police." The version most players use comes down to three rules:
- One bird per day. Rene Ebersole described her 2011 run as "listing a bird for every day of the year—just one bird a day."
- No repeats. A species you have logged once is used up for the rest of the year.
- No skipped days. The aim is never "to go a day without seeing a new one." When you miss a day, the run ends.
You decide the fine print and stick to it. Common choices are whether heard-only birds count (Audubon notes that birding by ear counts, so learning calls helps), whether you must start on January 1, and whether one area or anywhere you travel counts. Write your house rules down before Day 1.
How far do people get?
Audubon says most people don't make it past a month or two, and only a rare few keep it going past six months. Rene Ebersole's 2012 attempt ended on April 1, Day 92, with a Rock Pigeon as her last bird. She had been forced to use common birds once the winter visitors left and before spring migrants arrived. A 2015 newsletter of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria reported that a retired Australian couple were the only birders worldwide to manage a bird a day for all of 2014.
The arithmetic explains why. Audubon notes that more than 700 species can regularly be found in the US and Canada. A full year needs 365, more than half of that continental list, at a steady pace of one per day with no backlog. You can't bank birds. Seeing ten new species on a Saturday still only counts as one.
Strategy that actually extends a streak
1. Log the rarest bird you see, not the first. Audubon's top tip is to "always note the most unusual species you see." A Northern Cardinal will still be at your feeder in March. A Snow Bunting that turns up on January 4 may not.
2. Keep a reserve list of sure things. Make a list of birds you can find on a bad day: the feeder regulars, the pigeon at the gas station, the crows at the mall. Ebersole used common birds as fillers for days when nothing else turned up. Every reserve bird you spend early is one you won't have for a sick day.
3. Plan with eBird bar charts. Audubon recommends checking eBird maps to see which species visit your area each month and building a monthly hit list. eBird's bar charts show frequency, which eBird defines as "the proportion of complete checklists reporting that species" in a given place and date range. A tall bar in late April means the bird is reliable that week, so schedule it there.
4. Ride the seasons. Audubon gives a simple calendar: winter is best for waterfowl, spring brings songbirds, summer suits shorebirds, and fall brings raptors.
| Season | Best groups to bank | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | Waterfowl | Spend scarce winter visitors first, while they are here |
| Spring (Mar–May) | Migrant songbirds | Study songs before migration peaks (Audubon: birding by ear counts) |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | Shorebirds | Use eBird bar charts to find the weeks shorebirds peak near you |
| Fall (Sep–Nov) | Raptors | A big day still only counts once, so log the scarcest bird you see |
5. Travel strategically. Audubon suggests timing trips to hotspots, such as northern Ohio in spring or Texas's Rio Grande Valley in fall or winter, and using local specialties while you're there.
6. Learn habitats and calls in advance. You'll find more birds faster if you know where each species lives and what it sounds like. Our bird ID basics page covers Cornell's four keys.
Variations
- The 365-point calendar. Audubon describes Morgan Tingley's version, which awards points by rarity, with a goal of 365 points instead of one bird per day.
- A fixed roster. Pick a target list of species and try to see each one during the year.
- Go deeper on common birds. Jason St. Sauver suggests watching for a new behavior in a familiar species each day.
- A new place every day. Melanie Furr's version is to bird a new location each day.
- Photo-a-day. Photograph or digiscope a bird every day.
Where the online game came from
For years the challenge had a public scoreboard at birdaday.net. Audubon described it as an online competition where players could "log your daily observations in a public forum." According to Tropical Audubon Society, the site was built by Trey Mitchell, a software developer who lived in Miami from 1992, birded and photographed nature in Miami-Dade County, and died unexpectedly on November 8, 2017. Players blogged about it for years. Some players kept blog posts tracking their runs year after year. Birdaday Field Notes is a new, independent site with no player accounts and no scoreboard. To play today, use our private streak tracker or a notebook.
A one-page starter checklist
- Write your house rules (heard birds? travel? start date?).
- Make a reserve list of 20 birds you can find in any week.
- Look up eBird bar charts for your county and mark each month's specialties.
- Stock a feeder and a birdbath. See what to feed.
- Log each day's bird before bedtime, not "tomorrow."
Sources
- Boost Your Birding Skills by Seeing a New Bird Every Day This Year — Audubon (2017)
- Bird-A-Day Challenge — Audubon (2011)
- Bird-A-Day Challenge Ends on Day 92 — Audubon (2012)
- Field Trip Leaders — Tropical Audubon Society
- Field Nats News 249 — Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (PDF)
- Bird-a-Day Challenge 2013 — Powered by Birds (player blog)
- eBird Bar Charts and Graphs — eBird Help Center