Virginia Big Day
Heads up avid birders! On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, you will have the opportunity to bird all day and raise money for the Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas project at the same time! I’m Xavier Gitre, a young birder from Southwest Virginia. Last spring, I coordinated a birding big day in the New River Valley to fundraise for conservation and build community. It was a success! Recently, I entered an American Birding Association (ABA) young birder program, one of the components of the program being a “conservation/community” project. For my project, I decided to bring the NRV Big Day to the entire Commonwealth. I’ve since assembled a committee to plan the event, including several young birders from across the state. We’re currently meeting regularly, and plan to open registration for the event on April 1st. The outline is as follows.
Virginia birders can register a team of friends to compete in one of several categories, including a youth category and regional categories. Birding clubs may also register as a team and compete in their own “club” category. Teams will have from midnight to midnight to see as many species as possible, but this can be tailored to any birding style, from a few hours of yard birding to a statewide big day. Teams may collect pledges (e.g. $2 per species) from organizations/companies or individuals, the proceeds of which will go directly to the Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas program. Furthermore, all registration fees will go directly to the project. Let’s see how many species we can get, and how much we can make for the birds.
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