Bird Photo Big Day Fall Challenge 2024
Join the Fall Bird Photo Big Day on Saturday, September 21!
Join SFBBO for the Bird Photo Big Day on Saturday, September 21. The goal is to capture photos of as many bird species as possible in one day, all as one distributed team. All levels of birders and photographers are welcome!
In honor of our mission to promote sustainability in the Bay Area and beyond by engaging communities in avian science, habitat conservation, and education, we are accepting photos from anywhere in the world! We will still keep a Bay Area count as well!
All photos must be taken within the 24 hours between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm local time on Saturday, September 21, 2024, and submitted by 12:00pm Pacific on Sunday, September 22, 2024 to the Bird Photo Big Day Facebook group or to SFBBO Outreach and Communications Director Kristin Butler at [email protected]. Photos submitted to the Bird Photo Big Day may be used in future SFBBO communications, such as websites, newsletters, and social media. Photographers will be credited. If you aren't on Facebook, you can email your pictures to SFBBO and they will be posted for you.
Don't want to take photos but still want to participate? The team needs folks to watch the number of species grow during the day, help identify bird species, and cheer the team on. Once the photos are uploaded, the organizers will tally the species on Sunday!
This free event is part of SFBBO's California Fall Challenge (CFC), a fundraising campaign to support our work to carry out our Strategic Plan to Inform, Inspire, and Involve more diverse communities in our mission.
Excited about the Big Day? Please consider making a generous donation to SFBBO! Donations of $80 or more are eligible to receive a 2024 SFBBO t-shirt. The estimated value of the t-shirt ($15) is not tax deductible. Please visit our website to view the Shirt Size Charts.
The artwork (at right) was designed by Anastasia Nguyen, is on a Vintage Navy shirt, and depicts Wilson's Phalaropes. In March this year, SFBBO Director of Waterbird Science Dr. Nathan Van Schmidt traveled to Argentina to attend the International Phalarope Working Group Meeting and then co-authored a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking the agency to list Wilson's Phalaropes as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This work is a culmination of two decades of waterbird surveys SFBBO biologists conducted in San Francisco Bay, including five years of focused summer phalarope surveys by staff and community science volunteers, which documented a 98% decline in the species locally. We hope people will wear their shirts to help us raise awareness about these beautiful birds and all of the birds we study and protect. You can read more about our phalarope program on our blog, Wingbeat.
We have the following shirt styles and sizes available: Women's Relaxed Fit Small, Medium, Large, and XL, and Unisex Small, Medium, Large, XL, 2XL, and 3XL (please see our website for size charts). We are taking pre-orders in September and October and will be orderig the shirts from the printers in early November and mailing them out when they are done (late November or early December) 2024. If you are interested in a shirt, after you make a donation please write to [email protected] and let us know what style and size you would like. These shirts will not be available after October 31st, 2024, so please order yours today!
More fun California Fall Challenge events are scheduled for September and October including great our Band-a-Thon, Birdy Hours, and an Online Silent Auction. Check them out. Thank you!