As one birder put it:
The warblers weren't really around, but the rest of the birds were!
The first rainy Big Day Boston saw a bit of everything. Quick stats: 74 registered teams, 36 submitted checklists, 70 species observed, and 49 species on the winning checklist.
- Big Day Boston's logo bird, the Eastern Towhee, was spotted all over downtown, showing up on 49% of all checklists.
- 11% of birders saw a Bald Eagle this year, another record.
- White-throated Sparrows were on over 90% of checklist, which corroborates my anecdotal observation which is that they are still all over the place this year. (Big Day Boston is also five calendar days earlier this year than it was four years ago, which could account for some of this)
- There were no reported Wild Turkey sightings again this year when I polled the group during awards. But we later found one checklist from greilly16 that did report a Wild Turkey! greilly16, we had an award for you but couldn't find you during closing ceremonies! Hopefully someone will find one again next year :)
Most importantly, we have our first THREE TIME WINNER:
1st place, once again, goes to Ingrid Messbauer with 49 species!
Ingrid's four woodpecker sightings helped her - along with a Northern Harrier and a Brown-headed Cowbird. Ingrid has now won three out of four Big Day Boston competitions!
2nd place went to 2025 winner Patrick Fellion and newcomer Madaket Nobill who birded as a team and counted 46 species. Patrick and Madaket were the only ones to spot a Northern rough-winged swallow this year along with six sparrow species.
3rd place went to newcomer Kate Roberts who found the first ever Big Day Boston Carolina Wren in the Public Garden. (In fact, only two other wrens - both Common Wrens - have ever been reported at BDB)
Overall, there were 70 species observed. This chart shows the percentage of checklists that a species appears on. (view larger →)
Full Results
(Google Sheet with full results↗)
(eBird Trip Report↗)
| Place | Username | Species |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | iemess | 49 |
| 2 | pfellion & maddy | 46 |
| 3 | krober4771 | 42 |
| 4 | 23below (team of 3) | 38 |
| 5 | conjugate-base & scolopaxminor | 36 |
| 6 | bguldner | 31 |
| 7 | ABC Birders (team of 3) | 30 |
| 7 | a Neighborhood Naturalist (2) | 30 |
| 7 | Jonathan Dain | 30 |
| 7 | skubali & Ava | 30 |
| 11 | meghanmcc | 29 |
| 11 | stevejrowe | 29 |
| 11 | Toads | 29 |
| 14 | BirdBrain67 | 28 |
| 15 | Mksprintz | 27 |
| 15 | singerep | 27 |
| 17 | rnickc | 26 |
| 18 | priya_the_pigeon | 24 |
| 19 | gracelandia99 | 23 |
| 19 | Bufflehead | 23 |
| 21 | laurenaubrey | 22 |
| 22 | JimneySwift | 21 |
| 22 | mjrice | 21 |
| 22 | mazz | 21 |
| 22 | Snugglebirb | 21 |
| 26 | farmsrshcarrot | 19 |
| 26 | BirdBre | 19 |
| 26 | Frank | 19 |
| 29 | greilly16 | 17 |
| 30 | EKelliher | 16 |
| 31 | awang495 | 15 |
| 32 | ashleyrine | 10 |
| 33 | Parker | 9 |
| 34 | svotel | 6 |
| 35 | hugh | 4 |
Checklist Counts
List of species and percentage of checklists on which that species was counted.
| Species | % of Checklists |
| American Robin | 100% |
| Herring Gull | 100% |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 94% |
| European Starling | 94% |
| Rock Pigeon | 94% |
| House Sparrow | 91% |
| White-throated Sparrow | 91% |
| Canada Goose | 91% |
| Mallard | 91% |
| Common Grackle | 89% |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 89% |
| Blue Jay | 86% |
| Mourning Dove | 74% |
| Ring-billed Gull | 71% |
| House Finch | 71% |
| Gray Catbird | 69% |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 63% |
| Common Loon | 63% |
| Northern Mockingbird | 54% |
| American Crow | 51% |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 51% |
| Eastern Towhee | 49% |
| Chipping Sparrow | 46% |
| Northern Cardinal | 46% |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 46% |
| Hermit Thrush | 46% |
| Song Sparrow | 43% |
| Ovenbird | 40% |
| Downy Woodpecker | 40% |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 34% |
| Domestic Goose | 29% |
| Great-blue Heron | 23% |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 23% |
| American Goldfinch | 20% |
| Osprey | 17% |
| Savannah Sparrow | 17% |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 17% |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 17% |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 14% |
| American Black Duck | 14% |
| Chimney Swift | 14% |
| Palm Warbler | 14% |
| Tufted Titmouse | 14% |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 14% |
| Great Egret | 11% |
| Northern Flicker | 11% |
| Bald Eagle | 11% |
| Tree Swallow | 11% |
| Brown Creeper | 11% |
| Barn Swallow | 9% |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 9% |
| Yellow Warbler | 9% |
| Northern Parula | 9% |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 9% |
| Swamp Sparrow | 9% |
| Peregrine Falcon | 6% |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 6% |
| Blue-headed Vireo | 6% |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 3% |
| Baltimore Oriole | 3% |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow | 3% |
| Carolina Wren | 3% |
| Field Sparrow | 3% |
| House Wren | 3% |
| Wild Turkey | 3% |
| Black-crowned Night-heron | 3% |
| Northern Harrier | 3% |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3% |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 3% |
| Great-crested Flycatcher | 3% |
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