2018 Panama's Global Big Day: the previous days

Past May 5th, the world engaged in the search and recording of most of the extant birds species... thousands of participants and volunteers-hours resulted in the record set of 6899 world's birds species in a single day during Cornell's Global Big Day (GBD)!  Of course, Panama was part of this global effort... but this year it was different.... waaaaaay different!

The previous years, the Global Big Day was seen, in Panama, as an opportunity to get out, watch some birds and load that information into Cornell's database using eBird. Some of us, taking advantage of the event, intented to register the largest number of bird species in a single day, honoring the name "big day", by traveling routes that were sometimes extensive and that, sometimes, overlapped the routes of other birders.  The route I followed with my wife Gloriela for three consecutive years started in the beautiful forests above the town of El Cope, descending all the way to the Pacific lowlands of the Cocle province, ending at the coastal areas of the eastern Azuero Peninsula, all in central Panamá, visiting locations in four different provinces (more than any other "team" during the GBD) and traveling more than 250 kms (you can read about it here).  There was no national effort to get as many species we can... and that surely was reflected in the results of last year GBD: we did not break our historical record, we were not the first country in Central America, and did not reached the world's top 10!

Gloriela and me during 2017 GBD.  Aguadulce salt ponds, Coclé. May 13th, 2017

Since then, some of us were convinced that some kind of national coordination was necessary to achieve better results... and, in that aspect, my friend and fellow birder Guido Berguido, Executive Director of Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá, started it in the simplest manner... creating a Whatsapp group on March 17th, mere  seven (7) weeks before the GBD!  He included not only some of the most active birders in the country, most of them already using eBird, but also representatives of NGOs, Gubernamental agencies and volunteers groups that happen to be birders as well.  The first meeting of this un-official national coordination committee was held at the offices of Sociedad Audubon de Panamá in Panama City on March 21st.

Panama's birding and conservation personalities gathering together at the first national coordinating committee for the GBD (and yes, that's my daughter Gabrielle celebrating inclusion during the World Down Syndrome Day by wearing crazy socks). Panama City, March 21st.  Photo courtesy Audubon Panama 

From there, a lot of work started... work that included recruiting volunteers and birders, giving talks and trainings on the use of ebird and identification of birds in all the provinces of the country, compilation of recent and historical records of birds by area to make lists of targets, creating a participation map available to all the interested parties in order to cover as many areas possible, designing checklists forms for those not using eBird -yet- and illustrated plates with the most common birds, scouting trips to counting areas before the event, publicizing the GBD in national and social media with press conferences, Facebook page and inviting authorities of the ornithological world to our country, including the general public, schools and university students, local communities representatives, park rangers, ecologic, frontier and aeronaval police in the effort and so on... so much done in such a short period of time was simply amazing, all under the motto "Unidos por las aves" (united for the birds).

Few of the trainings and talks offered before the GBD in Panama 2018

It was evident that the enthusiasm was at its highest level, and the group grew considerably.  Many teams showed interest in covering important areas, while experienced birdwatchers volunteered to travel to key areas that would not be covered. Private companies, NGOs, Gubernamental agencies and some individuals sponsored logistical and monetary support to cover these areas, which included ancient Meccas of bird watching such as the Darién highlands or pelagic waters off the coast of Piñas Bay (also in Darién), among others.

Promotional items for the GBD Panama 2018. Photo courtesy Isaac Pizarro

With all the enthusiasm, we set ourselves several objectives: to break our historical record of more birds observed in a single day (which was of 609 species obtained during the first GBD in 2015), to be the first place in our region of Central America and to return to the top 10 worldwide. Other objectives were to register the largest number of national and regional endemic species and to collect information on the conservation status of the habitats that would be visited during the event, both inside and outside protected areas.

Press conference announcing our objectives for 2018 GBD. From left to right: Thomas Schulenberg (Cornell's Lab of Ornithology), Jan Axel Cubilla (Sociedad Audubon de Panamá), Guido Berguido (Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá), Edgar Araúz (Universidad de Panamá), José Soto (Gamboa Rainforest Resort), Marcial Caisamo (local communities representative).  Panama City, May 3rd, 2018.  Photo courtesy Rosabel Miró

With high expectatives and learning during the process, the Global Big Day was all set and prepared to be simply spectacular in Panama for the first time.  Want to know what happened that day, keep reading in the next post following this link: ... and what a Global Big Day we had!