From dawn choruses to birding by the last cool sliver of moonlight—the BirdsCaribbean community took flight on Saturday, May 10, for an electric 24 hours of non-stop citizen science, friendly rivalry, and collective action for birds! Oh—and they only broke almost every Caribbean Global Big Day record along the way!
Twice a year, during peak migration (once in spring and once in fall) birders across the globe spring into action to record as many different bird species as they can in 24 hours. Every eBird checklist powers research—tracking habitat use, revealing global population trends, and ensuring that conservation efforts are directed where they’re needed most.
And what better way to strive to record every bird using the Caribbean’s lush forests, serene wetlands, city parks, and even backyards, than to unite—for some friendly competition of course! Every year, the BirdsCaribbean GBD Teams Competition pits island and multinational teams against each other—all vying to spot the most overall species and the most West Indian birds on Global Big Day! Teams get bragging rights, funds are raised to execute vital bird conservation work, and Caribbean biodiversity wins.
Our birding community gave it their all…and then some! The numbers don’t lie—we’ve got the stats to prove how epic #GlobalBigDayBirdsCarib 2025 was.
A staggering 7,973 bird species were recorded by over 1.8 million people worldwide. In just 24 hours, eBirders logged 180,780 checklists.
In the West Indies, we proudly broke our previous records for participation and sightings! Big Day birders saw 559 West Indian species, thanks to the amazing efforts of 895 eBird observers—a fantastic increase of 185 observers from 2024! There were more birds sighted, and more passionate, concerned, and awesome humans watching them in 2025 compared to previous years (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Global Big Day 2020-2025 comparisons showing changes in total number of eBird Observers in the West Indies, total species seen, and total number of eBird checklists submitted.
More birds, fun, and teams!
Our flock of eBirders continues to expand! Special mention goes to Grand Bahama Island Birders (The Bahamas), Statia’s Golden Warblers (St. Eustatius), and LGBT- La Gwada Birders (Guadeloupe) for rallying more birders in 2025.
This year we were also thrilled to welcome more national (island) teams to the competition! We thank the phenomenal team leaders and members of the following teams for joining us and giving the “OG teams” a run for their checklists: Mangrove Mob (The Bahamas), FFMat Team (Cuba), Gavilán Guardians (Puerto Rico), BirdersSKN (St Kitts and Nevis)*, Montserrat Orioles (Montserrat), and Team AXA Tern-It-Up (Anguilla) and Lucian Amazons (St. Lucia)*.
*While these teams aren’t reflected in the final stats, we’re so glad they participated! They joined us later in the process and weren’t able to submit their trip reports in time but we hope to include them fully next year!
The Royal Terns deliver a World-ranking Performance!
We want to especially congratulate the TCI Royal Terns, who ranked 6th in the world for the largest increase in eBirders over 2024, with an impressive 38% jump! This increase reflects the powerful impact of the 2023 Caribbean Birding Trail Bird Guide Training Workshop, held in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The workshop brought together members of the TCI tourism community for an exciting, hands-on experience focused on bird identification, guiding skills, eBird use, and sustainable nature tourism. By equipping participants with the tools and confidence to lead birding experiences and contribute to citizen science, the training helped spark a growing interest in birdwatching across TCI, and it shows! The Royal Terns’ success on Global Big Day is a testament to how local investment in capacity-building can elevate bird conservation and community engagement.
Epic bird counts and a new GBD champion soaring above
A huge round of applause to the President’s Perch for soaring to the top with an impressive 606 species recorded. Flying into second place, we have the Flying Pintails with 518 species, and close behind in third is Globe-trotting Todies, tallying 489 species. Looks like the fail-safe strategy for guaranteed GBD success is a global flock of birder friends!
Figure 2: Global Big Day results for our BirdsCaribbean Teams. The numbers in red show which team had the highest number for each category.
And now, leading the way with the most West Indian species recorded once again is the Piping Pawis with 201 species. The Gundlach Team held on to their runner-up perch with 185 species, and The Palmchatters followed with 132 species.
The most commonly reported birds for 2025 were: Gray Kingbird (wow—recorded in 625 lists!), Northern Mockingbird, Common Ground Dove, Mourning Dove, and our BirdsCaribbean flagship bird, the Bananaquit!
We are extremely grateful to all teams for your weeks of prep, commitment through bad weather and unexpected mishaps in the field, sharp eyes, and unwavering enthusiasm. Year after year, your contributions continue to elevate the profile of Caribbean birds and reinforce the importance of collaboration in conservation efforts. The 29 team trip reports shared with us are linked at the end of this blog.
But Wait—There’s More to the Story!
This year, we’re thrilled to debut a brand new GBD metric! While the total number of species seen by each team is always exciting—it’s often as much a reflection of the number of species available to be seen on a given island, as it is the team’s performance. This new measure levels the playing field by accounting for differences in each territory’s unique species pool.
Thanks to Jeff Gerbracht of the eBird team crunching ten years of data to determine the average number of species you can spot in each territory in May—we can reveal deeper insights into our teams’ amazing counts. One team absolutely crushed it, earning the title of Highest % of Species Seen Caribbean champions!
Congratulations to Statia’s Golden Warblers who captured the title of ‘2026 Team to Beat’, spotting a jaw-dropping 78% of St. Eustatius birds! Hot on their trail was the ever-outstanding Gundlach Team, putting up an impressive showing with 72% of Cuba’s May species. But they’re got to watch their backs because both The Palmchatters and Wadadli Warblers are poised to deliver some stiff competition next year, with each team recording a respectable 66% of their expected species.
Figure 3: Percent of ‘Expected’ Species seen for our BirdsCaribbean Island Teams. The numbers in red show which team had the highest number for each category.
Small posse, Big-picture science
In the overall species count, large multinational teams like Flying Pintails and President’s Perch led the way. However, when looking at the number of species recorded per team member, our smaller teams truly shone. Gavilán Guardians, with just two participants, averaged an impressive 52 species each. BVI Birders may have been a team of one this year—but we’ve got to shout out Rondel Smith for delivering a champion performance—spotting 50 species. Mangrove Mob followed with 32 species per observer, while Imperial Seekers averaged 19.
It’s truly inspiring to see what these Global Big Day teams achieved in just 24 hours of birding!
Figure 4: The average number of species seen per person for our Global Big Day teams. Gavilán Guardians (Puerto Rico) saw the most birds per team member with an average of 52 species/person.
Hot on the trail of Caribbean icons
The BirdsCaribbean Global Big Day teams competition is the ultimate birding showdown in the region. Teams hit up local neighbourhood parks, botanical gardens, forests, mountaintops, wetlands, and coastal areas to observe and record as many birds as they possibly can. It’s no easy feat, but with the prize including sightings of your island’s endemic icons, pride and determination combine to ignite a powerful birding energy.
Teams such as Bajan Birders & Friends, Montserrat Orioles, Cayman Birding, and Gavilán Guardians (Puerto Rico) successfully found all their endemic birds on Big Day. The Gundlach Team (Cuba), The Palmchatters (Dominican Republic), and Warbling Warriors (Puerto Rico) each recorded over 90% of their endemic species.
Congratulations to all for their outstanding efforts!
Figure 5: Percent of endemics seen (by proportion) on Global Big Day, 2025.
Within the Caribbean, some birders went the extra mile to find the region’s endemic birds. So we want to give a special mention to the following birders who had 20 or more West Indies Endemics on their GBD checklist on May 10th:
Efrain Feliz – 31
Nicolás Díaz Pérez – 30
Rodolfo Castro Alvarez – 26
Juan Sangiovanni – 25
Timoteo Rafael – 25
Ricel Polan Hernandez – 25
Silvani Hernandez – 25
Franklin Zakhur Howley-Dumit Serulle – 25
Manuel López Salcedo – 25
Miguel A. Landestoy T. (Dominican Republic) – 24
Yusneyda Alarcón Jorge – 24
Manuel Aroche Domenech – 24
Yaro Rodriguez – 24
Skyler Bol – 23
Brendan Burns – 23
Wesley Torres – 21
Eric Torres-Rivera – 21
Georgi Sánchez – 21
Migue Leon – 20
Denier Ramon Figueredo Rio – 20
Biggest Big Day eBirders
There are teams…and then there are the amazing individual birders.
This year we had some seriously monumental individual efforts. Topping the top team birders list was Faraaz Abdool, who was birding in Trinidad and Tobago and recorded 144 species for the Piping Pawis!
Our top birders from the Caribbean and across the globe, respectively, on Big Day were:
Our top ten birders with the most species in the West Indies were:
Faraaz Abdool – 144
Nicolás Díaz Pérez – 135
Rodolfo Castro Alvarez – 134
Josh Bajnath – 127
Ricel Polán Hernández – 118
Yaro Rodriguez – 109
Skyler Bol – 104
Brendan Burns – 104
Xavier Ragbir – 100
Wesley Torres – 99
Eric Torres-Rivera – 99
Our top five birders located anywhere (not necessarily in the Caribbean) on Big Day were:
David Ewert – 148
Faraaz Abdool – 144
Ken Rosenberg – 144
Nicolás Díaz Pérez – 135
Rodolfo Castro Alvarez – 134
Birding boss, we want YOU to lead a team for GBD 2026
Our ultimate goal is to have a team representing each island in the Caribbean. We know we have the best birds and birders who always bring BIG energy, dedication, and pride to conserving birds. Bermuda, St. Martin, Martinique, Bonaire, Aruba and Curacao, we’re looking at you.
If you would like to lead a team on your island for GBD 2026 please get in touch with us by emailing: lisa.sorenson@birdscaribbean.org and christel.mohammed@birdscaribbean.org.
It’s not too soon to start plotting for #GlobalBigDayBirdsCarib 2026 domination!
Together we are weathering the storm
This year, BirdsCaribbean faced a major setback: the loss of significant federal funding that has long supported our core programs. These funds have been used to train Caribbean nationals, advance research on our region’s most at-risk bird species, and engage communities and youth through educational festivals and outreach.
Thanks to the incredible efforts of our team members and generosity of our donors, as well as a matching grant offered by our generous Board, we’re thrilled to share that we have exceeded our US$60,000 fundraising goal. This remarkable effort was truly the work of our entire BirdsCaribbean community, including all our Global Big Day teams, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who donated, birded, and helped spread the word. Your support is empowering us to stand strong for birds and our partners across the Caribbean.
If you haven’t contributed, there’s still time to make a difference. Every donation helps us continue building local capacity, protecting birds and habitats, and sparking a lifelong love of nature.
Support us here: https://givebutter.com/BCGBD2025
Beyond the Big Day
Global Big Day may be behind us, but the birding fun doesn’t stop there! The Caribbean Waterbird Census runs all year long, so there’s always a chance to grab your binoculars and contribute to science. This fall, get ready for the Global Shorebird Count (September) and October Big Day (October). These programs offer more great reasons to get outside, connect with fellow bird lovers, and make your sightings count.
2025 BirdsCaribbean Global Big Day Teams
List of teams and links to trip report pages on eBird:
Badass Bobwhites (multinational)
Far Flung Flock of Friends (multinational)
Flying Pintails (multinational)
Globe-Trotting Todies (multinational)
LGBT (La Gwada Birder Team)
President’s Perch (multinational)