THE BIG SIT! ®
October 11 and 12, 2025
How many birds can you identify in one day while staying within a 17-foot / 5.2-meter diameter circle?
That’s the challenge of The Big Sit!
WHAT IS THE BIG SIT?
A semi-competitive birding event originated by the New Haven Bird Club in 1992
Free and open to anyone — individuals and teams — all over the world
The Big Sit! kicks off Saturday, October 11, 2025 at 12 a.m. midnight and closes
Sunday, October 12, at 11:59 p.m.
Please use our MailChimp signup form to receive informational emails from The Big Sit!
The Big Sit® Golden Bird Award has returned for 2024
The New Haven Bird Club and Zeiss Announce the Golden Bird Award Winner for 2024
The New Haven Bird Club is pleased to announce the Golden Bird Award Winner.
For The Big Sit!® in 2024, Ziess sponsored the Golden Bird Award by donating a pair of Conquest HDX 8x 42 binoculars.
The Golden Bird Award is chosen by randomly drawing a bird species reported during The Big Sit! A second random drawing selects one of the circles that reported that species as the winner of The Golden Bird Award.
The Golden Bird this year is the Yellow-throated euphonia (Euphonia hirundinacea). Yellow-throated euphonia - Wikipedia. It is found in southeastern Mexico and throughout Central America with its range stretching from Belize south to western Panama. It inhabits primarily both humid and dry regions where it prefers the forest edge, open woodland, and shaded plantations.
This year the winning circle is The Lost Tinamou, Finca La Gracia's birding center, Inicio | The Lost Tinamou, located in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, in the municipality of Escuintla, Guatemala. This sanctuary on land that was previously used for coffee cultivation is today occupied by very humid subtropical (warm) forest. The Finca Gracia sanctuary is a refuge among a sea of intensive cattle ranching, pineapple, rubber, and sugarcane fields. The native flora and fauna have found refuge in this relatively small preserve.
REMINDERS
Registration of Circles
Listing and Finding a Circle
Email Communication
Submitting Your Results
COVID-19 Safety
Share Your Day on Facebook
CIRCLES AND RULES
Your Circle
Fundraising
Rules
REPORTING RESULTS
Reporting Your Results via eBird
Document Circle Location
Keep Paper Records
Basic Steps
AFTER YOUR BIG SIT!
Sharing Your Big Sit! Day
Receiving Consolidated Results
Awards
CONTACT
Email TheBigSitNHBC@gmail.com if you have comments, suggestions, or questions about The Big Sit!
New Haven Bird Club
P.O. Box 9004
New Haven CT 06532-0004
www.newhavenbirdclub.org
www.thebigsit.org
The Big Sit! ® is a registered trademark of the New Haven Bird Club, Inc.
Thanks to contributing photographers Bill Batsford, Christine Howe, Stefan Martin, and the Connecticut Ornithological Association.
DONATIONS
The New Haven Bird Club does not charge a fee for participation in the Big Sit! We are a small, all volunteer bird club founded in 1907. Our Club objectives are to make available to members and the general public opportunities for recreation, education, and appreciation through birding, and to encourage the conservation of natural resources. We offer all our programs to the public at no cost. We have taken on added expenses to sponsor the Big Sit! We hope you might consider making a donation to help offset those expenses.