Big Sit - September 2025

by Dave Brewer

In late September, a state birding event, The Big Sit, was hosted by the Illinois Audubon Society. The event is very similar to a Global Big Day; a competition in which bird watchers counts as many species as possible in a 24-hour period. While Global Big Day involves moving from place to place to maximize the number of species spotted, The Big Sit competition is exactly as it sounds and stays in one place.

A circle 17’ in diameter, called a "count circle”, is set up and only species observed or heard from that circle count for the final species total. Our team took third place out of 41 teams across Illinois in the number of birds observed and first place in hours of observation with a total of 71 species and 15 continuous hours of birding.

Our team, “Just Winging It” was made up of five observers, including Dave Brewer,

James Hampson, Stephen Hager, and Adrianh Martinez-Orozco. We assembled a team of ringers! Jim has birded forever and has participated in over 50 Christmas Bird Counts, Steve is a Biology/Ornithology professor at Augustana, and Adrianh is a photographer (Thanks for letting me use your photos!), a veterinarian and occasional bird tour leader. Our count circle was located at Gremel Wildlife Sanctuary near Amboy at the edge of the woods and by the edge of a pond and a small wetland. If the birds are in our favor, next year, we’re taking first!

Jim Hampson, Steve Hagar and Adrianh Orozco

Dave Brewer