Birding’s competitive side is on full display in the 2011 comedy The Big Year, the story of hardcore enthusiasts traveling extreme distances to be the first to document the most species spotted from January to December.
But this month’s annual international birding event, The Big Sit!, is just the opposite.
Held in communities across the globe every October, including nearby Plaquemine, the event gathers small groups of birders in one place to document birds they see over a 24-hour period.
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The rules require participants to sit in a 17-foot diameter configuration, a mandate rooted in the birder’s belief that if you stay anywhere long enough, all sorts of avian life will pass through.
Birders get comfy, socialize, sometimes share a picnic and record their sightings in eBird, a popular birding app.
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Volunteers from the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Audubon Society will host a Big Sit! Oct. 9, sunrise to sunset, at the Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site.
For details about events in the Capital Region, visit braudubon.org. To learn more about how to organize your own, visit thebigsit.org.
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.