World Migratory Bird Day is officially celebrated on the second Saturday of May in Canada and the US, and the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. However, every day is Bird Day, and you can celebrate birds and host events any day of the year!

The 2025 poster, illustrated by Annamaria Savarino Drago of Mexico, features birds that depend on safe spaces. Look closely in the image to find the ways that you can create bird-friendly cities and communities. World Migratory Bird Day has its roots in two separate but related events: International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD), which began in 1993 in the Americas, and the inaugural World Migratory Bird Day in 2006 for the African-Eurasian region. The two were formally combined into a single, global event in 2018.

History :

• • 1993: The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology founded the first International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). The first event was hosted at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., as an educational campaign to raise awareness about migratory birds and their conservation needs.

• • 1995–2006: The IMBD program was directed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The event was held on the second Saturday in May, corresponding with the peak of spring migration in North America.

• • Present: The program is coordinated by Environment for the Americas and has grown to involve hundreds of events and festivals each year. It is celebrated on the second Saturday in May in Canada and the U.S., and on the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. 

World Migratory Bird Day (African-Eurasian region)

• • 2005: The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) started the “Migratory Waterbird Days” in Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia.
  • 2006: AEWA and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) expanded the scope of the event to a global scale, launching the first official World Migratory Bird Day. The inaugural event was held in Kenya and coincided with a negative public perception that linked migratory birds to the spread of avian influenza. The campaign’s theme, “Migratory birds need our support now!,” aimed to counter this misinformation.
  • Global expansion: After its successful launch, World Migratory Bird Day gained popularity and expanded to more countries annually.

Unification into a global campaign

• • 2017: On October 26, officials from Environment for the Americas, CMS, and AEWA announced an official partnership to unite the two major migratory bird education campaigns.

• • 2018: The combined, single campaign adopted the name “World Migratory Bird Day.” To accommodate the differing migration seasons in the hemispheres, major celebrations are now organized twice a year: on the second Saturday of May and the second Saturday of October. 

Campaign today

Today, the unified World Migratory Bird Day continues to raise awareness of the ecological importance of migratory birds and advocate for their conservation. The campaign features a new conservation theme each year, focusing on issues such as: