17.-18. May 2014: 151 species/Seewinkel (Khil, Schindlauer, Suanjak, Tiefenbach) 
4.-5. May 2024: 158 species/Seewinkel (Khil, Schabl, Suanjak) 
17.-18. May 2025 big sit: 112 species/Zicksee (Khil, Schabl, Suanjak)
Birdraces or Big Days are fun events to raise money for bird conservation. I have been a keen participant in the Austrian version of this ‚competition‘ in many years, fortunate enough to be on the winning team of the first edition in 2005 in Vienna, setting a national record with the team of St. Martins Lodge at Seewinkel in 2014 (151 species) and to bump it up to 158 species ten years later in 2024 with Martin Suanjak and Katharina Schabl. Martin put together an ebird trip report for this standing record.
Running out of challenges, we decided to try a „big sit“ in 2025: How many bird species could we spot from just one location – the „boat house“ of St. Martins Lodge in the north-east corner of Lake Zicksee – one of Austria’s prime birding hotspots. We were delighted with the result of 112 species, now hoping for others to destroy this mark!