Ornithology, the scientific study of birds, is both a popular field of academic study at Earlham College and a hobby among students of other majors. Birding Big Day, an annual fundraiser for the college, features alumni from around the world who go birding, where they record the number of species they see and make donations to Earlham based on their counts. Many alumni even begin their celebration of homecoming with an early morning bird walk led by Earlham faculty.