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Do you use eBird? (1 Viewer)

Yeray

Yeray

Yeray Seminario
Hi everyone,

I just posted a new entry on the Whitehawk blog about our collaboration with eBird.

In case you have never heard about eBird, we are talking about a real-time, online checklist program. You can read more about it here.

We would like to encourage all birders to enter their observations and contribute to this global project, for the benefit of the birding community and science. We will be posting several tutorials on the use of eBird soon.

Thanks!

Yeray
 
Hi Yeray,

I've been using it since 2007; makes my birding much more meaningful to know the results are recorded for scientists and other birders to use. And it's very good at keeping track of my lists as well.

eBird has developed a pretty good following in the Western Hemisphere (though I personally won't be satisfied until all birders use it), but is just getting started in the Eastern Hemisphere. So I am heartened to see you and Whitehawk supporting it in Spain. Hope others from your area will also consider using it.

Cheers,
Jim
 
I use it as it allows me to keep my records in one place no matter where I might have been birding in Western Palearctic or even elsewhere outside the British Isles.

I believe that there is collaboration presently going on between eBird and BTO/BirdTrack so that there can be interaction between the two systems, which is good news!

Tony
 
I think I read some of the studies will show which species of birds are commonly seen together with each other. I look forward to reading such results. :)

Those bar graphs are fun to read. Once there are several records for each site it is easy to see patterns. For example I have noticed lack of records of Jays in my transects during the incubation/nestling period. There are loud jays everywhere, then there is none, then all of a sudden they are everywhere again, fledged juveniles following their parents begging for food. For a few other species I have noticed a second peak of singing in June, so maybe they are also quiet when they have small young in nest.

In any case the blank grey bars are a good incentive to visit your regular patches off-season. There are as many birds singing in June as in April, and the unexpected bonus was seeing all the freshly fledged juveniles. It was of course necessary to be at the site at the crack of dawn before the heat.
 
Thank you everybody for your comments. We just started developing new filters for some regions in Spain and completed a list with proper Spanish bird names, which was necessary for Spanish birders to fill their lists! I'm hoping that many more birders in the Eastern Hemisphere join in so data is more meaningful and useful. We will be posting tutorials on our blog, and maybe they can be shared in birdforum as well.
 
I thought this was just for North American birders but after reading your blog Yeray I've joined and will be posting my sightings asap after I have worked out how to do it properly.Not an easy task at my age.....Eddy
 
Yes, I use eBird a lot and encourage everyone to do so.

eBird works best as an international database that shows bird distribution and movements on a global scale.

Carlos
 
Yes, I use it. I like the way I can easily see my list sorted by country or state or region. I also like that you can see lists of birds that other people have seen in any given area.
 
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Thanks for your comments everyone. It's encouraging to hear good positive feedback from people who are already using eBird. We are hoping that more birders join in.

Eddy, your observations will be of great help to provide relevant data in the Strait of Gibraltar! It's quite easy to upload the observations after you do it for the first couple of times. The new Andalucia's filter is on, so that would make things easier for us to review the observations.
 
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I do not know that directly. I know that ebird and worldbird (I think that is from rspb?) had collaboration with data being submitted to a common repository.

Niels
 
Robin Edwards said:
Does anyone know if eBird records if used in the UK are fed into the BTO as well?
Click to expand...

I know that eBird and BTO BirdTrack have looked at exchanging information but I don't know if it is up and running yet.

I have put all of my 2013 British records on eBird, or at least the ones with the slightest significance. I prefer it to BirdTrack. The only problem I have found is that sites near county boundaries can get assigned to the wrong county, even with accurate grid refs or marking them exactly on the maps.

Judging by the 'Explore Data' feature very few, just a handful, of British birders use it extensively but a lot more seem to have dabbled a bit.

Steve
 
Steve Lister said:
I know that eBird and BTO BirdTrack have looked at exchanging information but I don't know if it is up and running yet.
Steve
Click to expand...


They are working on the ` development of a global repository for the sharing, visualisation and analysis of observational data on birds'. More detail is given here.

In particular, the article finishes with `If you are an eBird user or a BirdTrack user, please continue to contribute observations as you have, assured in the knowledge that we are working together to bring these data into a common repository, enabling the data to make a greater difference for birds at a global scale.'

Andrea
 
I was introduced to sighting recording when I lived in Australia, so I only knew of Eremaea which I still use now. Its just too late to switch, I don't want to reupload more than 10,000 observations.
 
Silverwolf said:
I was introduced to sighting recording when I lived in Australia, so I only knew of Eremaea which I still use now. Its just too late to switch, I don't want to reupload more than 10,000 observations.
Click to expand...

Most birders coming to eBird have prior records of observations in some form. It is not necessary to enter all these prior observations into eBird to start using it. You can just use it for new observations.

If your concern is that you want your personal list numbers to be accurately reflected in eBird, that can be achieved without entering each individual observation that you have entered in the past. EBird has an option to hide observations from the public database – and I have used this feature to enter what are essentially dummy lists that quickly record all the birds I have seen in the past, but that are inaccurate in some respects. For example, they use a fictitious date, and may be inspecific or inaccurate in terms of location, e.g. they are for Texas as a whole. Hence, e.g., to incorporate your past species list into your California eBird list you could enter a single list for California with all your prior species, but choose a single date. Since you hide the observation from the public database, it does not create bad data that others access. But these observations will still be reflected in your personal list totals, so they are accurate and up to date.

I realize this is not a perfect solution since you might want to refer to info about your past observations, but you'll still have your old records to refer to if you want more info on them.

Best,
Jim
 
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