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eBird wants YOU! (1 Viewer)

Katy Penland

Well-known member
For all BF members who bird in the Americas!

Want to call your attention to Cornell's Lab of Ornithology ongoing eBird Project, and especially to an article written by eBird's project leaders that appeared in the American Birding Association's Fall 2004 magazine and now made available FREE on the ABA's website to non-ABA members.

It's an extremely informative article on the importance of casual birding data. I'm posting it here in the hope that all our American (North, Central and South) members as well as those who take birding holidays in the Americas will consider entering their birding lists into this global database. Doesn't matter if you're in one spot for only an hour, covering several states/provinces while on holiday, or if you've got years of yard lists sitting in notebooks or birding software -- every little bit helps build a picture over time of what species are being seen where and under what conditions.

I hope everyone reading this will contribute to this project. It's very easy to enter data, and you can look at the details of your reporting in any number of ways, all printable or downloadable. I've already started entering my Arizona yard lists; one year down, three to go! And then I'll start on my casual trip lists I've managed to accumulate. :t:

Here's the ABA article:

"Changing Seasons: A Plea for the Common Birds" by Brian L. Sullivan and Christopher L. Wood, project leaders for Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology eBird Project.

http://americanbirding.org/pubs/nab/archives/vol59no1p18to30.pdfhttp://www.americanbirding.org/pubs/nab/archives/index.html
 
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Thanks for posting this, Katy! In the past I did alot of e-bird, but recently I just haven't done it! I keep forgetting to do it, and now your post reminded me! Interesting article, too! |=)|
 
I belong to eBird and have documented several sightings. They have a discussion site on Google. It's a FREE group to join and some of the posts are interesting. They have updated the eBird site itself and are still trying to improve it more. One of the areas they talk about improving is the mapping tool. Please check it out at your convenince.
Enjoy birding.
 
I also am putting forth a plea for the use of eBird to record many or most of your bird sightings. A new feature that I've found especially exciting is the way you can generate abundance bar graph things for various areas if there is enough data for a sight. I am in the process of completing them for our property (filling in the gaps where I didn't bird as much). It's really a lot of fun!

It's a great way to keep track of your sightings easily and have your data go to "use" as well.
 
IlyaVLD said:
Just curious,is there anything like ebird for australia?A friend of mine asked me a few days ago.
As of right now, I don't believe they're set up for anywhere but the Americas, but you or your friend could drop either of the two project leaders a message and ask. Both guys are very accommodating. :t:

Brian Sullivan email: bls42 'at' cornell.edu

Christopher Wood email: clw 'at' insightbb.com
 
Katy Penland said:
As of right now, I don't believe they're set up for anywhere but the Americas,

Don't overlook the BTO Birdtrack scheme now in its third year
http://www.bto.org/birdtrack/

This is a brilliant record of hundreds of British trips each week with some really good animated graphs and maps. You can see just where any British species is being seen at any time of the year.
 
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I've been an eBird member for quite some time, but only started using it recently: I searched an aerial photo map of my area, and found my house. :cool: Unfortunately, I'm rather lazy about using it. Do they care if you submit the same types of birds day after day? :'D
 
IlyaVLD said:
Just curious,is there anything like ebird for australia?A friend of mine asked me a few days ago.

Ilya,

I recall something similar, though I can't remember how it was put together, when data was being collated for the Australian bird Atlas that I think has now been published. I don't know if the network for this collection of information was instituted just for that reason, or if it is any longer active.
 
birding in panama

:clap: Thanks Katy:
Finnally I could do something good for the birds by just going out birding.
Thank you Very Much for the info.
 
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I love eBird but I have to admit, I have yet to make a good habit of recording info. I am about to start project feederwatch though and I plan on being entire dedicated to it! I suppose I could use that info for eBird too
 
Ok, I had a question about ebird, and I s'pose here is where to ask it. My life list on ebird is only 51, since I just started doing it yesterday. My real life list is much more, and I want to raise it to what it really is on ebird. What can I do? I see the only option as going back and adding them on the day I saw them at all the locations. Would that throw off records, or is it a good thing to do? Thanks all,
 
You can post it just for personal use. I believe there is a question somewhere like "do you want to report your findings" or something. Just click NO
 
AmpelisChinito said:
Ok, I had a question about ebird, and I s'pose here is where to ask it. My life list on ebird is only 51, since I just started doing it yesterday. My real life list is much more, and I want to raise it to what it really is on ebird. What can I do? I see the only option as going back and adding them on the day I saw them at all the locations. Would that throw off records, or is it a good thing to do? Thanks all,
You should really send questions like this to the eBird folks since it's their database and they'll know best how to advise you on what to do. :t: There's a link on their website on how to contact them.
 
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