Appreciate Your Birding Insights for an eBird Project (1 Viewer)

[nhatp1119]

Hi everyone!

I am Nat, a graduate student in data science at Northeastern University (Boston, MA, US). I got into bird watching recently and I am working on an academic project on to enhance eBird using its data. My goal is to improve the birding experience of eBird users, especially for those new to the hobby like me.

Since I don't know many other birders, I would like to hear about your birding experience, specifically:

1. What factors drive your choice of birding spots? (new species nearby, new locations, habitual spots, etc.)
2. How do you log sightings on eBird? (only log new birds, try to log all birds, only at new places, etc.)
3. Are there any current features on eBird that you think need improvement or wish eBird had?
4. If a recommendation system were available, what would you prefer it recommend to you: new locations, new species, or something else?

If you're open to sharing your thoughts, I have created an anonymous Google form here: Enhancing eBird for New Birders

Alternatively, feel free to comment with your answers below. I deeply value and appreciate your insights. Thank you!

 

[01101001]

Hello, and welcome to the forum from another birder (and eBirder)! I haven't been in the hobby for awfully long as well.

(Re eBird improvement: @THE_FERN )

 

[THE_FERN]

Hi everyone!

I am Nat, a graduate student in data science at Northeastern University (Boston, MA, US). I got into bird watching recently and I am working on a academic project on to enhance eBird using its data. My goal goal is to improve the birding experience, especially for those new to the hobby like me.

Since I don't know many other birders, I would like to hear about your birding experience, specifically:

1. What factors drive your choice of birding spots? (new species nearby, new locations, habitual spots, etc.)
2. How do you log sightings on eBird? (only log new birds, try to log all birds, only at new places, etc.)
3. Are there any current features on eBird that you think need improvement or wish eBird had?
4. If a recommendation system were available, what would you prefer it recommend to you: new locations, new species, or something else?

If you're open to sharing your thoughts, I have created an anonymous Google form here: Enhancing eBird for New Birders

Alternatively, feel free to comment with your answers below. I deeply value and appreciate your insights. Thank you!

Here's a few:

• website has no direct link to trip reports on mob. version. Have to access via "manage my..."
• you should be able to download your GPS traces just like you can download your observations. This should be built in rather than some browser extension that feeds off the rendered data
• too easy (on Android at least) to accidentally swipe up, kill list without confirmation message being triggered. This wipes the duration info too
• should be able to merge and split lists. E.g. a list prematurely split by accidental swipe up (see also below for reasons to split)
• distance restrictions on gps trace are crazy. A longer journey renders the locations less precise, that's all (and data model is wrong: see below). In some places (Masai mara, mid-west usa, much of France, anywhere with intense agriculture etc), long journey is valid: habitat the same. But if for some reason you wish to respect the distance limits then you should have option to split the list (difficult given the wrong data model)
• if I have enabled GPS trace, then ebird knows where I am. I shouldn't have to designate a "hotspot" for my checklist (whatever that is)
• incidentals should never replace the actual location with a hotspot's. That's evil.
• why (on earth) do you have to give a non-hotspot location a name? And why must it be unique? Lat-long is the latter, the former should be optional and could duplicate an existing one (if you want)
• on start, app shouldn't force you to wait "hours" while it determines GPS location and the feeding flock passes. Should let you start a checklist immediately and worry about getting location in the background
• "hotspots" don't really make sense, but if we pretend they do, why can't there be groups of hotspots like there are "trip reports".

For example, a "site overview" for all those associated with Itatiaia national park, Brazil. And can we have metadata---like information about access points, perhaps (suitably anonymised) GPS trace to indicate common routes through the area, public transport info etc

• why can't we extend the reporting to non-bird taxa, e.g. by taking igoterra lists for other these. Perhaps give user options to supply their own lists. Surprisingly, there are other types of organisms on the planet and they outnumber dinosaurs
• fundamentally the data model is wrong. An observation is a point location. If you choose to associate many of these observations as a "checklist" to reflect effort that should be up to you. i.e. ebird should record where you record each bird and store that

 

[Mono]

1. I have certain local spots I visit regularly. These can be sites in immediate walking distance to my house or designated reserves a short < 30min drive away. I will also keep a watch on local sightings reports; these are a mix of Twitter, Facebook, a local birding club forum and word-of-mouth. I don't use eBird for local birds. If I am going away on holiday I will use the same mix of social media, do web searches, I will ask on here and I will use eBird. Weeks out from the trip I will use eBird to add to the list of potential sites, looking for Hotspots. A day or so out and whilst there I may use eBird to look for particular species, it depends on how active eBirders are in the area.

2. I only log things on eBird if I am in the mood. I am not a lister, I don't keep year lists or life lists or any sort of list. I will occasionally feel the urge to make a list, usually when I am a new site, when I am on a dedicated birding trip rather than just having a trip out in nature. When out with friends I may also competitively list, who can see the most species in a hour or whatever. I used to do this listing in a notebook but I have taken to using eBird for this purpose. I am logging sightings onto eBird for my own purposes, I don't do it for the greater good although I recognise that is adding to the pool. When logging I will log all the birds I see not just the interesting ones.

3. I find the map search a bit frustrating to use. There seems to be a 30 mile limit of searches, which is not helpful if, for example, you are trying to gauge the arrival of migrants. I might be missing something but I have tried several times and given up in frustration.

4. I haven't used eBird enough to know what alerts are already possible but it would good if one could be alerted to new eBird users in the area. I don't check eBird much if ever at home because very few people are using it. It would be good if it could be alerted to a new user in area.

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, don’t use ebird; just wanted to say welcome to the forum.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Nat and a warm welcome from me too.

I don't use eBird either, except to access Birds of the World.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about.

 

[Chris G6 UXU]

Hello Nat and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

 

[THE_FERN]

Oh and I should have said:

Cornell's a public institution and gets it's money from the public. Why isn't the ebird app open source?

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi there Nat and welcome aboard

 

[nhatp1119]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes, and responses! My teammates and I appreciate it a lot!

 

[Fritz73]

Hola! Welcome to Birdforum

 

[THE_FERN]

Other aspects which grate include:

• why do I have to pull up a grid of all species if I want to edit just one on website
• tag system unwieldy and often not used (I don't)
• good to have separate counts for heard only and seen. Because I don't bother with the tags I give the overall number seen+heard and indicate heard only as "H2" in the notes. This is tedious
• no way way too indicate estimates. I use "approx count"
• forced to use Clements taxonomy (why? Igoterra is agnostic)

I use ebird because I'm too lazy to write my own app. When I do I try to include everything (e.g. feral pigeons). One reason for using it is that observation.org used to require an internet connection---don't know if it still does.

 

[S_Man]

Not using eBird but after trying Merlin, which I suppose is the main tool in this chain, here are my first feelings about this app:

• add pinch-zoom on the explore/list screen, photos are really too small, they should be resizable to at least 1/2 or 3/4 of the screen width (less than 1/3rd on mine, most of the screen is empty when the pack list is selected, see attached file) or even to full width pictures, with the name printed over or between pictures (and display themonthly presence scales only if images are sized to small)
• on this same list screen, make images swapable for each species (ie same as on the species page but with thumbnails), so that you can also compare female to female of different species on the same view, juvenile to juvenile, etc. not only the 1st photo from each species as it's the case now apparently
• it would ne nice to keep at least 2-3 languages for the bird names in the phone memory, instead of downloading everything everytime you need to switch to another language, which is common in a foreign country, when discussing IDs with other birders or locals speaking different languages

Other remarks about Merlin app, an offline list should be saved on the phone, in addition to the current eBird list/hotspot management:

• add an option in the settings to keep this basic .txt checklist, with [species, lat/lon, date, time]
• if enabled, add a checkbox or button, or maybe double-tap to check a species from the explore list and species page

This to offer a personal, offline alternative for a checklist, and then it's up to the user to handle this data manually (copy the text file to a PC, import in database, or whatever). eBird servers don't need to manage this list...

All this should be really easy to do for a programmer and add something to the eBbird experience.

 

[wary_cassowary]

I filled out the google form! Best of luck on your project!

 

[Jim M.]

Oh and I should have said:

Cornell's a public institution and gets it's money from the public. Why isn't the ebird app open source?

Not true. Cornell is a private university that is not funded by tax dollars. In any event, eBird and Merlin are provided free of charge to birders and have both been a boon to the birding community, so it's not like you can complain you are not getting your monies' worth.

 

[HinzundKunz]

I'd like to see a feature on merlin that let's you see similar birds to a specific one you have opened. Very often the step by step guide doesn't show me the bird I am looking for, but one that looks somewhat similar. I would like to tell it "show me similar birds" and then get a list to browse through. I'm still new to birding, and where I live (Central Tanzania) there are over a hundred different bird species - over 500 in the wider area - so it's really difficult to learn to differentiate between all of them.

 

[elinamarks]

Hi everyone!

I am Nat, a graduate student in data science at Northeastern University (Boston, MA, US). I got into bird watching recently and I am working on an academic project on to enhance eBird using its data. My goal is to improve the birding experience of eBird users, especially for those new to the hobby like me.

Since I don't know many other birders, I would like to hear about your birding experience, specifically:

1. What factors drive your choice of birding spots? (new species nearby, new locations, habitual spots, etc.)
2. How do you log sightings on eBird? (only log new birds, try to log all birds, only at new places, etc.)
3. Are there any current features on eBird that you think need improvement or wish eBird had?
4. If a recommendation system were available, what would you prefer it recommend to you: new locations, new species, or something else?

If you're open to sharing your thoughts, I have created an anonymous Google form here: Enhancing eBird for New Birders I'm looking forward to your replies because they will help us a lot. And there is still enough time for the deadline, but it's actually a massive work, so I would like to do everything as fast as possible, and I think this forum is the perfect place for getting help. I'm also thinking about my dissertation too, and maybe this will be the main topic. I was looking for some examples of dissertation topics and came across different sites, including this one https://papersowl.com/blog/ideas-for-dissertation-topics which provided me various ideas and tips on how to choose the best one. So at first, I'll focus on this project and see how it goes. And then, if I have enough info, I'll try to decide whether it's a good one for the dissertation.

Alternatively, feel free to comment with your answers below. I deeply value and appreciate your insights. Thank you!

Hello! I'm also pretty new to bird-watching, and your project looks very interesting.
It has been more than a month since your post and I'm curious, have you already come up with some ideas on improving the birding experience for eBird users?

 

[nhatp1119]

@elinamarks Hi, yes we were able to build a simple dashboard, please see below for more details. I would love to hear your feedback!

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for all your answers! My teammates and I created a Tableau dashboard to provide beginner birders with simple suggestions of optimal times and locations to observe their species of interest in MA.

The dashboard is more a passion project and learning experience to me than an innovative product, since I am aware of existing advanced and user-friendly platforms for birders. Given the time, data, computational, and skill constraints, there were several ideas we could not pursue but would like to in the future.

The dashboard is publicly accessible on Tableau:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/nhat.pham5285/viz/dashboard_0213_all/MainDashboard

For the best experience, please click the "Full screen" option in the bottom right. If the interface is not very intuitive, helpful guidance is available under the "How to use dashboard" tab or through a brief video demonstration:

I would greatly value your feedback on its current utility and suggestions for improvement. Feel free to leave your comments below or through this anonymous Google form: Enhancing birdwatching experience in Massachusetts

Brief overview of our methodology:

• We developed predictive models using eBird data from 2013-2022 to forecast weekly bird detection rates by county for 2023 and 2024
• Data from 2021 and 2022 were analyzed to illustrate past detection rates at various times and hotspots

Thank you in advance for your time! I am happy to answer any questions you might have!

 

[Zoroark]

At home, I keep an eye on the recent sightings and rare bird alerts. If I just want to go out and there's nothing to twtich, I hit one of my favorite local hotspots. Away from home, I use the targets feature on eBird, which really could use some fleshing out to make the species map view show more common hotspots prominently.

Regarding #3, I've been using eBird for three years now, and I have a few general complaints about the platform.

• No general access information. I understand hours and fees can change regularly and be difficult to maintain, but I'd really appreciate eBird showing the location of the parking lot or entrance. So often, a hotspot marker will be in the middle of a large field, and I have no idea which part is actually walkable and best for birdwatching. I've absolutely lost a few hours between circling a huge plot looking for where to park, gone in from the wrong side, and found it a complete waste of my time. You can't rely on markers on mapping services, either; they're often just as bad.
• Checklists demand counts, discouraging putting X's to mark occurrence. This is tedious when several common birds are all over a hotspot, especially when using a phone lock code. I saw someone mention BirdTrack, and the way counts are handled looks much better, but that's exclusive to the UK.
• Over-reliance on Google services. The map can be absolutely cluttered with business markers, while tiles from OSM/Mapbox are often far cleaner.
• The app demands accurate geolocation to start a checklist, freezing until it gets it. It won't just let you start, then fetch the location in the background. A recent update made the same true for the Explore tab, which is annoying because I often use that feature indoors (restaurant, hotel) when on trips. I suppose I should mention that I do not have Google location services enabled, only GPS.

For #4, if it's fed by someone's existing data and being given a location to search in, a tool to find new birding areas that would have the best chance to generate new lifers, or perhaps birds they haven't photographed.