Birding News and Features
Bird Watchers Urgently Needed to Track Rusty Blackbirds
Populations of Rusty Blackbirds are crashing! Their numbers have plummeted by as much as 88-98% over the last few decades, according to data gathered between 1966 and 2006 for the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count. A species that was once considered to be abundant is rapidly disappearing before our eyes. Your observations can help save this species by arming scientists with critical information about this species' ecology during migration. Bird watchers across North America are being asked to help scientists track spring migrant Rusty Blackbirds from April 1-7 using the eBird online checklist program. Your observations of this species can help fill in the important missing pieces of this conservation puzzle!
Changes to Listing Calculations
WHY ARE MY LISTS LOWER?? We have made a significant change to the way that the totals are calculated in the "My eBird" tab. In the past, these totals included all hybrids and spuhs--things like "scoter sp." or "Accipiter sp.". We have changed this so that the My eBird lists now exclude all subspecies, hybrids, and spuhs that were not identified to the species level. If you report a subspecies, these automatically "roll-up" into the parent species. This means that the totals on the My eBird pages count species, not subspecies, hybrids, or spuhs. So, if you see the bird on the right and know that it's a White-rumped Sandpiper, great--enter it as White-rumped Sandpiper. But if you only know that it is some kind of peep, enter it as "peep sp."
Want to find out more about eBird . . . in person? Perhaps you have specific questions about using eBird. Or maybe you want to know how other people use eBird to keep track of their observations. This year we will maintain a calendar of upcoming events where eBird Project Leaders and other expert eBirders will be leading trips, giving eBird talks and conducting workshops on using eBird. During these events, we hope to provide an idea of how to use eBird more effectively--both in the field and on the computer. Topics we're likely to discuss include how researchers make use of these data, how your observations aid conservation efforts, and how you as an eBirder can do more with the application. In the coming months we'll be in Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin.
An easy way to calculate distances and areas
Do you struggle to estimate mileage or area when eBird asks you to enter information for your Area Search or Traveling Count? If so, there are some excellent web-based tools that you can use to make your measurements much more accurate. Using these tools you can draw a shape around your favorite birding area to get an accurate calculation of the area or you can plot the route you took to get more accurate figures for your Traveling Count. Click the above link to read more and please remember that when you enter your data into eBird it is always more valuable if it has effort information-- click here to read why.
eBird Recieves 1,000,000th checklist!
eBird has surpassed one-million checklists! In December, John Beetham of Highland Park, New Jersey, submitted the millionth checklist and will receive a pair of Zeiss 8x30 Conquest binoculars to commemorate this milestone. He says, "Contributing sightings to eBird is an extension of activities that I enjoy doing anyway. Birding is at its best when it is both a personal challenge and a contribution to bird conservation." Beetham reported 34 species from Liberty State Park, including 60 Snow Buntings and one lingering Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Bohemian Waxwings, Pine Grosbeaks & other boreal irruptives on the move!
Although wintry weather is just barely upon us, birders in northern border states from Minnesota to Maine are already enjoying one of the occasional joys of winter birding--an influx of boreal irruptive species like Bohemian Waxwing, Pine Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak, and Common Redpoll. In New York alone, both Pine Grosbeak and Common Redpoll, usually the two latest species to appear during an irruption year, were reported before the end of October, and Bohemian Waxwing was seen on a record early date. The early arrival of these species, and the numbers in which they are being seen, suggests that we could be in store for a major irruption year, with some boreal species approaching the southern limits of their irruptive ranges. In fact, the early fall months have already seen a sizable irruption of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches, and Pine Siskins out of Canada's boreal forest to areas as far south as Georgia. Below we summarize the current status of several boreal irruptive species, and suggest the extent to which they could be found if this winter does prove to be a major irruption event.
eBird Data Import Tool Beta Release
We are happy to announce that we are now beta-testing the eBird Data Import Tool. Many users have been asking how we can bulk load their existing sightings that are kept on their home computers in various file types. This tool is designed to bring in data from Excel files or other similarly structured datasets. We have created two file formats that we feel conform well to the types of data people typically store. If you have data stored in Excel or a similar format, and you would like to help us beta-test the application please read on. Attention: AviSys users and other commercial birding software users: we are working closely with these application developers and in the coming weeks we'll make a special announcement regarding the upload of these data formats.
eBird Announces Revised Taxonomy!
With the implementation of a new and improved taxonomy, it is now possible to enter bird observations from anywhere in North America south through Panama! We have updated the taxonomy to be in compliance with the latest American Ornithologists' Union supplements, and we've also added a host of new subspecies to our taxonomy along with other valuable options such as hybrids and "sp." options (e.g., Empidonax sp.). We are in the process of working with our partners in South America so that soon data entry will be available across the Western Hemisphere. The many revisions and improvements in this new version are discussed in detail below.
In this second installment of our series on counting birds we'll discuss some approaches to counting more problematic groups of birds including large numbers, moving flocks, and mixed species flocks. How do the hawk counters do it? How should you count that constant stream of Cormorants passing your local headland? How do you go about picking out different species in large flocks of birds. "Birds of a feather flock together!" Well, sometimes, but more often than not we're presented with heterogeneous flocks of birds comprised of many different species. Learning how to look at species ratios within flocks is important, and developing an eye for picking out what is different will help you find that proverbial needle in the haystack that we're all hoping for--a rarity. Armed with the tips in this column we hope you'll improve your ability and begin to enjoy counting birds.
At eBird we encourage you to make your best estimate of bird numbers on every checklist. Your best estimate of numbers is always more useful than putting an "X' to indicate presence. An "X' could be one or it could be a thousand! We can always simplify numbers back to presence/absence for analysis. Your estimates of numbers help us judge relative abundance, and are an important part of checklist data. So what do you do if you're having trouble counting birds? Large flocks of birds are always challenging, and in this article we'll talk about some techniques for estimating numbers so that you can practice and become more proficient at counting birds. This will be the first in a series of articles discussing techniques for counting birds.