Central America

2014 was a great year for eBird in Central America. We want to thank all of the contributors (close to a thousand) who submitted observations during the year, and also the dozen volunteer reviewers who help keep the data accurate.

In the four years since eBird was launched globally (late 2010), eBird has accumulated a lot of data and its maps are constantly coming closer to representing the complete ranges of all of the world’s birds. In fact, eBird has distribution data for 1,184 species in Central America, and is missing data for only two of the endemic species (both rare species from the Darién area of Panamá). As time goes by, eBird will be able to generate the complete bird lists for the region, each country, and every department, as well as hundreds of areas of interest, such as national parks and wildlife reserves.

During 2014, new species were reported to eBird (with documentation) for every Central American country except Belize. This suggests that the Belize list of 564 species on eBird is very close to the complete Belize bird list. Some of the new species were vagrants representing new country records, such as Maguari Stork in Panama and Brown-headed Cowbird in Guatemala.

Here is a summary of the checklists and species, and the number of new species, submitted for Central American countries during 2014. (Data from eBird, 31 December 2014, using the Explore a Region tool)

Region	Complete checklists (all time)	Complete checklists for 2014	Total species reported in 2014 (and all time)	New species reported in 2014
Belize	14,709	3,653	499 (564)	0
Costa Rica	47,916	10,759	806 (873)	6
El Salvador	5,070	2,309	409 (523)	4
Guatemala	9,794	2,742	639 (689)	16
Honduras	10,800	4,494	650 (718)	13
Nicaragua	3,833	1,012	598 (700)	4
Panama	16,772	6,011	850 (922)	11
All Central America	108,894	30,980	1113 (1184)	N/A

SOME NEW FEATURES DURING 2014

The eBird managers and programmers at Cornell Lab of Ornithology continued to improve eBird during 2014. The Explore a Region tool was launched in April. The eBird pelagic birding protocol was introduced in August. The Target Species tool was launched in October. Staff at Cornell also assisted in greatly improving the data entry and review process for Costa Rica and Panama during 2014. These countries migrated from a single, country-wide data entry filter, to separate filters for multiple regions based on biogeography and elevation. This will greatly improve data quality for those countries, as now eBirders will no longer be able to report many birds outside of their known ranges without having to provide authenticating details. There is still a large backlog of reports awaiting review, but we can expect the eBird distribution maps for all birds in Costa Rica and Panama to improve greatly in the near future. This is especially important because eBird usage is higher in those countries than in the rest of Central America. Over 16,700 complete checklists were submitted in those two countries combined during 2014.

THE TOP CONTRIBUTORS IN 2014

Today we recognize the 20 most active contributors to eBird Central America during 2014. Last year, the top 20 contributors had each submitted more than 120 complete checklists. “Complete checklists” are those that include all species observed during a field trip, not just the notable or rare ones; such checklists are especially valuable for the study of bird distribution and abundance. In 2013, only five observers in Central America submitted more than 400 complete checklists and just one submitted more than 600.

In 2014, the top 20 contributors in Central America each submitted more than 212 checklists. Eight observers submitted more than 400 (six observers more than 600!). The top checklist contributor in 2014, Walter Rivera of El Salvador, submitted a whopping 1008 checklists; Walter is one of the winners of the Central American eBirder of the year awards (the prize is a pair of Zeiss binoculars). One observer who made the top 20 list both this year and last, Jan Meerman of Belize, was selected as eBirder of the month (a worldwide competition) in February 2014, also winning a new pair of Zeiss binoculars (visit the announcement here). We are especially thankful to this group for their enormous contributions, but also to all eBirders during 2014, as every observation is valuable for science. Here are the top 20 contributors for 2014, as of 31 December 2014:

Rank	Observer	Complete Checklists	Species
1	Walter Rivera	1,008	263
2	Ricardo Guindon	990	256
3	John Cahill	719	651
4	Jan Cubilla	638	510
5	John van Dort	624	604
6	David Segura	602	512
7	Róger Rodríguez Bravo	443	500
8	Edwin Calderon	405	294
9	Roselvy Juárez	367	571
10	Mayron McKewy Mejia	362	457
11	Oliver Komar	355	734
12	Jim Zook	349	598
13	Phil Arneson	337	76
14	German Pugnali	304	252
15	Hope Batcheller	252	90
16	Josh Beck	222	931
16	Kathi Borgmann	222	931
18	Jan Meerman	219	363
19	Diego Quesada	216	607
19	Jennifer Tobin	216	475

 

Many of the most active eBird contributors reported on average more than one checklist per day during 2014. These observers sometimes submit 10 or more checklists during a single day of birding. Surprising? Remember that the most valuable data for eBird are collected at fine-scale, specific localities, even if during a very brief effort. In fact, checklists collected with the Stationary protocol (a point count) permit the most accurate modeling of the relationship between bird abundance and habitat or geography. If you wish to increase your contributions in the future, consider using point count methods, or short transects (5 km or less) in homogeneous habitats, with observation efforts of at least 10 minutes.

SPECIES NEW FOR EBIRD CENTRAL AMERICA IN 2014

Approximately 31,000 complete checklists were submitted to eBird for Central America during 2014, up almost 50% from 2013. They provided valuable distributional data for 1113 bird species. All Central American countries but Belize added bird species to their national eBird lists in 2014. Let’s take a look at some of the unusual records for the region in 2014.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica had six new species reported to eBird during 2014 (the same number as in 2013). New in 2014 were two pelagics from the Pacific coast (Sooty Shearwater, Inca Tern), two pelagics from the Caribbean coast (Black-legged Kittiwake, Audubon’s Shearwater), and two landbirds: Yellow-backed Oriole, and Yellow-headed Blackbird. All of these species were probably vagrants, and doubtfully occur in the country every year. This was also a great year for acquiring historical data for Costa Rica. Ten additional new species for eBird Costa Rica were added based on observations made in earlier years, so now the country list on eBird reaches 873 species.

El Salvador

El Salvador added four species to the country’s eBird list in 2014, reaching 523 on eBird: Spotted Rail, White-faced Ibis, Wilson’s Snipe, and Savannah Sparrow. These are rare or accidental visitors to El Salvador.

Guatemala

No other country added as many species to its eBird list in 2014 as Guatemala: 16 species! The eBird list for Guatemala stands at 689 species. New in 2014 were Christmas Shearwater, Gadwall, Yellow-breasted Crake, Gray-breasted Crake, Spotted Rail, Double-striped Thick-knee, Long-billed Curlew, Baird’s Sandpiper, Southern Lapwing, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Striped Owl, Black-crowned Antshrike, Giant Wren, Red-breasted Chat, Botteri’s Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird. Two of these species are invasive colonizers long expected to invade Guatemala: the collared-dove and the lapwing. Two species are notable for being “Mexican endemics” but now also apparently inhabit Guatemala: the wren and the chat. Perhaps most remarkable about this list of new species, is that one person, John Cahill, contributed twelve of these rare sightings! John was by far the leading contributor to eBird for Guatemala in 2014, reporting 719 checklists and 651 species, a veritable Big Year. Congratulations—and thank you—to John Cahill.

Honduras

Honduras added 13 new species to its eBird list during 2014, a testament to the impressive 4,500 complete checklists submitted (more than any other country in northern Central America). The country list on eBird now has 718 species. The new species in 2014 included Cinnamon Teal, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, Double-crested Cormorant, Southern Lapwing, Kelp Gull, California Gull, Forster’s Tern, Long-tailed Jaeger, Yucatan Nightjar, Ocellated Poorwill, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Hooded Grosbeak. Seven are pelagics or coastal species, and that class of species will likely continue to provide new records for Honduras and other Central American countries in the future, as the coasts have been under-birded in the past. The lapwing and the collared-dove are expanding invaders, long expected (both were also recorded in Guatemala for the first time in 2014). John van Dort deserves special credit for reporting seven of the new species this year. John was the most active eBirder in Honduras in 2014, with 605 complete checklists submitted, and 510 species. He also served as one of the Honduras country reviewers and collaborated on the Central American portal as part of the Central American eBird team. Congratulations, and a special thank you, to John.

Nicaragua

This year Nicaragua added just four new species to its national list of bird species reported to eBird, which stands at 700 species. Two of these are presumed to be rare residents, the White-chinned Swift and Buff-breasted Flycatcher. One is presumed to be a rare migrant, the Sinaloa Martin. The fourth is a vagrant from North America, the Yellow-headed Blackbird.

Panama

The impressive 6000-plus complete checklists contributed for Panama resulted in 11 new species for the national list of species reported to eBird, which now totals 922, the most of any Central American country. The new species reported included three pelagics from the Pacific Ocean (South Polar Skua, Pink-footed Shearwater, Swallow-tailed Gull), three rare swifts from the western highlands (Costa Rican Swift, White-chinned Swift, Spot-fronted Swift), and three South American species from eastern Panama, where these species may now be resident (Pearly-breasted Cuckoo, Lesson’s Seedeater, Slender-billed Kite). Especially surprising was the Pearly-breasted Cuckoo, which actually nested (see Euclides Campos’ checklist with a full account of the discovery); this species is quite rare in northern South America, and eBird still has no reports from Colombia. It was considered by the AOU to be accidental outside of South America. The last two species are evidently vagrants in Panama: Maguari Stork and Violet-green Swallow.

These lists may not be complete, because some rare birds observed in the last few weeks of 2014 may not have been reviewed or even submitted yet. eBird use in Central America continues to increase, and that is great news! Surely more great birds will be found in 2015.

During 2015, we hope to fill in more gaps in the bird distribution data for Central America. Please consider visiting eBird “hotspots” during weeks when they don’t have data. Or visit eBird quadrants that are underrepresented on the eBird maps of species richness, visible from the Hotspot Explorer tool. Or look for expected species in quadrants where they have not yet been reported. While doing so, you might just come across something UNEXPECTED. Safe and successful birding during 2015!