Birding News and Features
North American Big Day Record Broken
On April 19th the EDG Birding Team sponsored by Nikon Sport Optics and Birding America set a new Big Day record for the ABA area with 260 species. The day started in the Texas Hill Country and ended in the rice fields of the central Texas Coast. The team, consisting of Ken Behrens, Pete Hosner, Michael Retter, and Cameron Cox, experienced an incredible day of birding…
Download My Data Released!
Birders have asked for eBird functionality that allows one to back up their data on home computers. We have built a tool for this, and are pleased to announce its release. We've recently added the ability for users to retrieve a file containing all the data they've ever entered into eBird in spreadsheet format, which can be easily read using Microsoft Excel, manipulated and analyzed using tools outside eBird, and saved and stored on your home computers. This new tool gives users the ability to analyze their own raw data and to look at patterns in their own observations beyond what the eBird View and Explore data tools now provide. The idea is to make eBird as versatile as possible, and give you the raw data in order to allow you to perform your own data exploration!
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! Note: Your observations from outside this time frame are also sorely needed, so please enter any and all Rusty Blackbird records into eBird if possible!
El Grupo Cerúleo to Receive Conservation Award
Congratulations to all members of El Grupo Cerúleo, an international group of scientists dedicated to the study and conservation of Cerulean Warblers. The Chief of the U. S. Forest Service at the Office of International Programs has awarded the group the Wings across the Americas International Partnership Award for 2008. The award is given in recognition of the group's efforts to develop the assessment of the nonbreeding range of the Cerulean Warbler in South America. Priority Migrant eBird contributed significantly to this effort. Read on to learn more about this collaboration and Priority Migrant eBird.
New eBird Output for Arrivals, Departures, and High Counts
We are pleased to announce the release of several new eBird output tools featuring Arrivals, Departures and High Counts. These tools provide birders with new ways to explore the eBird data, to learn when and where birds are being reported and to get a better sense of eBird's historic data. Are you curious about how many species birders have reported in your state or county this year? Do you want to know if your 15 March Yellow-throated Warbler was the first one seen this year, or perhaps even the earliest record ever submitted to eBird? Or do you want to know if the 137 Stilt Sandpipers you counted at your favorite shorebirding spot was the all-time high count reported to eBird? Exploring the answers to these questions is now possible within eBird. Simply log in to eBird, go to 'View and Explore Data,' and then try out the 'Arrivals and Departures' or 'High Counts' options. These new tools allow you to dig deeper into the eBird database than ever before!
