eBird Recieves 1,000,000th checklist!

"We've come a long way and are growing tremendously," says eBird project co-leader Chris Wood. "Just three years ago we averaged about 5,000 checklists each month. Now we're up to about 50,000 a month. All that information makes it much easier to understand patterns of bird distribution across the Western Hemisphere and how they are changing". All eBird sightings become part of a huge database that anyone can explore using maps and charts focusing on the entire continent, a region, or even their own backyard.

eBird leaders continue to expand the project's reach and to find new ways to make the data available for bird conservation. For example, eBird reports are among the data being used by PRBO Conservation Science to compare populations of seabirds before and after a recent oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The high level of participation in eBird should also reveal more about the sporadic southward movement of birds from the far north of the continent, such as Bohemian Waxwings and Pine Grosbeaks. One of the largest "irruptions" in years is taking place this winter.

Stephen Ingraham of Zeiss calls eBird a "ground breaking" effort to harness the observations of birders for science and conservation. "At Carl Zeiss Sports Optics we believe that people who are serious about observing nature can make a difference in our understanding of nature, and in our ability to conserve the natural world around us," Ingraham says. "Our partnership with eBird is part of our larger commitment to both conservation and citizen science."

The commitment made by tens of thousands of birders like John Beetham makes eBird a powerful tool. "It's important for birders to be involved with projects such as eBird, and other bird surveys because of the vulnerable status of many species," he says. "I feel that our reports can help pinpoint problems while there is time to fix them."

Most importantly, thanks to all of our eBird users for making this possible.

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