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eBirding the Summer Doldrums!

June 30, 2008
eBirding the Summer Doldrums!

Clark's Grebe, Moss Landing, CA. Photograph by Brian Sullivan.

Many birders think that summer is the "off-time" of the year for birding, the general perception being that the most exciting birds occur during spring and fall migration, and during winter when many northern birds head south. While most resident birds are quietly breeding and not much migration is happening, birders tend to snooze a bit as well, again picking up their daily birding activity in August, when the bulk of the shorebirds and many landbirds begin their southward journey across the continent.  At eBird we beg to differ, and we happen to find summer ripe with birding potential.  In this piece we'll point out some great summer birding options; from finding mega-rarities to conducting your own structured bird surveys, summer birding has lots to offer.

The months of June and July hold golden birding opportunities.  Some of North America's rarest birds have been found during these months, and much of the existing data on our breeding birds have been gathered during these months.  Field biologists across the continent work feverishly to study the breeding biology of birds during this period, while eBirders can contribute to this effort in a number of significant ways. At eBird we gather data on all birds over the course of the entire year, but during the summer months we find that many birders submit fewer checklists.  This time of the year is incredibly important for birds, and by continuing to submit data throughout this period you can help scientists assess how local environmental factors influence bird productivity, distribution and abundance. Indeed, the summer months are no time to hang up your binoculars. Rather, they represent an excellent opportunity to learn more about your local birds through intense study and repeated surveys at your favorite birding sites, in the process greatly augmenting the data being gathered by ornithologists across the continent!  Here are a few things you can do to keep birding alive this summer.

  1. Start a series of standardized surveys at one of your favorite locations.  You can conduct a traveling count, stationary count, or an area count, as long as you do the same survey repeatedly throughout the summer.  You can choose the frequency with which you'd like do the survey, but at least once a week is ideal.  Daily would be even better!  The idea is to give us a series of data points spread over the course of the summer where we can track what you're seeing, and then compare those with other surveys conducted in similar ways by other eBirders.  To make the most of this survey consider doing it year-round. Learn more about standardized surveys here.
  2. Visit new locations off the beaten track.  Many birders are creatures of habit, birding the same locations every day (see above for ideas there!).  Others are a bit more adventurous, and have a desire to learn more about birds in places where few birders dare to tread!  The sense of discovery is one of the most powerful motivations in birding. By conducting a few counts at these far flung locations this summer, you'll be filling in a valuable piece of the spatial puzzle at eBird, as well as providing useful data to local and regional bird compilers.  Click here to download an Excel file showing the total number of checklists in each US county.  You can look at your state and surrounding counties to see where your birding effort will make the biggest difference. Counties with few checklists should be prioritized.  If your county isn't on the list, we don't have a checklist submitted from it yet, so get busy!  Conducting a survey with effort information in any of these counties will be invaluable--and you never know what new birds you might turn up!
  3. Participate in the BBS. Though nearly over for this year, the USGS Breeding Bird Survey is a great project to get involved with during the breeding season.  Birders can take part in the survey by conducting standardized point counts along predefined routes, and then contributing these data to the BBS database.  For more information on this valuable resource click here.
  4. Finding the needle in the haystack--rarities. Summer is a noteworthy time of the year for rarities across North America.  Many birders have the perception that rarities turn up exclusively during migration--not true.  The summer months have had their share of oddball wandering birds too; the Massachusetts Red-footed Falcon and the California Light-mantled Sooty Albatross come to mind!  It's also a good time of the year for southern birds to wander north, like Wood Storks and Whistling-Ducks.  Coastal areas are always worth checking in summer.  Lingering gulls and shorebirds often attract a rarity or two.  In fact, July is one of the best months for finding vagrant Siberian shorebirds!  By getting out to your local patches and keeping up the birding intensity this summer, you might turn up some unexpected gems of both local and regional significance. 

 

We know it's hot out there--Bird On!

--Team eBird