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Two new ways to make your birding count!

December 10, 2009
Two new ways to make your birding count!

Black-bellied Plover, Asilomar, CA, October. Photograph by Brian Sullivan.

From its inception, the grand hypothesis of eBird has been that the observations of birders can make a valuable contribution to understanding broad-scale patterns of bird distribution and abundance. With its vast geographic scope and dedicated contributors, eBird has a growing capacity to help answer questions about birds at scales never before imaginable. As the eBird dataset continues to mature, scientists are just beginning to explore and tap its potential. Early results are promising, and thanks to our close working relationship with talented computer scientists and biologists, we’ve identified two ways that you can help greatly improve the utility of the eBird dataset. Read more by clicking the image at right.

Today we’re launching two new projects within eBird: The eBird Site Survey; and eBird County Birding.  The goal of each initiative uniquely addresses the needs identified through our collaboration with the researchers who are using your data directly.

The first need is for repeated observations at the same location over time. The eBird Site Survey is designed to allow you to identify a site of your choosing, register your site as part of the Site Survey, and then begin collecting repeated observations on a daily or weekly basis. The location could be as simple as your backyard or one of your favorite birding places. The idea is simple: same observer, same location, same effort, repeat. Read more about the eBird Site Survey here.

The second need is for more observations from areas where we currently have little data. It should come as no surprise that the distribution of eBird data is closely correlated with human population density. We have lots of data from locations where there are lots of birders. But the vast majority of birds live outside these urban/suburban areas, and it is critical that we begin to collect data from places that are ‘off the beaten path’, and even from places that we as birders might not necessarily consider to be ‘birdy’. For example, if you’re exploring a new county and you see a wetland full of ducks and shorebirds, it makes sense to stop and do a bird count there. But if you’re crossing mile after mile of soybean fields with little obvious bird activity, it might not seem like a logical place to count birds. In fact, stopping in a place like this and doing a short 5-minute stationary count can give scientists critical information about a habitat that might represent the majority of land-cover in a given area. Read more about the eBird County Birding initiative here.