How to Use My Yard eBird (Tutorial)

Overview

Submitting observations to My Yard eBird is simple. There are six pieces of information needed to submit a count.  Recording these "core fields" that make up a checklist should take less than ten minutes. To make your contribution as scientifically useful as possible, we need to know:

• Who recorded the bird?
• Where was the bird observed?
• When was bird observed?
• How did you find the bird (effort)?
• What species of bird was it?
• How many individuals of each species were recorded?

Most of these questions are straightforward and easy to record. Counting birds is relatively easy and provides much more information than simply knowing that a given species was present, so we hope you'll make counting the numbers a habit.

Your observations are more valuable if your record how you counted the birds--how long did you count and were you walking on a trail across your property or just hanging out at your kitchen window, on your porch or in your yard.   Just knowing how much time you spent looking for birds and how much distance or area you covered conveys an enormous amount of information to biologists and other bird watchers.

Other eBirders, including biologists and other bird watchers, will periodically access the entire database of observations, including yours, to answer questions they may have about the distribution and abundance of birds throughout North America.

Creating an eBird Account

Who made the observations is an important piece of information, so to submit observations you will need to register by creating an eBird account. You can then use your username and password to sign in to eBird from any computer in the world, as long as it’s connected to the Internet.

Registering for eBird

If you are already registered for a BirdSource project, like Project FeederWatch, or regular eBird, you are automatically registered for My Yard eBird and can use your existing Username and Password to sign in. To create a new account, click on the “Register Now” link on the home page. You’ll be asked to create a Username, Password, and supply an email address. When you click the “Register” button you will be asked a few optional demographic questions – these are entirely for internal use, and will help us learn about the eBird audience. View the privacy statement for more information.

Signing-in to eBird

When you enter a section of the My Yard eBird site that requires us to know who you are (Submit My Observations, View and Explore Data, My eBird) you will be asked to sign in. Simply enter your username and password in the appropriate fields and click “Sign in.” A greeting message will appear in the header of the page.

• This greeting will only appear on pages where it’s necessary for us to know who you are, you won’t see it on pages available to the general public
• The Username field is not case sensitive, meaning capitalization does not matter (ORIOLE is the same as oriole)
• The Password field is case sensitive, meaning capitalization does matter (ORIOLE is not the same as oriole)

Remember Me

You can choose to store your sign-in information so you don't have to sign in each time you visit eBird. Make sure the "Remember Me" box is selected. We’ll store a cookie on your hard drive, which will automatically sign you in the next time you visit the eBird web site.

Forgot your password?

If you have an account but cannot remember the username or password, use this option to receive an email containing this information. We’ll automatically send a reminder to the email address you used to register. If your email address has changed since you originally created your account, send us an email asking for this information.

Creating a New Location

Use the steps below to record where your house is or any other location where you are counting birds.   recorded the bird(s) you are submitting is a required piece of information. You only have to pin-point your yard on a map the first time you submit a count.  After that, your yard will already be recorded as one of your personal locations in My Yard eBird. 

Using the interactive mapping tool

You can pin–point your exact location by zooming in on a map of your area, then toggling between a street map, a topographic map, and an aerial view. First choose a state or province to narrow down the area on the map. You can choose to start more specifically by entering a city, country, or postal code. When you click “continue,” eBird will present a map of the area you selected.

Finding your Location – a set of map tools help you find the specific location by allowing you to zoom in and out (see a larger or more specific area), re-center the map, or move in any particular direction.

• Zooming in and out on the map
  Use this option to change the magnification on the map. Zoom in to see a smaller area but more detail, or zoom out to expand the view on the map and see less detail. To change the level of magnification, use the zoom bar below the map. The current level of magnification is shown as a dark square, the others are light colored. Click the buttons labeled “Zoom In” or “Zoom Out” (located on either side of the bar) to change the magnification one step at a time, or click directly to the level you wish by clicking the appropriate button on the zoom bar.

  To zoom in and re-center the map at the same time, select the “Zoom In” radio button immediately below the map. With this option selected, when you click an area on the map, the location you clicked becomes the new center and the map’s magnification increases by one step.

• Re-centering the map
  Use this option to change the centered location on the map without changing the level of magnification. To re-center the map, select the “Re-center” radio button immediately below the map. With this option selected, when you click an area on the map, the location you clicked becomes the new center with no change in magnification.
• Moving in a specific direction
  Use this option to move the map in any of eight different directions. Click on the border of map in the direction that you’d like to move the field of view. You can move in eight directions, north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest.

Using the Map Options – try using the three Map Options to precisely pin-point your location.

• Street Maps show locations that you created previously, along with roads, waterways, county borders, and a few other features. Presentation varies depending on how far you are zoomed in on the map.
• Aerial Photographs show an overhead photograph of all of the features on the ground from directly above. Identifying landscape and human-created features on an actual photograph can help you pinpoint your exact location. Note: Although we have photographs for most of North America, there are certain locations that do not yet have this option.
• Topographic Maps show detailed and accurate natural and human-created features, including buildings, roads, forest cover, various boundary lines, physical relief, and many more features.

Plotting your location – once you’ve zoomed in to an appropriate level, the “Plot my location” option is available. Select “Plot my location” and click on the map to display a circle surrounding your location. If you accidentally place the circle in the wrong area, just click the correct point on the map to move the circle.

Naming your location – once the circle appears in the correct location on your map, type an appropriately name for your yard in the “Location Name” text field to the right of the map.

Creating your location – click the “Continue” button to create the location, which will then be stored under the “My Locations” option for all future My Yard eBird submissions.

Finding your location by City

We encourage you to actually pin-point your yard on a map and use that for reporting your yard birds.  If you don't want to put your yard on a map, you can report birds by a location such as a city. 

To help narrow down the overall area, enter as much information as you can about the location where you were birding. A state or province is required, but you can create a location smaller in area by entering a city, county, or zip code. The location is automatically named based on the information you entered. This location is designated as a point located at the latitude/longitude in the middle of the area you selected.

Using Latitude/Longitude for your location

Choose the “Latitude/Longitude” option if you know the latitude and longitude of your yard, either from a GPS unit, a topographic map, or another reliable source. Topographic maps can be used online to find the latitude and longitude coordinates within the United States at Topozone.com, for Canadian locations visit the Canadian Geographical Names Data Base. Many users also use Google Earth.

Enter all required fields of information, specifically:

1. A name for your yard or property
   
2. The precise latitude and longitude in either Decimal Degrees or Degrees-Minutes-Seconds
3. The method you used to determine the latitude and longitude

Click the “Continue” button to create the location, which will be available under the “My Locations” option for all future My Yard eBird submissions.

Choosing an Existing Location

Afer you have mapped your yard in My Yard eBird, every time you want to submit a bird count from your yard, you will just select it from a drop down list under "My Locations".  If you report birds from more than one yard or property, you can map each one and select the appropriate one each time you submit a new count. 

How Did You Bird? (Observation Types)

Although there are hundreds of ways to enjoy birds, there are four basic methods to report birds on My Yard eBird, each with a different set of required fields. The four observation types vary in the amount of effort that you used to make your birding observations.

Casual Sightings

Casual sightings don't require any measure of time spent, distance traveled, or area searched. Casual Sightings simply denote that a given species was present at a particular location on a certain date. Examples include entering an oriole that flies by while you are checking your mail, or the hummingbird feeding at your backyard feeder while you wash the dishes, or the Red-tailed Hawk seen perched in a tree on your drive to work, or the flock of waxwings moving through your yard as you weed the garden.

Stationary Counts

Stationary Counts made over a known period of time, but don't include any measure of distance traveled or area searched. Examples include a hawk migration watch, lake watch, or sitting on your deck for a known period of time while identifying birds. Stationary Counts can be made while birding from your car if you record the time you spent and species you identified at each stop along your journey. Individual stops are then submitted as Stationary Counts.

Traveling Counts

Traveling Counts made when traveling a known distance and period of time while walking or using a horse, car, boat, or some other transportation. Examples include walking a trail across your property or a walk through your neighborhood. 

Exhaustive Area Counts

Exhaustive Area Counts made while thoroughly searching your yard or another location.  These counts are sometimes used by biologists when monitoring a specific site, but they can be appropriate for casual birding if you are able to estimate the size (acres or hectares) of the area you searched. Examples include actively searching for all the birds in your yard. 

What Did You See/Hear?

First, determine which checklist you would like to use. Then enter the birds you recorded on the interactive checklist for your area generated by eBird.

Checklist Version

Currently two checklists are available for reporting observations:

• Most Probable – A checklist that shows only the birds you are likely to see at a specific location for the selected time of year. This checklist does not show rare, out-of-range, or out-of-season birds.
  
• Full – A checklist that shows the full list of all birds recorded in the state where you made your observations. It shows all birds regardless of season.

Using the interactive checklist

Confirming Unusual Entries