Many New Ebird Features Added

1)     eBird Checklist Sharing now allows you to copy checklists to another user’s account with the click of a mouse. From now on, when you go birding with friends you can designate who will be keeping the list and that person can enter the eBird list for the group. That checklist can be shared with the group using just an email address or eBird username. And once a checklist has been shared, you can add or delete species observed so that the list represents just what you saw. Here's alink for more information

  http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/new-feature-ebird-checklist-sharing 

2)   Determining When and Where a species was last seen in a County or at a Hotspot. Let's say you want to know what birds have been seen recently in your favorite birding spot or where to go in your home county to see specific birds. You can use ebird to find the most recent place and date in your county that every species has been seen.

      Example 1: to find what species have been seen recently at Bear Creek Park (Houston) you would:

A) Click on View&Explore Data tab;

B) Click on Arrivals and Departures Link;

C) Choose Hotspots and then choose Bear Creek Park from pulldown box;

D) Click on Departures link; Click on Date link (to sort latest date first)

You would see that a number of species have been seen recently in the park including 2 winter wrens.

      Example 2: to find the last place/date that Dark-eyed Juncos were seen in Jefferson County you would:

A) Click on View&Explore Data tab;

B) Click on Arrivals and Departures Link;

C) Choose Counties and choose Jefferson County from pulldown box;

D) Click on Departures link; Click on Date link (to sort latest date first)

You would see that 1 dark-eyed junco was seen on the Bonwell Loop Nov 21, 2008.

Note this will only be useful in areas where ebirders are regularly visiting so please keep turning in your lists to Texas ebird!

3)   Photo Uploads. eBird staff at Cornell received many requests from users who wanted to upoaod images of birds they have photographed. In response, a group has been created with in the popular phot-sharing site Flickr. To submit photos to the eBird group, you will need a Flickr account--sorry, there's no getting around that! You can create a free account though, and upload up to 200 photos. Flickr isn't perfect in all respects, but hopefully that there are some eBirders out there who will enjoy the ability to share their images in this forum. Here is the URL to the Flickr eBird Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ebird

4)   Congratulations to Gary Hodne who submitted approved Texas Ebird Hotspot #1,000 in October. Guadalupe Delta WMA (CTC 023) Thus many commonly birded locations in Texas can be used to submit your data or searched for previous observations before visiting. If your favorite publicly-accessible birding location is still not a hotspot you can submit it for review and addition to the list. To do so: A)  Click on the My Ebird Tab; B) Click on the Manage My Locations link at the lower right C) Check the box next to the location you want to suggest as a hotspot; D) From the pull-down box at the top select Suggest as Hotspots and then click Submit.  Your request will be reviewed and as long as it is a well-defined publicly-accessible area visited by birders that is not already a hotspot (see #5) then it will be added.

5)   Merging Personal Locations with existing shared eBird Hotspots. Because so many new hotspots have been added recently, you may have a personal location at the same location as a shared hotspot.  If you’d like to have your observation and location merged with other observations at the existing ebird hotspot so that you and other ebirders can see your data when they look at that shared site follow these directions:

A.      Go to http://ebird.org/content/tx/

B.      Click on  my ebird tab

C.      Click on Manage My Locations (on right)

D.      Find the personal location you want to merge. Click on edit at the right end of that row.

E.      Click the Merge Button (at upper right) (choices are Rename/Move/Merge).  If Merge is not selected Step 6 (below) won’t work so be sure Merge is selected. The current location will be a green circle behind a blue pushpin

F.      Click the Minus Button at the bottom of the ruler (left side of map). This will display more map area. The existing hotspot with which you can merge your similarly named personal location should come into view as a red pushpin. (if it’s not in view click the minus again until it appears).

G.      Once the red pushpin appear, click on it. The phrase “Merge 1 Checklists with …” and the name of the hotspot should appear in the upper left.

H.     If that hotspot is NOT the same location as yours keep expanding the map using the minus key and clicking on other red pushpins until you find it

I.      Once the appropriate similar shared location to your personal location has been found:  check the Delete after merging box and click Merge in rectangle to right

J.    This merger is irreversible so be sure you’ve picked the right location. You will be asked to confirm your choice.

K.  You’re done-you should be abele to see your observation added to the hotspot immediately for bar graphs and the following day for first/last/high counts

Even after combining the locations you will still (as always) be able to also see your own data separate from that of others at the same hotspot by selecting it within my locations. Note this feature may not work on certain internet browsers.