Birding News and Features
New eBird Output for Arrivals, Departures, and High Counts
We are pleased to announce the release of several new eBird output tools featuring Arrivals, Departures and High Counts. These tools provide birders with new ways to explore the eBird data, to learn when and where birds are being reported and to get a better sense of eBird's historic data. Are you curious about how many species birders have reported in your state or county this year? Do you want to know if your 15 March Yellow-throated Warbler was the first one seen this year, or perhaps even the earliest record ever submitted to eBird? Or do you want to know if the 137 Stilt Sandpipers you counted at your favorite shorebirding spot was the all-time high count reported to eBird? Exploring the answers to these questions is now possible within eBird. Simply log in to eBird, go to 'View and Explore Data,' and then try out the 'Arrivals and Departures' or 'High Counts' options. These new tools allow you to dig deeper into the eBird database than ever before!
Early Spring in Virginia -- The Ideal Time for a Timberdoodle Show
by Elinor Miller
One of the most highly-sought birds from late winter through the next several months is the American Woodcock, aka the timberdoodle. This species is a common spring transient and uncommon summer resident throughout Virginia. Even if you're unusually lucky in the daytime to flush one of these strange, dumpy, short-legged birds with splayed eyes from the forest floor, you're only going to get a rapidly departing rear view. To see woodcocks well, you need to go out in the evening to a location where they perform their interesting mating ritual.
Wildlife Fund Honors Mary Pulley
Friends of longtime Mathews, Virginia resident Mary Pulley have established a charitable endowment in her honor through the Mathews Community Foundation. The Mary Watt Pulley Wildlife Preservation Fund has been created to honor a woman who for decades has researched, studied, surveyed and advocated for the habitats of birds of the Chesapeake Bay area.....Pulley, 89, moved to Hawk Point in Mathews in the early 1970s....soon she joined the Mathews Christmas Bird Count and has participated every year,
Breeding Status of Piping Plover, Wilson's Plover & American Oystercatcher in Virginia
Virginia's barrier islands are often referred to as the last remaining coastal wilderness in the eastern United States. The fourteen islands are, for the most part, in their natural state and are owned by agencies and organizations that manage them for the benefit of wildlife. Management and protection activities on the islands have long focused on migratory birds, with a particular emphasis on beach nesting shorebirds and colonial waterbirds.
VIRGINIA BIRDING & WILDLIFE TRAIL
Virginia eBird provides a platform that allows the birding community to share their observations while making the data available for important conservation work. The information that is collected can help inform management decisions and shed light on the changes in bird populations that challenge our modern world.
The Virgina Birding & Wildlife Trail (VBWT) and Virginia eBird naturally complement each other. Many of the sites entered in the eBird database are part of the VBWT. As more users begin to utilize eBird, we look forward to the day when all of the 670 + VBWT sites are represented in the Virginia eBird database.