http://ebird.org/content/vt daily 1 2008-03-14T17:41:23Z http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/county-quest-2011 The past year was an historic one for birding in Vermont. From January 1 to December 31, 2011, hundreds of birders scoured fields and fens, mountains and meadows, lakes and lawns to discover as many species as possible during a single calendar year. The Vermont 2011 County Birding Quest pitted county versus county, birder against birder — all engaged in a friendly rivalry for top honors of the highest species count. The main idea behind the year-long Quest was simply to get people out birding, promote camaraderie, and better document bird life across the state, using Vermont eBird. With nearly 18,000 eBird checklists submitted and over a half-million birds tallied, there is no doubt it was a huge success! No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-02-02T22:07:55Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-ebirders-of-the-month-january-2012-the-vermont-bird-records-committee Many countries have national bird record committees. In Europe almost every country has one. Some have committees covering more local areas. In the UK each county has its own record committee. Here in the U.S., most states have their own bird record committee and we are lucky to have one of the oldest here in Vermont. Founded in the 1970s, the Vermont Bird Records Committee (VBRC) is composed of expert birders and ornithologists from Vermont. The primary purpose is to validate records of birds from the state and maintain the Vermont State Bird List. It is our pleasure to award the Vermont Bird Records Committee, past and present members, January 2012 Vermont eBirders of the Month in recognition for all of their volunteer work past, present and future. No publisher kmcfarland 2011-12-31T21:15:48Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/better-birding-lecture-series-begins-in-january Hampered by hawks? Stumped on sparrows? Flummoxed by flycatchers? The Better Birding lecture series will solve your avian anxieties. With slides, videos, humor and exuberance, Bryan Pfeiffer from Vermont Bird Tours will offer his secrets and easygoing approaches to birdwatching enjoyment ... and enlightenment. Two workshops for beginners will be free. Co-sponsored by Vermont Center for Ecostudies and North Branch Nature Center. Learn more... No publisher kmcfarland 2011-12-24T23:30:44Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/audubon-guides-releases-new-bird-guide-app-with-ebird-integration Now you can carry eBird and your field guide along with all the songs and calls right in your pocket! Your birding will be more rewarding than ever! Find and identify birds more easily with the updated Audubon Birds app. Green Mountain Digital, a Vermont company and creator of Audubon Guides mobile apps, has just released an innovative update to their Audubon Birds - A Field Guide to North American Birds that interfaces with eBird! Learn more... No publisher kmcfarland 2011-11-22T15:06:12Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-county-bird-quest-2011-in-the-homestretch Part discovery, part conservation, part contest, but mostly fun, this yearlong quest has given us all a welcome excuse to head outdoors and go birding. From the common to the rare, a diverse and fascinating array of birds have been found in Vermont so far this year. Each county is now coming down to the wire seeking to document that diversity, with the added incentive of vying for top honors of the maximum species count. And all of it is documented in Vermont eBird. Check out some of our record numbers to date... No publisher kmcfarland 2011-11-18T14:41:50Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-bird-records-committee-report-2011 The Vermont Bird Record Committee held their annual meeting late October to assess the year of hard work by the Vermont birding community and update the Vermont bird list. The committee received 54 rare, out-of-season or rare nesting reports from great birders like you. Most exciting were three new state records: Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (courtesy of Irene), Marbled Godwit, and Slaty-backed Gull. Another 14 records were for species that have been recorded less than 10 times in Vermont! Read more... No publisher kmcfarland 2011-11-14T19:38:16Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-ebird-version-3.0-launched In the Fall of 2005 we launched Vermont eBird Version 2. Major changes to the site at that time included the addition of the 'My eBird' pages, and a redesigned 'look and feel'. We've come a long way since then! eBird Version 3 incorporates many of your ideas, and we're proud of the improvements we've made over the last few years. Your feedback has enabled us to launch eBird globally, helped us create a better and more streamlined data entry system, helped develop the fun side of birding through tools like the 'eBird Top 100', and helped us build better mapping tools that allow you to access the database in a better and more comprehensive manner. We appreciate all your participation, dedication, and support over the years, and we're happy to announce the official launch of eBird Version 3. No publisher kmcfarland 2011-10-11T15:02:55Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/meet-the-vermont-ebird-regional-editors Did you know that every record submitted to eBird goes through the eBird data verification process? Using a combination of automated data filters and a network of local experts, eBird tackles data quality and assurance. In order for us to maintain the integrity of the database, and for it to be used fully by the science and conservation community, we as observers must fully understand and strive to reach the highest level of data quality. Therefore, we've developed procedures to facilitate communication between eBird observers, our local eBird editors, and the Vermont Bird Records Committee, including some new and improved review tools for our editors. In Vermont we have data filters for five regions and each region has a volunteer expert helping review the data as it pours in. Maybe you have heard from them already? Let's meet the Vermont eBird regional editors... No publisher kmcfarland 2011-03-27T12:43:46Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-county-birding-quest-takes-flight Ready for a birding challenge and some 'friendly' cross-county competition? Grab your binocs, shoulder your spotting scope, and join the 2011 Vermont County Birding Quest. Many Vermont counties have challenged one another to identify as many species as possible during 2011. Part fun, part discovery, part conservation, but mostly fun, this yearlong quest gives us all a welcome excuse to head outdoors and go birding. From the common to the rare, a diverse and fascinating array of birds resides in or passes through Vermont each year. These three counties now seek to document that diversity, with the added incentive of vying for top honors of the maximum species count. Vermont eBird will provide the tool for that documentation. No publisher kmcfarland 2011-01-14T14:09:26Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/ebird-occurrence-maps Understanding patterns of bird occurrence at continental scales has long been one of eBird's fundamental challenges. Only now, with 42 million records and ever more thorough coverage nationwide, is this becoming possible. Ongoing research at the Cornell Lab is currently producing cutting-edge graphics that we are overjoyed to finally share here. Day-by-day predictions of species occurrence allows these models to shine a spotlight on the most awe-inspiring of natural spectacles: the ebb and flow of bird migration. No publisher marshall.iliff 2010-12-13T15:22:33Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/vermont-bird-records-committee-report-2008 We would like to thank you for making 2010 an exciting year for birding in Vermont. One new species was added to the state list, Eurasian Collared Dove was found in Norwich. A Forster's Tern nesting on Lake Champlain was the first state breeding record for this species. The Vermont Bird Records Committee met in October to review all the rare bird reports submitted in the past year. Please visit http://www.vtecostudies.org/vbrc/reports.htm to view a full report of all the species that were state records. No publisher kmcfarland 2010-11-12T13:43:06Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/effort-based-observations-enable-powerful-data-analysis eBird is a true crossroads between birding and science. As we develop eBird, we're continually walking the line between building better tools that birders want to use, while maintaining our focus on collecting useful scientific data in the process. The truth is, every piece of data submitted to eBird is valuable--from single records of a bird in space and time (Incidental Observations), to complete checklists with associated effort information. But there are differences between the levels of analysis we can perform using the effort-based observations versus incidental observations. As eBirders, we're always interested in how to make the most out of our data, and in this article we'll explore some of the reasons why recording effort can make a big difference when it comes to data analysis. No publisher kmcfarland 2010-09-24T23:53:10Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/2010-loon-summary A record 72 loon pairs attempted to nest with 57 of them being successful in Vermont in 2010. About 70 or 71 loon chicks survived through August (we’re still confirming a few). In contrast to a decade ago, 38 pairs attempted to nest and 44 chicks survived in 2000. Over 300 volunteers helped track Vermont’s loons this summer. No publisher kmcfarland 2010-09-17T15:11:56Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/ebird-gets-a-supercomputing-kick-from-teragrid Thanks to your continued participation the data analysis potential of eBird is growing rapidly. Through collaboration with partners in the DataONE network at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, eBird was recently awarded 100,000 hours of supercomputing time on the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid system. This powerful computer system will help Lab scientists and colleagues model bird migration phenology at the population level based on eBird data. The process will involve combining bird observations with remotely sensed variables such as landcover and greening index to predict bird movements and to explore how migration timing might change under different climate scenarios. This exciting story was recently profiled in Nature. No publisher kmcfarland 2010-08-22T19:48:49Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/ebird-patterns-eastern-phoebe-migration The previous “Patterns from eBird” featured animated maps of Northern Cardinal based on predictive modeling. This time we’ll take a look at how these maps predict migration in Eastern Phoebe, a widespread eastern species. Eastern Phoebe is the hardiest flycatcher in the United States and Canada, and in some areas it returns to the breeding grounds more than a month earlier than any other flycatcher. Its wintering range is largely within the United States, so these animated maps reveal its entire annual cycle. No publisher kmcfarland 2010-08-11T14:21:23Z Feature