Birding News and Features
Visit an underbirded county!
While it's fun for Dane County birders to compete with Milwaukee County birders for number of checklists and number of species in eBird, a look across the state shows significant gaps in eBird coverage.
Hotspot of the Month--Poygan SWA
Another month — another county! This month Andy Paulios and Paul Samerdyke (WI DNR Biologist) profile the Poygan State Wildlife Area located on the southwest shores of Lake Poygan in eastern Waushara County. Much like December’s article, this hotspot lies in an under-eBirded county.
Waushara County contains diverse grasslands, wetlands, forests, savannas and large bodies of open water however; the latest eBird species bar chart shows only 222 species reported for the county and a few weeks of the year completely lacking checklists! With that in mind we hope to turn you on to a great wildlife area for birds and birders and encourage you to enter checklists in 2012!
Make it your New Year’s eBird resolution to enter details for flagged records!
Wisconsin eBird has among the best eBird participation rates of any state — that’s great news, but results in a lot of flagged records heading into review. In fact, even though eBird reviewers work most days to clear records, we still currently have a backlog of nearly 600 records in review, many without comments, which take much longer to process.
Read on to discover the importance of including comments for flagged species to make sure your observations are getting quickly processed and added to the eBird database.
eBird Rare Bird Alerts are here!
After releasing Year Alerts last week, we are happy to announce another exciting Alert option -- the eBird Rare Bird Alert. This alert basically takes the eBird Notable Birds Google Gadget and moves it into an eBird Alert environment, meaning that you can now receive hourly or daily email summaries, or just go view rare birds on the web at our eBird alerts page. One key update is the addition of counties to the available alert regions, meaning you can customize your rare bird alert experience more than ever. The new Rare Bird Alert notifies you about any unusual bird that has been reported in your region of interest, and provides a link to the location and to the checklist so you can get more information about the sighting, and make the critical call as to whether it's worth calling in sick to work!
Hotspot of the Month -- Reclaimed Flambeau Mine Nature Trails
We spun the wheel this month and landed in underbirded Rusk County. Wisconsin eBirder Rory Cameron agreed to profile a Rusk County hotspot (the only Rusk County hotspot at the moment): the Reclaimed Flambeau Mine Nature Trails near Ladysmith. Reclamation began in 1997 and the site now features woodlands, wetlands, grasslands. (Disclaimer: profiling a reclaimed mine does not imply endorsement of other, larger, potentially more-destructive mines!)
Photo Quiz #13
Another photo quiz is upon us. This one is seasonally appropriate and all three birds were photographed in Wisconsin. FIRST person to send correct species identifications for all three birds to wiebird@gmail.com wins a free eBird bumper sticker!
eBirding your Christmas Bird Counts
December 14 will begin the 112th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season, and the first big weekend of counts will be 17-18 December. The Christmas Count is the largest and longest-running ornithological citizen science project. Its data are a great complement to what we are collecting in eBird, and indeed the CBC has paved the way for eBird in many respects. It is not a problem to enter data in eBird and then submit it for the CBC too, since the two projects are collecting data in similar ways, but at different scales. eBird can be a great way to store your sector-level data and compare it from year to year.
Year Alerts Now Available!
We are excited to announce the latest expansion of our Alerts functionality -- the long-awaited Year Alerts. eBird Alerts compare incoming eBird reports to your past submissions to notify you of birds that would be new for you. Alerts can be viewed online or set to send hourly or once-a-day emails. One of the most frequent requests from our users has been the ability to use eBird Alerts to track a year list. We listened and you can now sign up for Year Alerts. With the year drawing to a close, this is the perfect time to see if you can pick up a few new birds for your year list.
eBird Update--Now embed photos in your checklists!
We are excited to report that it is now possible to embed photos within checklists! This not only makes the checklists look more attractive, but also makes it easier for reviewers to review and confirm your rare sightings. These images will be viewable in eBird checklists (accessed via My eBird and point maps), in eBird Alerts online, and will be accessible to eBird reviewers, making their job much easier. For example, the Lark Sparrow pictured here will be easy to confirm, and so will the other rarities seen on this day, including a mega-vagrant House Sparrow! View checklist.
Hotspot of the month -- Beaver Creek Reserve
Our random county for November was Eau Claire, so we recruited local eBirder Steve Betchkal to write a profile about Beaver Creek Reserve. With 440 acres along the Eau Claire River, there are a lot of different habitats to explore. Check it out!
eBirders provide vital information for State land managers
In order to make crucial decisions about what, where, and how much of our natural resources can and should be conserved, we must first know what remains, where it is, and whether or not something threatens its continued existence in the state. The Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) program, established in 1985 by the Wisconsin Legislature, is maintained by the DNR Bureau of Endangered Resources and is one of the critical tools in making these decisions. The NHI program is responsible for maintaining the central repository on the locations and status of rare species, natural communities, and natural features in Wisconsin. NHI uses the checklists that you submit to WI eBird from your birding forays on state lands to build a more complete picture of how birds use state lands and to make recommendations on how those lands will be managed to conserve birds and the entire suite of species native to Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Western rarities continue
UPDATED 11/14/2011
Even though many areas in the state saw their first snow of the season last week, the parade of western vagrants into Wisconsin and nearby states that started in late October continues. October and November are a classic time for vagrants to show up in the midwest but this fall has produced many more rarities than normal. In fact, it is already the best fall in the past decade and one of the best in recorded history. Considering how many rarities have been seen so far, there is no doubt that many more are currently in our state undetected. Read below to find out what has been seen in the state so far and what has a good chance of showing up, why these birds might be showing up, as well as where you may have the best chance to find a very rare bird.
What is Palm Warbler (Western)? A bit about eBird taxonomy
You have likely noticed (especially if you have the “Show Subspecies” box checked), that there is more than one way to report a bird in eBird.
Most of the entries on the checklist are full species, but entries like Palm Warbler (Western) denote that you identified a bird to subspecies. In Wisconsin, Palm Warbler (Western) is the expected subspecies, and if you got a good enough look at to see it wasn’t a Palm Warbler (Yellow), you could report it as Palm Warbler (Western) instead of just Palm Warbler. Always report as either the subspecies or the full species; you should never double-count a single bird as both the species and the subspecies.
Photo Quiz #12
The latest WI eBird photo quiz has a bit of a twist, showing multiple images of just one bird, a bird that was seen in Wisconsin this past summer. Read on to check it out.
Who is the Wisconsin eBird Team??
Curious to learn who the people are that review flagged records, make the eBird filters, manage hotspots, and run the eBird website in Wisconsin? Read below and you'll learn a few things about each of us and see what we actually look like!
Hotspot of the month -- Sterling Barrens SNA
We randomly drew Polk county for October's hotspot of the month, and we recruited local eBirder Robin Maercklein to write a short profile on Sterling Barrens State Natural Area. This site does not have a lot of eBird coverage yet, but its quality savannah, barrens, and bottomland habitat on the St. Croix River make it worth a visit.
eBird Version 3 Launched
In the Fall of 2005 we launched 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.
What is that black and white Grebe?
This is the time of year when waterbirds are coming back through our state but unlike in the spring, most of them are in drab, potentially confusing plumages. The fact that they usually are not very close to land only makes things more difficult. One of IDs that birders struggle with most is Horned vs. Western Grebe. Although they both sport a white, black, and gray ensemble, the following tips will help you figure out which species you are looking at.
Photo Quiz #11
It's time for another photo quiz. All birds were photographed in Wisconsin during the fall months. Spoiler alert! Answers are now posted above the photo links below. Send your comments or questions to the WI eBird team at wiebird@gmail.com.
A Tip for Faster Data Entry
Let's face it, entering your checklists into eBird isn't as much fun as collecting the data. Want to greatly reduce your time submitting checklists? Here's one way the Wisconsin eBird team has found to be especially helpful. The trick? Use four-letter species codes and the "J" button on your keyboard. Read on to learn how to make it happen.
