Birding News and Features
Subscribe to eBird Alerts!
We are very excited to introduce a new feature: eBird Alerts! By going to the eBird Alerts page from "View and Explore Data" you can view a list of all the national-level rarities recently reported in North America and Canada. These are defined by the ABA Codes, which we explain below. You have the option to subscribe hourly (!), daily, or just to visit this page and click to see the results from the past seven days. In the near future, we hope to add similar alerts for birds you "need" (i.e., birds not already on your eBird list) for a given state or province. So please, sign up for our ABA Alerts to keep up on what rarities--like Ivory Gulls--are being reported around the country!
eBird & Birds of North America Online
Minor change to eBird Top100
Those of you that keep a close watch on the eBird Top100 may have noticed a change this past week. It may have seemed that the numbers suddenly changed last Friday. In actuality though, all we did was change the default on the year selector in the top right. While it previously defaulted to "All Years", it now defaults to the current year. If you want to see who has the best All Time list, just use that selector box to select All years. The reason we did this was because we wanted to keep all active eBirders involved in the Top100 lists--year lists can be competitive for anyone, but a lifetime list takes a lifetime to accumulate. In any event, don't be alarmed by this change, just select the period you want to check.
EZBird--enter eBird checklists by email!
One of the most frequent requests we get from eBirders is for a way to make data entry easier and quicker. We have done our best to develop new quicker ways to enter data and to publicize new and quicker ways that others have developed. To that end, we are excited to announce the release of EZBird, which allows you to create an uploadable file just by sending a formatted email message. You can even submit directly to eBird, which makes it possible to use your handheld or smartphone to enter sightings from the field.
Exposing eBird Species Comments
eBird has two comments fields that can be used however you choose. Checklist comments can be personal comments on the day, where you went, or what the weather was and this is a great place for personal notes. The second field, species comments, is very very useful for providing additional detail on rare birds you see, helping others to find a bird you discover, or generally providing more information on specific sightings within a checklist. Team eBird is committed to making eBird data as useful as possible and as we develop new ways to push eBird data out to birders, this free text field will become increasingly important. However, since everyone may use this field differently, we wanted to give a heads up. Starting in a couple weeks, we plan to publicize your species comments (not the checklist comments) along with the date, location, and count of species you observe.
eBird is for Every Birder!
Occasionally we hear about birders who tried eBird once, but then did not return because they felt they were not qualified to contribute, or that eBird caters only to “expert” birders. This is not the case at all! At eBird we believe that all bird observations have value. You need not be a globetrotting expert—some of the most valuable checklists are repeated observations from people who have never looked for birds outside their own backyard! You need not know every bird that flashes through your binoculars either, the eBird data quality process guards against many potential identification errors. Furthermore, the exchange of information between experts and beginners during this process is a valuable learning tool. We want eBird to be used by birders of all skill levels: our only request is that you try to use eBird to its fullest capacity, report the birds you see and hear to the best of your ability, and err on the conservative side if you are unsure about your identification.
Tricky Fall Warblers: Orange-crowned Warbler
August and September bring waves of long-distance migrants and the return of our beloved warbler flocks. Many, like the American Redstart or Black-throated Blue Warbler wear their traditional garb, but an equal number have molted into a basic plumage that is often duller and seemingly devoid of field marks!
Be an eBird rep - Give an eBird talk to your birding friends
As eBird Project Leaders, we would like nothing more than to be able to visit each corner of the Western Hemisphere to provide a 'hands-on' eBird experience for local groups (and to do some birding!). We've found that one-on-one contact with potential users, as well as through giving eBird presentations to target audiences, can really help eBird become established locally. But the reality is that there are many more local birding organizations than we could ever hope to visit in person. To remedy this we've done two things: the first is making two eBird powerpoints available to our users so that they can help spread the eBird word at the local level. The second is opening up an online eBird presentation forum, whereby we can give virtual eBird presentations to groups via the Internet. Read more about how to help spread the eBird gospel in your area.
Location! Location! Location!
Exactly where you plot your birding locations on the map is critical for eBird in many ways. When you are specific with your location information we can perform better analyses, and we can ensure that your birding lists are built correctly. eBird thrives on location specificity, and a good general rule of thumb when entering data is that it's always better to enter shorter checklists from more refined locations than longer checklists from a string of unrelated locations. In this article we'll discuss why being as precise as possible with your birding locations yields the best results.
eBird Express: New Excel tool to simplify data upload
We’re excited to announce a new tool for submitting your checklists to eBird. Jay Packer, one of our industrious eBird users created a tool to help upload checklists from Microsoft Excel--a tool that he’s appropriately named eBird Express. By writing code into an Excel template, Jay provides multiple levels of error-checking that will help you avoid any complications when uploading data to eBird. NOTE: If you are not familiar with Excel, this tool may not help you much. If you do use Excel, this tool helps to allow your bulk uploads to swiftly and easily upload to eBird without a hitch.
eBird Enters the Blogosphere!
A lot happens from day to day at eBird, and we want to share it with you. We've created a blog to enhance our ability to connect with our users, to address issues that arise from time to time, and to harness the power of the eBird community to better define the future direction of the project. Through the “Chip Notes – eBird Buzz” blog we hope to create an on-going dialogue with our users. We want to get to know you better, learn what you like about eBird and what you think needs improvement. We want to know why you use eBird, and we want to engage those who don’t to tell us why! We want to let you speak your minds about how we’re doing in providing this service to the birding community. Through collaboration, we’ll keep eBird evolving in the direction that best suits the needs of the birding community, all while keeping our internal focus on collecting valuable scientific data. We look forward to hearing from you!
What in the world is "Herring Gull (American)"?
Most species names in eBird are easily found with a glance at your field guide, but eBird also allows entry of a number of other birds (sometimes we call them 'taxa') whose names do not appear in any guides. These break down into three main groups: hybrids, spuhs, and subspecies groups. Hybrids all have the word "hybrid" in the name (e.g., Mallard x Gadwall (hybrid)) and all spuhs either have a "sp." (e.g., scoter sp.) or slash (e.g., Greater/Lesser Scaup) in the name. The subspecies groups, such as "Herring Gull (American)", are more complicated and explained in this article.
The trouble with 'X' - Why you should always estimate numbers!
Over the years at eBird we have always been flexible about allowing users to report either numbers for each species, or to provide an 'X' to indicate presence. In our latest round of analysis, however, we found that checklists where users estimated numbers for ALL species encountered were of significantly higher conservation value when compared with those that contain 'Xs', or even a single 'X' mixed in with numbers. In this piece we'll talk about why recording numbers is important, as well as provide some guidance as to how to estimate numbers in difficult situations. Read more about why making your best estimate of numbers always trumps the dreaded 'X'!
New Feature: eBird Top 100!
We're proud to introduce a new feature at eBird called the "eBird Top 100." Using this new tool found under the "View and Explore Data" tab, you can now see your position in relation to other eBird users in a variety of geographic regions including ABA area, country, state and county. We offer two different rankings: the total number of species reported, or the total number of complete checklists submitted. Our users have asked for a tool like this so that they can see where they stand in relation to other birders in their region of interest. We hope this new tool will inspire healthy competition among eBirders, and increase the amount of checklists submitted by inspiring birders to get out and collect more new data, as well as promote the entry of historic records. Click on "View and Explore Data" to find out how you rank among the best eBirders in the country!
Are you reporting all species? Here's why it's important!
On every eBird checklist birders are asked a simple question: "Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you saw/heard?" Though simple in concept, the power of reporting all species should not be underestimated. By submitting a complete checklist of the birds you saw or heard to the best of your ability, you are telling us not only about the birds you found, but you're also telling us that you did NOT observe a suite of other potential species. By submitting a complete checklist of birds we can learn more about where a species occurs with regularity, but equally important we can begin to say with certainty where it does not occur. This allows us to map entire species' ranges with more accuracy. When you submit a complete checklist of birds to eBird you're gathering data for only the species you observed, you are also gathering important "negative data" on a suite of other birds.
