Birding News and Features
Good News for Massachusetts Birds!
Mass Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are collaborating to promote the revision of a powerful new tool for protecting native birdlife with the release of eBird 2.0, an updated version of the powerful Internet-based program currently used by thousands of birders. You can help monitor the bird life of Massachusetts by entering your bird observations here in eBird. Your observations then become part of a powerful network of data made available to scientists, conservationists and land managers wishing to protect birds and their habitats. eBird will also keep your lists in a comprehensive fashion, including state, county, and even your yard list! Start eBirding today, for the benefit of birds, birders and science.
At eBird we encourage you to make your best estimate of bird numbers on every checklist. Your best estimate of numbers is always more useful than putting an "X' to indicate presence. An "X' could be one or it could be a thousand! We can always simplify numbers back to presence/absence for analysis. Your estimates of numbers help us judge relative abundance, and are an important part of checklist data. So what do you do if you're having trouble counting birds? Large flocks of birds are always challenging, and in this article we'll talk about some techniques for estimating numbers so that you can practice and become more proficient at counting birds. This will be the first in a series of articles discussing techniques for counting birds.
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 the issue of data quality in Citizen-Science. 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 and scientists, including some new and improved review tools for our editors. Through our combined effort to maintain high data quality, eBird will take its place among the most valuable large-scale data sets on bird distribution and abundance in the world. Read more about our data verification process....
An IBA (Important Bird Area) is a site providing essential habitat to one or more species of breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds. The IBA concept was developed by BirdLife International in 1985 as a model for bird conservation. In 1995, BirdLife partnered with the American Bird Conservancy and the National Audubon Society to launch the IBA Program in the United States. To date, IBA Programs have been started in 156 countries and in 46 states with 1500 nominated IBAs throughout the U.S. In 2000, the Massachusetts Audubon Society launched this initiative for the Commonwealth. Please help us monitor the birds of Massachusetts IBAs by entering your observations in eBird. Click on the link above to find detailed site descriptions and downloadable maps of the 79 IBAs in Massachusetts.
Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuaries
Our wildlife sanctuaries throughout the state protect important habitat for wildlife, most are open to the public and provide a variety of opportunities for you to enjoy nature. Our sanctuaries represent some of the most spectacular habitats in Massachusetts, ranging from beaches and salt marshes on Cape Cod to woodlands and mountains in the Berkshires.