Australia

This month’s eBirder of the Month challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, is all about taking photos and recording bird sounds. Each photo or audio recording you capture is an incredibly powerful piece of data. Media help document records, provide resources for learning and education, and also pave the way for future eBird and birding tools like Merlin Photo ID. The eBirder of the month will be drawn from eBirders who upload 50 or more rated photos or audio recordings to eligible checklists in December.

There are over 23.7 million photos and sounds currently archived in the Macaulay Library. This collection has become an unparalleled learning resource and an exceedingly valuable dataset for researchers and birders worldwide. One of the most exciting uses of this media collection has been for Merlin Photo ID— automatic identification of bird photos. The sightings and photos that you contributed through eBird have made it possible for Merlin to identify over 7500 of the world’s bird species, with more species coming soon.

By taking part in this month’s eBirder of the Month Challenge, you help to make Merlin, and eBird, even better. Add your photos and sounds and learn how to rate them to make your media uploads as useful as they can be.

Checklists and media must be for observations during this month; not historical checklists entered during December. The winner will receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular and will be notified by the 10th of the following month. Each month we will feature a new eBird challenge and set of selection criteria. And don’t forget about the 2020 Checklist-a-day Challenge!

Carl Zeiss Sports Optics is a proven leader in sports optics and is the official optics sponsor for eBird. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and support the vital scientific data being collected by dedicated eBirders.” – Richard Moncrief, Birding and Nature Observation Segment Manager at Carl Zeiss SBE