Lempira

We are taking flight to new servers! Engineering teams at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have been working hard for several months to migrate our core applications to more advanced cloud computing infrastructure. This transition will provide improved reliability, stability, and room to grow for the next 2 billion bird observations. To complete this process, it will be necessary to take our databases offline for an extended period.

The following Cornell Lab services will be unavailable starting 6am ET March 19 until 6am ET March 21:

• eBird.org, including eBird portals and email Alerts
• eBird API and data products
• Merlin Bird ID save sightings and refresh life list (only recent locations will be available for ID and Explore)
• BirdCast alerts and migration dashboard
• Macaulay Library
• Birds of the World
• Bird Academy

You will also not be able to access any programs that require logging in with your Cornell Lab account during the outage.

We will be migrating our entire production database of more than 1.6 billion bird observations and associated project applications. That’s a lot to move! If everything goes smoothly, some services may begin to come back online late on March 20. However, we anticipate a full 48 hours before everything is running normally again. Watch for updates on our Facebook and Instagram.

Keep in touch. What are you doing without eBird for 48 hours? What do you miss the most? Share your experiences on social media with #eBird and #MerlinBirdID.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to create a better experience for everyone. We’ll be back before you know it, ready to help you find and identify birds, and share more special birding moments.

What can I do while eBird is down?

Keep checklists with eBird Mobile. Download the free eBird Mobile app before 19 March. Start eBird Mobile checklists during the downtime and submit them once eBird is back online.

Get out and go birding! This is the perfect opportunity to create qualifying checklists for the March eBirder of the Month Challenge. Submit 31 complete checklists in March with counts for every species reported and you could win a pair of new ZEISS Binoculars.

Watch the Cornell Lab Bird Cams for live footage of finches in Canada, tanagers in Panama, and albatross in New Zealand, plus the NEW Great Horned Owl nest cam.

Draw a bird. Start by sketching along with Mel Gillman, then practice your skills in the field. Share your results on social media and tag us in the post.

Discover All About Birds, your free online guide to all things birds and birding. In-depth information on topics ranging from photography tips, gear reviews, creating bird-friendly homes, and more.

Catch up on back issues of Living Bird magazine—full of rich content and compelling stories to help you appreciate birds even more.