Chicot

For years, Dan Scheiman has been at the heart of all things bird-related in the state of Arkansas. His recent departure to Wisconsin (our loss is their gain; best wishes!) has led to many new faces taking on the various roles he played in our community. One such role is the job of eBird Reviewer, which he has passed along to me. So, I wanted to introduce myself and a couple of additional new reviewers with a more regional focus within the state.

I’m Taylor Long. I was born and raised in Fayetteville but spent most of my post-college years living elsewhere. A rather circuitous career path led me to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in 2016, where I’ve worked as a web designer for eBird ever since. In 2022, I relocated back to Fayetteville, where I continue to work remotely on eBird and plan to stay for the foreseeable future. I’ve cherished getting reacquainted with my hometown as a birder and making new connections in the birding community here. I’m now serving as the field trip coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society and, henceforth, as an eBird reviewer for the state of Arkansas.

I have three goals for eBird in Arkansas:

As part of goal number 1, I’ve already enlisted two new eBird reviewers: Ragan Sutterfield and Ariana Remmel. As central Arkansas birders, Ragan and Ari will focus on the following counties around Little Rock: Pope, Van Buren, Cleburne, Yell, Perry, Conway, Faulkner, White, Garland, Saline, Pulaski, Lonoke, Prairie, Hot Spring, Grant, and Jefferson. I’m thrilled and grateful that they’re willing to volunteer their time to support the review process in this busy area of the state, where they have more local knowledge of birds and birders than I would.Gary Graves continues to serve as the eBird reviewer for the North-central counties of Boone, Marion, Baxter, Fulton, Randolph, Newton, Searcy, Stone, Izard, Sharp, and Independence. I’ll be looking to add more regional reviewers in the new year with the hope of enlisting expertise from the Southern or Eastern parts of the state. If you know someone who has a firm grasp of how eBird works and good communication skills, I’d be happy to receive nominations at any time.

Finally, I’d love to take this opportunity to learn a little about what folks think of the eBird review process. Here’s a short survey to share what you like and/or dislike about eBird review in Arkansas. The survey is anonymous, although you may optionally include contact info if you’d like to talk to someone directly about your feedback.

eBird Arkansas Reviewer Feedback Survey