Waldo

As we close out 2017 and eBird’s 15th year of collecting sightings, we can take a moment to review the great accomplishments that you all have made. This article is meant to supplement the eBird Central post “eBird 2017-Year in review” and give a Maine-specific perspective on your contributions. Amazingly, over 53,000 checklists were submitted from Maine this year – bringing the Maine total to over a quarter million checklists! A new annual high count of 347 species were reported in Maine during 2017, adding 5 new species to Maine’s 439 total (there are still a few species missing in eBird from Maine’s official total.) Another stunning accomplishment was the 26,000+ photos and 770+ audio records added to the Macaulay Library from Maine in 2017.

Growth of Maine eBird:

The adoption of eBird by Maine’s birders has been a little slower than the world’s pace but growing impressively. In fact, there were more checklists submitted in Maine this year than during the first 9 years combined. The third Global Big Day set a new bar for birding’s biggest day. On 13 May 2017, 20,500 birders collectively noted 6,634 species of bird, reporting 54,000 checklists from 160 countries – In Maine, 214 species were reported on 487 checklists – a fantastic single day effort! Mark your calendar for next year’s Global Big Day: 5 May 2018.

eBird Partner Expansion

The Maine Breeding Bird Atlas II  will be joining the eBird Atlas team in 2018, making it the third official atlas portal with Wisconsin (entering fourth year of atlasing in 2018) and Virginia
(entering third year).

Goals for 2018

Team eBird has some great challenges ahead from 2018. The continuation of the eBird of the Month Challenge – each an opportunity to win a pair of ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binoculars – begins 2018 with a challenge to enter 31 eligible checklists in January. If you can do one each day, you’ll be on a great start to the 2018 challenge of entering at least one checklist per day! If these sound a little daunting, check out this article for ideas of New Year’s Resolutions you can make to increase or improve your eBirding in 2018.

Thanks!

eBird continues to deliver novel scientific and conservation applications, innovative new birding tools, and much more. Of course, as always, this was provided 100% free of charge to any who wish to use it. We wish many thanks to all of you for your contributions to eBird!