Big Year Tools - eBird

This morning I woke up early, grabbed my iPhone, opened the BirdsEye App and clicked on "Nearby". In the "Needs" tab, I saw that there were 9 species needed for my World Year list that were seen by others within 25 miles in the last week. I picked one to look for this morning- the Northern Pygmy-Owl. Clicking on the species name provided checklist locations for Pygmy-owl sightings. The App is informed from eBird checklist submission data so I opened eBird.org and explored recent sightings of Northern Pygmy-owl to learn more about these sightings from comments that the submitter(s) may have included. Based on this research, I headed towards Poudre Canyon, a short drive west of my home in Fort Collins, Colorado. Accompanying me was my wife Maribel and my friend David Wade. After a 30-minute hike up a side canyon in the Roosevelt National Forest, Dave spotted a Northern Pygmy-Owl  (#401) perched in the bare canopy of a massive deciduous tree, perhaps a cottonwood. within a grove of Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir. I snapped a few photos with my Nikon P950, a fancy point-and-shoot camera that I use to document as many Biggest Year species as possible. If I can't get an identifiable photo, I would record a vocalization using my Merlin App on my iPhone. If not vocalizing, I try to have a witness with me as much as possible. The photos came out fine, and I uploaded one to my eBird checklist, which can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S129853596. One of the other species on the list was Red Crossbill. In the field, our views of these birds did not rule out Cassia Crossbill, a recent addition to the Colorado state list. To confirm the identification as the expected species, I recorded flight calls using Merlin. I then uploaded the sound file into a sound editing app called EZAudioCut where I amplified the sounds four-fold, and trimmed the ends of the file to reduce unwanted noise and saved the edited file into a folder on my iPhone. I then used the "Add media" feature in eBird to attach the sound file to the crossbill entry on the checklist. Once attached, eBird produces a sonagram. The sonagram matched the Red Crossbill Type 2 which feeds primarily on Ponderosa Pine cones and is the expected crossbill in the foothills near Fort Collins.

All of these tools will benefit my Big Year effort in 2023. My experience this morning demonstrates how birders use technology to support their birding goals. Birders in the current era certainly have the advantage compared to birders from earlier times when technology was less advanced. In this blog I will discuss from time to time how these various tools can be useful. In this entry, I will focus on eBird.

[This blog post will be updated over time as I learn more about the topic. 

Version 1 was written on 2/28/2023]

eBird

The web-based database for community-based bird checklist observations known as eBird was released to the birding public in 2004. Almost 20 years later, it has grown exponentially and is now used by half a million observers worldwide. The data are expected to be analyzed by scientists and conservationists. However, the creators intended for birders to also use the data for their birding goals as well. Thus, the eBird software also tracks list totals of users, and serves as a planning tool for birders seeking target species or organizing birding trips. Contributors to the database must open a free account at www.ebird.org. A free mobile app can be downloaded onto a smart phone of any type for easy use in the field. To use eBird in the field, an observer first establishes the location by comparing GPS coordinates to established eBird hotspots and existing personal locations. Clicking the start button initiates a timer that measures the duration of the observation, and GPS technology in the smart phone maps your track which helps scientists determine how to analyze the checklist data, which can be entered via a variety of data entry protocols, such as "stationary" and "traveling." If observations are incomplete the appropriate box must be checked. Incomplete data may also be submitted using "Incidental" or "Historical" protocols. Once the checklist is finalized, comments may be added for the list in general, or for specific entries. Photographic and audio files may be attached as well. Species flagged as unusual are vetted by local volunteer reviewers before being accepted into the scientific database. Many competitive birders submit all of their checklist data to eBird.org so that eBird list totals reflect their true list totals, which makes these totals publicly accessible through the eBird website. If you are interested in using eBird for the first time, or need a refresher course on how to use eBird, you can find all the info you need through the help section of the website.