Birding with a purpose…

What Species? Take a Guess!

Cooper’s Hawk--CBC Results

Higher totals reported nearly range-wide

What Species? Take a Guess!

Northern Bobwhite—CBC Results

Drastic decrease across the Southeast

How Can We Keep the Common Birds Common?

What is eBird?

• Tool for gathering observational data• Persistent bird observation

archive• Gathers baseline data on bird distribution and abundance

• Continental online checklist project

Gathering and interpreting observational data for the conservation of biological diversity

• Make these data available to the world!

• Help conserve biodiversity

• Solidify eBird as the new standard for bird recording

• Make birders better scientists

The Big Picture…

• Monitoring and identifying important areas for birds• Standard interface for developing Cit-Sci initiatives

eBird—Current Stats

• 93 % of checklists from the Lower 48

• 348,637 checklists submitted

• 1,501 species reported

• 15,919 individual users

• ~79 million individuals reported

North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoPuerto Rico & US Virgin IslandsHispaniola

Western HemisphereCubaColombiaPanama

Geographic Coverage

Regional Applications - eBird Technology as a Tool

Encouraging Participation - Integration

National(aVerAves)

Local(Vermont)

Applied(BCN)

eBird

• Create new look and feel

• User-friendly interface

• Build new output tools

• Focus on increasing user reward

• Build recurring participation

Version 2 -- Goals

• Encourage submission of historic data

• Increase checklist submissions

• Links to regional projects• Discussion board

• Birding news and features• Top fives

• Resources

eBird Version 2—Building the eBird Community

• Mapping tool• Lat/Long

• My locations• Hotspots

• Location management tools

eBird Version 2—Data Entry

eBird Version 2—Species Pathway

• Location• Personal and public data access

• Two major pathways• Species

• Links to My eBird

Curve-billed Thrasher Distribution

• Gray indicates data present• Tan indicates lack of data

• White indicates no coverage

Eurasian Collared-Dove Distribution 1900-2005

• Shows current eBird coverage

• Map features 100 km frequency grid

• Displays negative data

Pine Warbler Distribution

• Migratory areas shown in light green

• Note vagrants in Colorado

Pine Warbler Breeding Distribution

• Map shows northern and southern breeding populations

Pine Warbler Winter Distribution

• Some observed at feeders in the North

• Core wintering area is the Southeast

eBird Version 2—Location Pathway

• Frequency bar charts• Any date and location

eBird Version 2—Location Pathway

• Learn about species occurrence at any location

• Details migratory interval for every species

eBird Version 2—Location Pathway

• View sample size• Download data

• Interactive graphs• Regional maps

• Glossary links

Olive-sided Flycatcher Frequency--Chicago, IL

Olive-sided Flycatcher Frequency--Chicago, IL

• Interact with data points• Choose from six graph types

• View your eBird stats• Manage your data

• Maintain and manage lists• Life, regional, state and county

• View and manage profile

Keep Track of Your Lists Using My eBird

• Lists first date and location• Detailed checklist view

Keep Track of Your Lists Using My eBird

• Sort by location or date

• View all observations of a single species

Keep Track of Your Lists Using My eBird

• View diary notes

• Easy access to edit tools• Print or download reports

Keep Track of Your Lists Using My eBird

eBird Version 2—What Are the Results?

The Not So Bad,and the Downright Ugly…

The Good,

Evaluating Version 2.0

• Learn what they like about eBird

• Learn what they dislike• Figure out what drives usersto submit checklists

• Get to know our users

Database Queries & the eBird Survey

Evaluating Version 2.0

• Create new look and feel

• User-friendly interface

• Build new output tools

• Increase personal user reward

Growing eBird through Application Development

Goal: User-friendly Interface

How easy is it to navigate this site?

How do you like the look and feel?

Goal: Improved Look and Feel

Goal: Improved Output Tools

My favorite part of the site is . . .

Goal: Increase Personal Reward

Do you keep track of your bird lists using the features on My eBird?

eBird Version 2 – Reviewing the Goals

• Build recurring participation

• Encourage submission of historic data

• Increase checklist submissions

• Make birders better eBirders

• Encourage standardized counts

Goal: Increase Checklist Submissions

1.0 2.0

September 4619 9944

October 5566 14262

November 6228 15912

December 5640 16369

January 6781 22498

February 6588 20400

Goal: Gather Historic Data

Jan. 2005 – Aug. 2005

eBird 2.0Sept. 2005 – Feb. 2006

n = 119,116

n = 62,161

Goal: Recurring Participation

Number of users submitting five or more checklists for the current or previous month

Number of Users Submitting 1st eBird Checklist

Note February highs presumably due to GBBC

eBird Version 2—Why submit multiple records?

“Transcribing life list from well-worn journal”

“Bird conservation. When I don’t submit a checklist, it is due to health problems.” “We submit a daily count for our yard.

In addition, we submit counts for other sites we bird during the week. We like the fact that you can put the information to good use. At the same time, we have a great record for our own use.”

“I want my observations to make a difference for the future of birds and birding. I enjoy watching my own database grow, and with it my experience and expertise. Finally, I am probably 'losing it', at least as far as my wife is concerned!”

What do you find most rewarding about eBird?

“The knowledge that my data is contributing to a larger effort to understand birds.”

“When looking back over our history . . . Seeing and remembering the day when we had a Scarlet Tanager and other rare visitors to our feeder.”

“eBird 2 does a great job of keeping my lists for me. That was the incentive I needed to enter information from past years. Also, I love the new tool that allows you to pull up all of the sightings of a particular species at a particular location.”

eBird Version 2—eBird Partners with Zeiss

• Supports eBird initiatives

• Co-promotional agreement

• Zeiss becomes corporate sponsor

Hooray!

Challenges – Okay, the Ugly

• Management issues

• Incomplete data entry/listing

• Growing pains!

• Promotion

• Hardware Limitations