eBird best practicesGet to know your local Reviewer

In the last year eBird acceptance and participation continues to increase--at least it seems so to me. Most birders know what eBird is; many are using it.

As you bird in different areas you are likely to see some unusual species or high numbers that trip the eBird filter. Soon thereafter, you get an email with the subject: "Question about your [bird name] observation in eBird." Rather than shuffle these off to your spam filter (kidding!) look at these emails from eBird Reviewers as a chance to get to know an expert in an area.

OK, first off, it is possible that the local Reviewer is NOT the most expert person on the bird status of that county. But they were the most expert to volunteer to be the eBird Reviewer for that county. So, when Oregon started getting eBird Reviewers, I was initially given about 12 counties. However, 5 of those counties were in NE Oregon--a rural area with few birders. I had books on status of birds in the area, but there were many species whose status I was uncertain. I was so happy when local NE Oregon Trent Bray agreed to be Reviewer for those counties.

That leaves me with 5 counties in NW Oregon. I consider myself the expert in one of those counties, and have considerable experience birding in the others. Nevertheless, Mike Patterson in Clatsop County is the local expert in that county. He expresses no interest in being eBird Reviewer for his home county. I don't blame him; it is a bit of work that you have to take from someplace else (like actually watching birds).

Mike sometimes gives me "status updates" when he disagrees with where the filter levels are set. One of his observations was that the filter levels seem like they were set by someone from "out of town." Of course, that's true. The county filter levels were set initially with state-wide status and then refined from there--several counties lumped as one, then individual counties spit from them. There is always more work to be done. Reviewers will be happy to reset filters if you suggest reasonable limits. But each species in each county has it own filter settings.

Another observation that Mike made was that the filter levels seemed set for "average" birders rather than the actual county status. Yes, true. Hard-to-identify species generally have their filter numbers set to trip at a lower number than the actual status. For instance, I set Thayer's Gulls in Lincoln County, Oregon to trip with perhaps 10 birds, when over 50 are sometimes possible. However, inexperienced birders can easily misidentify hybrid Glaucous-winged x Western Gulls (perhaps the most common winter gull along the northern Oregon coast) as Thayer's. In such a case, I mark in the Review Tool as "unexceptional" tallies of Thayer's Gulls from birders whose expertise I know. But I am also able to look at the whole list and see if they have all the gulls in the correct proportions. If I don't know the person and the numbers of other gulls don't seem right, then I send them an email ("Question about your [bird name] observation in eBird") asking for more details. As an eBird Reviewer I can tell a lot about a person's expertise by looking at their list and number of species.

Now that I've gone off on a tangent, let me bring it back to you getting to know the Reviewer. This is important: when you are entering your sightings into the eBird checklist, every time the automatic filter says something like "That's an unusual bird! Are you sure?" a real person (eBird Reviewer) will be looking at the record to verify it.

If you don't leave any comments the Reviewer will send you an email asking for more details. We want plumage and behavior descriptions. However, if you can add just the clinching field marks you used to your comments when entering the sighting, that's often enough that the Reviewer doesn't have to send you an email to get clarification (not that the Reviewer minds--that's their job).

There is a "canned" message, but most Reviewers will personalize it. Some Reviewers don't like to "lead" a report by suggesting an alternative bird, but I see nothing wrong with saying: 'you reported this bird which is very rare here at this time of year, yet your list is missing a common look-a-like bird. Could it have been the common bird, instead?' Something like that. Or, 'wow! That's a high number. Can you verify that it isn't a typo?'

Most (but not all) eBird Reviewers are willing and happy to share their knowledge. When they contact you to verify one of your sightings, look at it as an opportunity to learn status, distribution, and ID of local birds. Be open to suggestions (not defensive), ask questions, get to know your local Reviewer and improve your birding!

eBird best practicesEnter your old field lists

I have kept notes and bird lists of my outings ever since I started birding. At times my notes were prolific and daily. At other times my notes were sparse to non-existent for months or years. Thus, besides entering my recent sightings into eBird the past 2 years since joining, I have gone back to enter older sightings.

Because on my early birding lists I didn't usually record starting time and effort, I had to enter many of these checklists as "incidental." I started birding in November 1972. My first bird lists with enough data to enter into eBird began in 1975. I have now entered all my bird lists from then to mid-1987. This includes the period from August 1979 to December 1984 when I lived in Ventura, California. I am number 12 on the Ventura County all-time birding list, with over 200 complete checklists and 286 species.

I had to be careful, though, that my lists were all from one small area. One can add county lists or even state lists, but these are invalidated from eBird checklists and public output. They would still show up on my personal lists, though. I have decided that if they don't fit neatly in eBird "rules" that I won't enter them. So, some of my traveling lists and big days were not entered unless just individual noteworthy birds on incidental lists not recording all species. So, exact date and exact location.

Of course, I pretty much have forgotten the details of many of these sightings. Thus I am unable to add additional details when eBird flags the sightings as unusual. This has given me an opportunity to get to know the various eBird Reviewers around the country--a topic for a future post!

Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count - December 22, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Birders of all skill levels sought in Forest Grove, Oregon, on December 22 

FOREST GROVE, OREGON (November 10, 2012) - This year’s Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count is Saturday, December 22. You are invited!

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birdwatchers. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people participate for recreation. (Wikipedia)

Although overseen by the National Audubon Society (http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count), volunteer counters do not have to belong to this organization. It is free to participate.

Forest Grove’s 15 mile diameter count circle includes Hagg Lake in the west, Jackson Bottom Wetlands in the east, Bald Peak in the south, and Roy in the north. Participants are encouraged to spend the whole day afield counting birds, but partial day counters are permitted. They are assigned an area to cover and they do their best to record all the birds seen and heard in their areas, recording bird species and numbers, time spent, and distance traveled by car or walking. Assignments can be in town, farmland, forest, or wetlands, mostly driving in some count areas or mostly walking in other count areas. There is also an opportunity for owl listening in the early morning before sunrise. Feeder watching, for those living within the count circle, is another way to participate—just record the birds coming to your feeder and the time spent actually watching.

Unlike recent years this count isn’t competing for the date with other popular local CBCs. Tillamook’s count is December 15; Sauvie Island’s count is December 29; Portland’s count is January 5. This should allow the count to pull in some experienced birders from nearby areas. But, really, bird watchers of all skill-levels are welcome and desired. Many birders got their first taste of bird watching by attending a Christmas Bird Count. Beginners are paired with more experienced birders—no pressure, this is meant as a fun day of birding.

Meet at Elmers Pancake House (390 SW Adams, Hillsboro) at 7 a.m. (earlier if you wish to order breakfast) to receive your assignment. Spend the day counting birds in a small group. Bring your results back to Elmers about 4:30-5:00 PM. When all are back there is a countdown—a fun, informal count of all species seen. Most participants record 50-70 bird species in their areas. The count as a whole often records 110+ species.

Dress warmly with waterproof hiking boots (or an extra pair of shoes), drive and park carefully, bring a sack lunch. Bring binoculars, spotting scope (if you have one), cell phone for communicating with count compilers to report and learn of any rare birds!

 If you wish to get an area pre-assigned contact Greg Gillson, otherwise just show up at Elmer’s at 7:00 a.m. the morning of count day.

Contact (email preferred):
Mary Anne Sohlstrom (503) 463-9540 masohlstrom@msn.com
Greg Gillson greg@thebirdguide.com

eBird best practicesDon't be casual!

The most useful checklists to submit to eBird are complete checklists (every species detected is listed) and every species counted. If at all possible, you should accurately track observer effort--mileage and time. As you use eBird, more and more of your checklists will be as these.

The two main categories of effort-based lists are "Stationary" (you birded from a single location and didn't move more than 100 feet or so) and also a "Traveling" count. Traveling counts can be walked or driven (or both). Traveling counts are recommended to be 5 miles or less. If you change habitats, change to another checklist. On the other hand, if you are traveling through miles of identical habitat then it is not necessary to change checklists after 5 miles (think mono-species grasslands or pelagic trips). No eBird checklist should cross county borders. eBird Reviewers are instructed to weed out long trip lists that span county borders or multiple habitats. Thus, if you enter such lists the data will not be used in the maps and bar charts. But they will appear in your personal lists.

Sometimes, though, you see a noteworthy bird when you aren't birding. Or, you are entering sightings from years past--before you started eBirding--that lack effort information. This is the time to enter an "incidental" (renamed from "casual") list. You may or may not enter a complete list.

I've used incidental checklists when entering old year lists that listed only a new county bird for the year and location. I used an incidental list today. I was driving to a birding location and noted 35 Turkey Vultures on the way. I pulled over and used Bird Log to enter the exact location.

Some birders balk at creating multiple lists for one birding excursion, for instance, while doing a Christmas Bird Count or Migration Count or even a Big Day. However, when you think about it, you are really birding intensely at only a few discrete locations, and then you see a few other noteworthy birds en route that will be entered on individual incidental lists.

An old eBird article that uses the obsolete term "casual" observation is here:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/are-you-really-making-casual-observations.

eBird best practicesKeep track of breeding birds

Yellow Warbler on nest. Malheur NWR, Oregon. May 25, 2009 by Greg Gillson.

One of the features of the "comments" section you can use when recording birds in eBird is tracking breeding evidence.

A bird on a nest, a bird carrying food to feed to nestlings, very recently fledged young that can't fly far, a bird feigning injury as a distraction display, a blackbird dive-bombing your head. All these are evidence of breeding birds.

As yet eBird doesn't have an output for showing breeding evidence. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't enter such notations. Breeding status may be shown in future update to eBird. However, you can request a download of your data that will show breeding, if you want to investigate your sightings in the future.

Why should you record breeding codes if eBird doesn't output that data yet? Well, for one, observing breeding behavior and searching for nesting evidence is fun! It makes you more aware of what the birds are doing.

For a list of breeding codes and meaning, and for more details, see the eBird page on breeding birds.

Other posts discussing nesting birds.

eBird best practicesAccurately track distance and time

In September 2010 the eBird developers wrote: "As we develop eBird, we're continually walking the line between building better tools that birders want to use, while maintaining our focus on collecting useful scientific data in the process."

All data submitted to eBird is valuable. However, when you combine your bird list and species numbers seen with effort--distance traveled and time spent--you make eBird data the most valuable it can be. These effort-based observations allow eBird to make the frequency and abundance charts that are such an informative part of the "Explore Data" function of eBird.

Estimate how far you walked to the best of your ability. Keep track of when you start and stop. Add that to your bird list and you've got it! If it isn't convenient to do it every time you submit a checklist to eBird, just do it when you can--every little bit makes eBird data that much better!

For more information read the eBird post: Effort-based observations enable powerful data analysis.

eBird best practicesAdd comments for rare birds

One of the great things about eBird is the data quality standard and review of unusual bird reports.

When submitting a checklist to eBird you are asked to verify unusual sightings. Perhaps there was a typo and you accidentally entered a high number or wrong species. However, don't just mark the checkbox verifying the entry is correct as you intended--give a reason.

You see, every time the automatic filters indicate you saw an unusually high number or unusual species, a real person reviews your list. Rather than waiting for the Reviewer to send you an email asking for more details, provide the details in the comments for any species that eBird flags as unusual. If you don't provide comments in your checklist and then don't respond to the eBird Reviewer's email request for more information, Reviewers have no choice but to invalidate your record.

Now it may be that the number you saw was just barely over the threshold, or the species is generally rare but your bird is a known rarity. In this case the Reviewer will simply verify your sighting from within eBird and your record gets accepted to the pubic database.

Whenever possible, the Reviewer is a local expert on the birds of the area. If they deem that your sighting is unusual enough, they will want more details. Plumage, behavior, habitat, songs and calls all help verify a locally rare species. Provide as much information as you can. Of course, digital photos are ubiquitous these days. Even a blurry photo from your camera-phone can help establish the identity of a species.

On the other hand, perhaps the species is expected, but in much lower numbers than you reported. Explain any reason for unusually high numbers.

Now the filter settings aren't perfect. The Reviewer is able to change the settings to more accurately reflect reality. If you think a species or high number is being flagged too sensitively, add a note to that effect to your comments as the Reviewer will read it. On the other hand, if you entered a bird you thought rare, but the filter accepted it without challenge, then you might also drop an email line to your Reviewer.

Reviewers are assigned by counties, though most reviewers are responsible for more than one county. They can help you with ID questions, status and distribution. They are a good resource for you to learn the local birds. They may suggest that you saw a more common bird. But remember, no one can change your records but you.

So, what happens if the Reviewer doesn't overturn the automatic filters and accept your report?

Firstly, the acceptance or not of a reported bird is not a reflection of you as a person or as a skilled birder. It doesn't mean you didn't actually see the bird you reported. It does mean that the bird was unexpected and you provided insufficient documentation to sway the decision. I have invalidated my own records when entering lists of birds from years long past because of lack of written details in my notes about an unlikely species.

Secondly, your list of species is always available to you, whether correctly identified or not, whether the Reviewer validated it or not. Remember, all records stay in the system and can be reviewed again. Invalidated records can be accepted and accepted birds can be reviewed and invalidated later.

What will happen though, is that your invalidated record will not appear on the public eBird maps and bar charts for abundance and frequency. Your records are available, though, to researchers, along with the Reviewer's comments, so they can make their own decisions.

I hope this provides some insight into the data quality of eBird and how providing comments on your checklist can save time and effort and help a Reviewer come to a good decision about flagged records.

More information:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/a-comment-about-comments

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/ebird-data-quality

http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/theimportanceofcomments

eBird best practicesUse the Hotspots

The concept of a "hotspot" in eBird is fairly simple and powerful, but sometimes eBirders are confused by exactly what it means and what it does.

A hotspot is simply a public birding area. It must be publicly accessible and a place where more than one birder frequents. It can be a park or refuge, a beach or wetlands--anywhere known to birders as a specific location to stop and watch birds. Note that it does not require the location to have lots of birds. In fact, it could be a place where birders stop for a single species.

All observations submitted by all observers at a hotspot are pooled, and you can view the weekly abundance and frequency bar charts for this one area just as you would for a state or county. Thus, to add to the data you would choose the hotspot off the map when submitting your list. You can then have these hotspots available in your "My locations" list of personal birding locations.



Be careful, though! If there is a hotspot for "Birder's Park," yet you create your own personal location in "Birder's Park," eBird does not combine them. This could happen if you were the first to submit a list to "Birder's Park" as a personal location, and someone later recommended it as a hotspot. Thus, if you bird a public area that is not already a hotspot, you should "recommend" the location be a hotspot when you submit your list.

If you find (by exploring data maps) that you have a personal location ("Birder's Park") but that there is also a public hotspot for the same area, you can edit and merge your checklists for that location into the hotspot. Here's how:
1) Go to "My eBird"
2) "Manage My Locations"
3) Find your location on the list of your locations and "Edit"
4) "Merge" with a location on the map

More on eBird hotspots.

eBird best practicesBird different places

We previously discussed birding the same area repeatedly throughout the year, and how beneficial that is to eBird data completeness and accuracy.

Birders are creatures of habit, though, and often bird the same places over and over, ignoring other areas. For instance, there are several lowland parks and wetlands in my local county that receive several eBirder visits weekly. But the Coast Range forest is visited much less frequently--primarily in early summer when certain warblers and flycatchers are present. Resident birds such as American Dipper and Gray Jay are very under-reported, making them appear more rare than they really are.



Here are 3 ideas to bird different places:

1) Visit new areas in your home county or anywhere where you haven't birded before. Randomly stop on a trip and make a 5-10 minute survey.

2) Look at eBird bar chart maps of birds in your county. Look for locations where no birds have been located--even though you know they live there. Then go birding there!

3) Bird areas at times of year when not normally visited by bird watchers. Nothing exciting there during that time of year? It doesn't matter. Negative data is recorded by eBird and makes data more accurate. And who knows, you may find there is a good bird there after all.

More information on this topic can be found on the eBird site, eBird county birding and Fill in the gaps (January 2012), and Fill in the gaps (April 2012).


Read all posts about eBird

eBird best practicesBird the same place

By repeating surveys of the same area throughout the year you build up an accurate abundance bar chart. eBird's bar charts have a resolution of one week--four weeks assigned to each month.

Every time you bird your favorite birding area, you add to the accuracy of the bird list in that location. Additionally, you increase accuracy of frequency and abundance for the county, state, and country.

Other ideas for repeated bird counts:

Keep track of birds out the window at your bird feeder for 10 or 15 minutes, and do so several times during same day. Each time you look is a different stationary count.

Occasionally, I take the dog for a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood on the same route.

Get out of the office! Take a lunchtime walk at work and keep track of what you see.

If you have a special place that you bird every week or more often, then you may want to consider a special eBird Site Survey.



Read all posts about eBird

eBird best practicesKeep locations separate and small

One of the key features of eBird is the ability to map birds by precise location. Thus, each time you change locations or habitats it is best to start a new list. Locations can be as small as you want. In general, traveling lists should be less than 5 miles. Carry a notebook and keep track of these smaller birding locations, and remember to record birding time and distance!

Instead of trip lists, divide your birding into discrete units. You may even want to divide up larger birding areas into discrete areas as well. For instance, Malheur NWR with 50 miles between some locations should be broken into smaller birding units. Separate your birding lists into Headquarters, The Narrows, Buena Vista, Benson Pond, P Ranch, Page Springs, Frenchglen, Diamond, Round Barn, etc. Any unusual species seen while traveling between stops can be recorded as a "Casual Observation," located exactly where you saw them.



More information on this topic can be found on the eBird site, Location! Location! Location!.

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eBird best practicesCount the birds

Take your eBirding to the next level--count the numbers of individual birds you see.

Counts of individual birds help eBird's bar charts, abundance graphs, and frequency graphs be more accurate and, in fact, exist at all.

You don't have to be exact. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000... If you are in the correct order of magnitude, these estimates are better than X, which is what you use when you don't count. [Please remember that X is correct when you don't count. Don't enter 1 for each species when you mean X.]



More information on this topic can be found on the eBird site, The trouble with 'X'.

Read all posts about eBird

eBird best practicesEnter Complete Checklists

Note: For the past year I have been trying to convince you, no matter your skill level, to use eBird to record your bird sightings (Here is a link to bring up all my posts related to eBird). This citizen science project unites birders around the world and in your local community. I challenge you to try it just once--enter a list of birds from your next bird trip.

If you start, or already are, using eBird, there are practices you can use to make your data more useful to science, and thus help the birds themselves. For the remainder of the year, I will present a monthly recommendation of eBird best practices. Below is the first one.

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The most useful checklist to submit to eBird is the Complete Checklist.

eBird asks: "Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you saw/heard?"

Record every species seen and heard--even common ones.

When you select the Complete Checklist, eBird is then able to compute accurate range maps and bird frequency (how many checklists report that species during that particular week). For instance, if you select Complete Checklist and do not have American Robin on your list, eBird knows that you did not see any--not just that you didn't feel them interesting or unusual enough to write down.



Entering lots of complete checklists doesn't necessarily mean that a person spends any more time birding than you do now. Got 5-10 minutes to observe birds at your feeder? How about doing so more than once during the day? Did you take a 20 minute dog walk or jog today and note any birds? Can you take 15 minutes out of your lunch time to watch birds anywhere? If you record all birds seen during these short time periods, you'll find there are numerous opportunities during each day to submit complete checklists.

All of these data are useful and add to the knowledge of status and distribution of birds. In fact, we know a lot more about birds at wildlife refuges and parks than we know about birds in residential neighborhoods or towns. Your complete checklists--even if only 5-10 minutes--in such areas are likely to add more new bird information than your weekend visit to the local birding hotspot.

In September 2011 I checked the number of eBirders in Oregon submitting the most complete checklists. There were 69 birders submitting at least 1 checklist per week, on average, over the whole year of 2011. Of these, one-third were averaging 1 checklist every other day, or 3-1/2 checklists per week. Combined with hundreds of others submitting far less often it all adds up. In September 2011, Oregon eBirders submitted over 1600 complete checklists. Remember, eBird is worldwide. Just think how much information on bird status and distribution is being gathered by eBird!

More information on this topic can be found on the eBird site, Are you reporting all species?

How eBird makes you a better birder

In my previous post ("eBird revisited: one year later") I discussed how eBird is an essential birding tool for you, even if you decide not to submit your own sightings.

Adding your own personal sightings to eBird contributes to citizen science, makes your sightings valuable beyond your own enjoyment, and makes eBird that much better.

However, the way eBird is structured when submitting observations gives the one submitting a better understanding of bird status in the area being reported.

You see, when you submit your list of sightings from a field trip, you choose from a checklist of birds that are expected in that specific county during that specific month. If the bird isn't on the default checklist, then it is considered rare by local experts. If you then switch to the "Show Rare Species" checklist, all birds ever recorded (in any month) in the county are listed. If your bird is not on this list, either? Then it is likely a first county record! You select "Add Species" and type in the name.

But there is more. Every species ever recorded in the county has a filter number for each month of the year. If you report more individuals of a selected species than the filter considers "normal" you are notified that you have seen an unusually high number!

A third option for checklists that you can turn on or off is the ability to "Show subspecies." This option displays on the checklist such things as Red-shafted Flickers, Slate-colored Juncos, Myrtle Warblers, but also subspecies local experts deem worthy of recording. Thus, you can learn of important regional subspecies in the county you are reporting. If a certain subspecies isn't on the list? Try "Add Species" and look to see if it exists on the eBird master species list.

eBird works very hard to make sure the data collected is accurate. Thus, any time you record a high number of individuals or a species not on the default checklist, eBird asks you to confirm and give comments. This is the place to write a brief description or add a photo or photo link. Every location in the world has a volunteer local expert that reviews these unusual sightings. They tag unusual species as likely correctly identified or possibly not by what you say in your comments and a personal email, if necessary to gather more information. These expert Reviewers can help you with status and ID questions.

You can, of course, add comments for any species, rare or not. eBird's "Comments" section allows you to record age and gender data as well as breeding bird codes. Besides simply noting presence ('X') you are encouraged to estimate numbers of individuals. Instead of recording just the highlights, you are encouraged to record every species. Rather than a day's list, eBird encourages you to record species in more and smaller areas.

All of these things will make you a better birder.

Rebecca in the Woods started eBirding in September 2011. In October 2011 she wrote: How eBird is making me a better birder.

Nate Swick of the Drinking Birder also tells How eBird makes me a better birder.

We're starting a new year. This is the perfect time for you to start entering your field birding sightings. No more excuses! Become an eBirder in 2012.

eBird revisited: one year later

It was just a year ago when I wrote my first blog post about eBird (What is eBird?), the citizen science and personal listing program sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.

eBird may be most simply described as an online checklist program. It allows one to input their bird sightings and keep track of their lists. All sightings are pooled from around the world and the data is accessible both to the user and to any interested person, scientist or hobbyist. (Read About eBird from their own web site.)

About the same time as my post, Dave Irons, over on the BirdFellow blog wrote about eBird, too (The eBird Conundrum). I recommend reading all the comments, as you can see how the program has grown and improved over the years. Read especially Shawneen Finnegan's comments (Comment #9). Of those who weren't as excited about eBird, they were concerned with the possible time and effort of changing the way they birded and entering their sightings checklists.

Everyone is missing the point!

Forget entering data for a minute. (Anathema!)

Without you ever entering a single personal checklist...

eBird is an absolutely indispensable real time world-wide bird status and distribution tool.

How do I emphasize this sufficiently? eBird is tracking the location and abundance of every bird in the world. Right now. From Abdim's Stork to Zosterops (species). Ten-thousand species plus thousands of field identifiable forms (subspecies, species pairs, "spuh's" (Empidonax sp., gull sp., etc.), and even exotics).

The world-wide aspect is just over a year old now, so obviously the bulk of users (because of the 6 year head start) are in North America and New Zealand. But use is increasing throughout the world.

Birders in California lead the way with nearly 15,000 checklists submitted each month (based on November 2011 rate)! Ottawa, New York, Texas, and Florida led the pack in November 2011. The number of checklists submitted in California has nearly doubled in one year (8500 to 15,000 per month in November of both years). Brian Sullivan, one of eBird's founders, reports that about 80,000 birders have submitted at least one checklist to eBird; 6,000 birders are regular contributors right now. A recent article in PLoS Biology (eBird: Engaging Birders in Science and Conservation) estimates that the 2011 total will be 1.7 million checklists from 210 countries! Every new checklist submitted--whether historical lists from the past, or this morning's field outing--increases eBird's accuracy and usefulness.

The maps generated by eBird are often better than those appearing in field guides. Maps can be made at the resolution of individual months (or any requested block of months or years). Frequency is shown on the maps at large scales by latitude-longitude blocks until you zoom in to see the individual details of each and every sighting.

So, even if you have decided not to contribute your sightings to eBird, the useful information about where birds are being seen today is such that every birder would want to search eBird each day. What can you find out? Here are two items you may find useful. 1) eBird Alerts: Sightings of birds you haven't seen ever or just this year in a specified county or state emailed to you. 2) Rare birds (ABA Code 3 and above) nationally emailed to you. 3) Weekly frequency and abundance bar charts for every bird in a birding hotspot or county where you may plan to visit. 4) Maps and details of any species in the world showing actual sightings in the last 30 days. Oops! That's four useful items.

I suggest you go to eBird.org and explore for yourself and see what you've been missing!

My next post will tell you why you should submit sightings to eBird. No, not because it contributes to citizen science, helps the birds, and makes the world a better place. Rather, I will show how eBird makes you a better birder!

More details on the upcoming Forest Grove CBC

Hooded Oriole, Gaston, Oregon, 26 December 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Many birders got to see this wonderful rare bird at a private feeder, in the tiny burg of Gaston, soon after it was found on the Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count (CBC). My feeling is that there should be time available for each group to go "poach" a rare bird or productive area for an hour or so, outside of their assigned sector (count area). See the previous post (Forest Grove CBC: Join us December 17).

Each sector has certain "target" species that they should try to find, as they may only be found in that sector. Some sectors are mostly driving, some mostly walking. As of this time, all sectors are available and open to request. We need sector leaders, responsible to read the map, track the mileage and time, count all birds seen or heard, and take less experienced ones along for a fun day.

All volunteers should contact me, Greg Gillson, at greg@thebirdguide.com, and let me know what sector you prefer. Please consider being a sector leader.

If you live in the count circle (Roy to Gaston, Forest Grove to west part of Hillsboro) we need feeder watchers. Just keep track of all birds coming to your feeder and keep track of the time you spent watching. Most Anna's Hummingbirds are reported from feeders. If a Hooded Oriole comes to visit, well, one can dream!

Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count, Saturday, December 17, 2011.
Meet at Elmer's Pancake House, 390 SW Adams, Hillsboro, Oregon at 7:00 AM (earlier if having breakfast).

Sector 1)
Northern Forest Grove, NW Hillsboro, Verboort, Roy. Mostly driving.
Target birds: Peregrine Falcon, Prairie Falcon, Herring Gull, Thayer’s Gull, Glaucous Gull, Mourning Dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Horned Lark, Common Raven, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Western Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird.

Sector 2)
Southern Forest Grove, Gales Creek, Stringtown Road, Gales Peak, David Hill. Driving and walking.
Target birds: Redhead, Great Egret, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Northern Shrike, Common Raven, Western Bluebird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Lesser Goldfinch.

Sector 2A-optional)
Roderick Road. Steep, rough logging road walking up to 5 miles into clearcuts/forest.
If enough people, assign to separate group, otherwise include in Sector 2.
Target birds: Ruffed Grouse, Blue Grouse, Mountain Quail, Barred Owl, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Hutton’s Vireo, Gray Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler, Red Crossbill, Evening Grosbeak

Sector 3A)
Hagg Lake (West side) and nearby areas. Site guide. Driving and walking.

Sector 3B)
Hagg Lake (East side). Mostly walking up to 6 miles of trails and park area.
Target birds for all of Hagg Lake: Eurasian Wigeon, Greater Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Ruffed Grouse, Common Loon, Western Grebe, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Spotted Sandpiper, California Gull, Herring Gull, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, American Dipper, Purple Finch.

Sector 3C)
Logging Roads on Scoggins Creek Road above Hagg Lake. 2-1/2 miles driving logging road and walking another 3 miles of rough logging roads.
Target birds: Blue Grouse, Mountain Quail, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Barred Owl, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Hutton’s Vireo, Gray Jay, Western Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler, Red Crossbill, Purple Finch, Evening Grosbeak

Sector 4)
Patton Valley. Mostly driving.
Target birds: White-tailed Kite, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Mourning Dove, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Northern Shrike, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Western Bluebird, Townsend's Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Purple Finch.

Sector 5)
Spring Hill Road, Laurelwood, Bald Peak, Dixon Mill Road (both sides), Firdale Road. Mostly driving.
Target species: Ruffed Grouse, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Northern Shrike, Western Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, American Pipit, White-throated Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Lesser Goldfinch.

Sector 5A-optional)
Metro’s Chehalem Ridge property on Dixon Mill Road may be assigned to a separate team with special permission to enter.

Sector 6)
Fernhill Wetlands and surrounding areas. Walking and driving.
Target species: Trumpeter Swan, Wood Duck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Ring-necked Pheasant, California Quail, Western Grebe, Horned Grebe, Great Egret, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Wilson’s Snipe, Mew Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Herring Gull, Thayer’s Gull, Western Gull, Mourning Dove, Northern Shrike, Common Raven, Marsh Wren, Western Bluebird, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Purple Finch, Lesser Goldfinch.

Sector 7)
Jackson Bottom and surrounds. Lots of wet walking if Jackson Bottom is not flooded, otherwise mostly driving.
Target species: Trumpeter Swan, Wood Duck, Great Egret, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Ring-necked Pheasant, California Quail, Wilson’s Snipe, California Gull, Herring Gull, Anna’s Hummingbird, Northern Shrike, Marsh Wren, Western Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow.

Sector 8)
Forest Grove. Walking in town. This is the official "poaching" team. After covering town last year, Tim Rodenkirk and I poached at Fernhill Wetlands and Hagg Lake. Combined with the early morning owling we did, we ended the day personally recording 91 of the 117 total count species.
Target birds: Merlin, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, Cedar Waxwing, Townsend’s Warbler, White-throated Sparrow.

Forest Grove CBC: Join us December 17

From December 14 to January 5, birders at thousands of locations across the Americas will count early winter birds in prescribed areas from dawn to dusk. For over 100 years the National Audubon Society has sponsored these Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). Read the History of the Christmas Bird Count on the Audubon site.

In Forest Grove, Oregon, volunteers will meet at 7:00 AM on Saturday, December 17, 2011, at Elmer's Pancake House at 390 SW Adams (near the corner of First Street and Baseline Avenue) in Hillsboro, Oregon. There birders will be divided up into car groups and sent birding in one of 8 sectors of the count circle. Everyone should meet back at Elmer's about 5:00 PM where you turn in your count forms and count fees are collected (yes, $5 per person is collected to help defray publishing the data in a special issue of American Birds). You may stay for a count-down dinner (each person buys their own), where the species seen are informally tallied.

I started helping organize the Forest Grove CBC two years ago. I was guided by two thoughts. First, I was vacationing in Arizona one winter and decided to attend a count near Phoenix that regularly tallies nearly 200 species--many species I highly desired to see. However, I was assigned to a group in a rural area of cotton fields with very few birds. When we finished covering our area by noon? Our leader had us do it again, with very few additional birds. All the while, I could see the greenery along the nearby river with all the birds I so desired to see but which was "not our area." Second, I knew the Forest Grove area so well. At the countdown dinner I realized that the birds that were missed that day were not hard to find--in fact, I knew exactly what tree and bush or part of the stream these missing birds hung out in. I figured if each team concentrated on finding these hard-to-find, but usually present, birds, then the common birds would take care of themselves. Counts since implementing this idea 2 years ago have exceeded the high count of all previous years.

This led me to redesign the count in such a way that teams could cover their area fairly well by noon, and "poach" in other team's areas for good birds--just keep track of where you were. I recommend teams "poach" at Fernhill Wetlands or Jackson Bottom Wetlands during the day. There is a good turnover of waterfowl at these locations, and many other sparrows and smaller birds hiding in the marsh. I also divided up Hagg Lake into three sectors rather than one. The special resident birds here are hard to find and quiet, and found no where else in the count circle. To help in this regard, I created sector material for the sector leaders specifying each sector's target birds and where to find them.

This year Christmas Day falls on a weekend and, unlike the very first CBC, few counts these days are actually scheduled for Christmas Day. That means most counts will be either December 17 and 18th or December 31 and January 1. Forest Grove isn't one of the "glamor" counts in Oregon. So we'll have lots of competition for our volunteer counters.

My next post will tell you why you should join us and what you might see.

eBird tutorial: finding Pinyon Jays

Pinyon Jay, Best Western Ponderosa Lodge, Sisters, Oregon, 27 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Throughout most of its range, the Pinyon Jay is found in pinyon pine and juniper woodlands. Thus, this species reaches its northern limit in southern Idaho where a few pinyon pine exist. However, there is an isolated pocket of Pinyon Jays in central Oregon, found in juniper and ponderosa pine. Why it is found only here, when this habitat is widespread in the Great Basin, is unknown. These jays occur in large noisy flocks throughout the year, and are highly nomadic.

This post will serve as a tutorial of how to use eBird to create sightings maps.



First, point your web browser to ebird.org.

The eBird Welcome page appears as follows (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



Next, choose the "View and Explore Data" tab to bring up the following screen (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



To create species maps and abundance bar charts limited to a certain area, choose "Bar Charts." Then you are asked to choose your location. We want the Pacific Northwest, so we choose Idaho, and then, holding down the CTRL key, select Oregon and Washington too! Then select "continue" at the bottom of the page (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



What this has done is create a monthly bar chart of annual bird abundance for the combined three states (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



Scroll down to Pinyon Jay and click it to bring up that species' information. Here you can change the date range and location, down to a specific county within a state. Looking at the bar chart, you can see that Pinyon Jay is present all year in the chosen range (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), but harder to find early in the year (click on the image below to bring up a larger view).



Now click on the map button or tab to bring up the map below (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



The map shows Pinyon Jay abundance in latitude-longitude blocks in two areas of southern Idaho, and central Oregon, with a smattering of sightings in the Klamath Basin of south-central Oregon. As you zoom in closer, these blocks are resolved into the individual sightings markers.

If you zoom in on the Central Oregon sightings, you'll notice a bunch of sightings near Sisters, Oregon. If you click on the sightings marker, the specific information comes up: date, number of individuals seen, location name and observer. Sightings within the last 30 days are shown with orange markers, older sightings are blue. Let's look at what I've selected (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



I switched the Google map from Terrain view to the Satellite view, and zoomed in to an area of town. Then I clicked on one of the markers, whereupon the information about that sighting location is revealed. Here it is, then. This marker is located at a place called "Best Western Ponderosa Lodge" in Deschutes County, Oregon. The date was 4/4/10 and 21 Pinyon Jays were reported here. The observer? Why, Best Western Ponderosa Lodge! What?!!! Why not? Yes, someone at the Lodge signed up to eBird perhaps simply to "advertise" the birds you can find at their motel!

Is this "legal"? Of course! While eBird would like each observer to contribute more than just one checklist, one is better than nothing. Remember, eBird includes sightings not just from scientists and fanatical birders, but also elementary school science classes, backyard birders and, yes, even motels! Now that's what I call Citizen Science!

Can you really find Pinyon Jays at this motel? Well, I did! See the caption for the Pinyon Jay photo above. Also note that another visitor to the motel recorded Pinyon Jays there in June 2011.

A recent new addition to eBird is the ability to click on the word "checklist" next to the sighting report to see all the other birds seen at that location that day! So, for instance, also found were ponderosa pine specialists like White-headed Woodpecker and Pygmy Nuthatch. And, yes, Eurasian Collared-Dove has invaded there, too.

How to use eBird... To track migration

Orange-crowned Warbler, Newport, Oregon on 30 April 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

One of the "games" that birders play is to be the first one locally to see a certain migrant. Birding listservs in spring are often titled: "FOS: ..." for First Of Season.

It is a joy to once again meet up with your bird "friend" in April or May that you may not have seen since last September. Migration is an amazing natural wonder.

However, some individual birds of many of our migrant species, may winter locally. Or, maybe there is one adventurous bird migrating early. Averaging the first arrival date over several years gives a good idea of when the first individuals of a certain species might be expected. But eBird allows us to examine migration in so much more depth.



As we discussed previously (What is eBird?), eBird is a free web-based software tool that allows you to record your bird sightings. With it you can track your personal birding lists. However, its power comes from combining your list with thousands of other birders' lists.

What follows is a detailed explanation of how to use eBird to track migration near you. I want you to be able to do this yourself....

So, the first thing I do is select a location of interest. Since I live in the Willamette Valley bio-region of western Oregon, that's where I start.

eBird.org: View and Explore Data is the tab to choose. I select the abundance Bar Charts. Then I choose my location. Oregon is the state, but now I choose Counties in Oregon and hit Continue.

eBird allows you to combine up to 14 counties at once. That is usually enough to define a smaller region among Oregon's 36 counties. I will choose the 9 counties of the Willamette Valley. In this case I am leaving off the southernmost, Lane County, as it includes part of the coast. Many birds arrive on the coast first, before the inland valleys. Not a perfect solution, but it will do.

Now eBird builds a complete checklist of all sightings ever reported in the area I specified. eBird then creates an abundance bar chart for each "week" of the year (each month is divided into 4 weeks, so some weeks have 7, 8, or 9 days).

Now I scroll down and select Orange-crowned Warbler (right-clicking on my Windows PC mouse and opening in a new tab, so I don't "lose" the entire bar chart and have to hit the "back" button and reload it all).

When the Orange-crowned Warbler page opens, it again shows the bar chart for this species. You can choose any time-frame, in one-month intervals. Below this is a map with all sightings mapped with "push pins." Click on each pin to see the location, date, number of individuals counted, and the name of the observer.

At this time, however, choose the Frequency tab. This will tell you how many (%) of all checklists in your defined area that week reported the species. This tells you how widespread the species was in your area.

Below is the frequency of Orange-crowned Warbler sightings in the Willamette Valley for the years 2007-2010 (right-click and open in new window for a larger view).



By examining the screen shot above, you can see that there are some individual Orange-crowned Warblers found in winter in the Willamette Valley. You can't really be sure if the one bird you see is the "first" detected migrant or not. However, beginning with the 4th week of March (week starting 3/22), Orange-crowned Warbler sightings jump! By the first week of May they are the most widespread, being found on 30% of all checklists reported anywhere in the counties containing the Willamette Valley.

Orange-crowned Warblers then move to the hills to breed, so they aren't quite as widespread during the summer. But in September, they start migrating south and are found in more areas, peaking (being most widespread) the 3rd week of September (week beginning 9/15). By the middle of October, Orange-crowned Warblers are mostly gone.

But now select Totals and see, not how widespread, but how numerous they are throughout the year (screen shot below, right-click and open in new window for a larger view).



Looking at this data, we see that Orange-crowned Warblers are most numerous the 4th week of April (week starting 4/22). And though the Frequency charts showed they were fairly widespread in late September, this Totals chart shows they are not numerically very common then.

How does this compare to what is written in Handbook of Oregon Birds, 2009 by Herlyn and Contreras? Well, they say: "Spring migration begins in mid-Mar along the s. Ore. coast and peaks in Apr.... Fall migrants peak in early to mid-Sep, and most are gone by mid-Oct."

Also listed are compilations of average first-arrival dates: March 21 for Benton County, and March 19 for Portland area.

So, eBird data refines the area and quantifies the general Oregon status given in this great little book.

Some of the other tabs, showing the data in other ways, may prove interesting to you. They will be more accurate as the database grows. Since eBird usage seems to be growing about 25% per year in Oregon, the information gleaned is getting more and more accurate--and interesting.

There it is, then--Orange-crowned Warbler migration in the Willamette Valley charted and graphed. We didn't look at the other tabs. I leave that as an exercise for you.

I am sure you can think of a migrant bird in your area that you would like to graph out this same way.

View all posts with the label: "eBird"

eBird and Troglodytes

Pacific Wren, Timber, Oregon, 22 November 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

Back in July of 2010 the American Ornithologists' Union (A.O.U.) split the (formerly) holarctic Winter Wren into 3 species: Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), Winter Wren (T. hiemalis), and Pacific Wren (T. pacificus).

The genus name, Troglodytes means someone who lives in a cave--a caveman. It refers to the damp, dark, cave-like root wads and brushy tangles these birds favor.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have the Pacific Wren. It is a resident bird in damp forests, but we get an influx of winter birds from the north. We have discussed this bird previously, including the possibility of this split, under the former name, Winter Wren.

You can look at a field guide range map and see the different populations in the East and West. However, what I want to show you is your contribution to the range maps. On the eBird site is an animated map of Winter Wren and Pacific Wren in the US.

As the map sweeps through the year, one week at a time, you can see the eastern Winter Wren migrate from the wintering range in the Southeast states to the summer range in just the northern tier of states.

In the West, however, the range of Pacific Wren expands in winter and contracts in summer, but doesn't show north/south migration.

This animated map is only possible because you (the common, everyday, ordinary, bird watcher--no offense intended) use eBird. That map was made with your sightings!


I mean, you do eBird, don't you?

Just as binoculars and field guide has defined a birder for the past 75 years, I believe eBird will define what it means to be a birder in the coming decades. Start now!

You don't want anyone to call you a troglodyte, now, do you?

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It is my intention, as an eBird convert and champion, to present some ongoing articles on how to use eBird, especially how to get useful and interesting data out of eBird. One of the previous complaints about eBird was that it was (my own former words): "in only." They wanted my data, but didn't give me anything useful back. That has changed. I'll show you how.

See my previous post: What is eBird?