eBird is an online

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

observations providing

scientists A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

ers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...

, the project expanded to include

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2008, and again expanded to cover the whole world in June 2010. eBird has been described as an ambitious example of enlisting

amateurs An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

to gather data on

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

for use in science. eBird is an example of crowdsourcing, and has been hailed as an example of democratizing science, treating citizens as scientists, allowing the public to access and use their own data and the collective data generated by others.

History and purpose

Launched in 2002 by the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and the National Audubon Society, eBird gathers basic data on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. It was mainly inspired by the ÉPOQ database, created by Jacques Larivée in 1975. As of May 12, 2021, there were over one billion bird observations recorded through this global database. In recent years, there have been over 100 million bird observations recorded each year. eBird's goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional

birders Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

. The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network. Due to the variability in the observations the volunteers make, AI filters observations through collected historical data to improve accuracy. The data are then available via internet queries in a variety of formats.

Use of Database Information

The eBird Database has been used by scientists to determine the connection between bird migrations and

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

rains in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

validating traditional knowledge. It has also been used to notice bird distribution changes due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

and help to define migration routes. A study conducted found that eBird lists were accurate at determining population trends and distribution if there were 10,000 checklists for a given area.

Features

eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A web interface allows participants to submit their observations or view results via interactive queries of the database. Internet tools maintain personal bird records and enable users to visualize data with interactive maps, graphs, and bar charts. As of 2022, the eBird website is fully available in 14 languages (with different dialect options for three of them) and eBird supports common names for birds in 55 languages with 39 regional versions, for a total of 95 regional sets of common names. eBird is a free service. Data are stored in a secure facility and archived daily, and are accessible to anyone via the eBird web site and other applications developed by the global

biodiversity information Biodiversity informatics is the application of informatics techniques to biodiversity information, such as taxonomy, biogeography or ecology. Modern computer techniques can yield new ways to view and analyze existing information, as well as predic ...

community. For example, eBird data are part of the

Avian Knowledge Network The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

(AKN), which integrates observational data on bird populations across the western hemisphere and is a data source for the digital ornithological reference

Birds of North America The lists of birds in the light blue box below are divided by biological family. The lists are based on ''The AOS Check-list of North American Birds'' of the American Ornithological Society and '' The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' s ...

. In turn, the AKN feeds eBird data to international biodiversity data systems, such as the

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

Electronic kiosks

In addition to accepting records submitted from users' personal computers and mobile devices, eBird has placed electronic kiosks in prime birding locations, including one in the education center at the J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on

Sanibel Island Sanibel is an island and city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,382 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The island, also known as Sanibel Island, constitut ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Integration in cars

eBird is a part of Starlink on the 2019 Subaru

Ascent Ascent or The Ascent may refer to: Publications * ''Ascent'' (magazine), an independent, not-for-profit magazine * ''Ascent'' (journal), a literary journal based at Concordia College * ''Ascent'' (novel), by Jed Mercurio * '' Times Ascent'', a ...

. It allows eBird to be integrated into the touch screen of the car.

Extent of information

Bird checklists

eBird collects information worldwide, but the vast majority of checklists are submitted from North America. The numbers of checklists listed in the table below include only complete checklists, where observers report all of the species that they can identify throughout the duration of the checklist.

Regional portals

eBird involves a number of regional portals for different parts of the world, managed by local partners. These portals include the following, separated by region.

United States

* Alaska eBird * Arkansas eBird * eBird Northwest * Mass Audubon eBird * Maine eBird * eBird Missouri * NJ Audubon eBird * New Hampshire eBird * Minnesota eBird * Montana eBird * Pennsylvania eBird * Texas eBird * Virginia eBird * Vermont eBird * Wisconsin eBird

Canada

* eBird Canada * eBird Québec

Caribbean

* eBird Caribbean * eBird Puerto Rico

Mexico

* eBird Mexico (aVerAves)

Central America

* eBird Central America

South America

* eBird Argentina * eBird Brasil * eBird Chile * eBird Colombia * eBird Paraguay * eBird Peru

Europe

* eBird España * PortugalAves * eKuşbank (eBird Turkey)

Africa

* eBird Rwanda * eBird Zambia

Asia

* eBird India * eBird Israel * eBird Japan * eBird Malaysia * eBird Singapore * eBird Taiwan

Australia and New Zealand

* eBird Australia * New Zealand eBird

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

{{Wikidata property, P3444
eBird websiteList of publications using eBird data
2002 introductions Biodiversity databases Birdwatching Citizen science Cornell University Ornithological citizen science