E-bird for the UK (1 Viewer)

[cassowary]

I thought e-bird was only in the US, however just playing with it I see that e-bird is international and in the UK as well...

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?repo...es&myLocs=L338058&continue.x=77&continue.y=11

not that many people are using it outside the US...
In the UK RBA hits all the rare birds really well, but for uncommon species I don't know of a good source other than accrued knowledge, BTO Atlases etc and the local grapevine to know where uncommon species are currently occurring. e-bird covers where to see uncommon species pretty well in the US and for me is the most useful aspect of the site. Cornell also uses the data to assess population dynamics.

I think it would be a bit strange to see e-bird take off in the UK (as it is run from the US) and would like to see the RSPB or BTO run a similar site.

Just for example, in your local wood you happen to see a wood warbler, lesser spotted woodpecker and long eared owl. Maybe other local birders would be interested to see these species so e-bird allows you to quickly map species with the date seen.

This kind of site I don't think would appeal to the hard core twitchers but I think there are a lot of birders out there including myself who enjoy seeing the same species more than once

 

[Alan Tilmouth]

In the UK Birdguides have a close relationship with the BTO and all records/sightings submitted via the Birdguides system are sent electronically to the BTO on a daily basis. You can find all the details at www.birdguides.com

 

[cassowary]

Alan, hello, I used to subscribe to bird guides - I'm not in the UK enough to continue subscribing to it. I think eBird has a more user friendly format and is also free. you can also have eBird as a widget on igoogle for the rare birds.

by the way Cornell will showcasing e-bird at this years bird fair
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/birdfair_2011

 

[csanchez7]

ebird is not meant for recording only 'uncommon' species or 'rarities,' although you can use it secondarily for that purpose. Eventually, I believe the goal is to create an international data system recording the movement and population dynamics of birds across not only the United States/Canada but also the world. Have you seen some of these maps that have been created with ebird data?:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/occurrence-maps

Imagine ebird with enough data from birders in Europe to chart migration patterns of individual bird species across the western Palearctic. It can also chart population dynamics across time, such as the population explosion and range expansion of Eurasian Collared-Doves in North America in the past decade.

I hope strange ideas like 'nationalism' or 'it is based in X country, thus I won't participate' don't interfere with this very ambitious but increasingly powerful data tool.

Carlos

 

[Jim M.]

I hope strange ideas like 'nationalism' or 'it is based in X country, thus I won't participate' don't interfere with this very ambitious but increasingly powerful data tool.

Agreed. Birds don't care about national boundaries, so the advantage of a single global database to record all bird sightings is clear, e.g. so there's an understanding of their global range and population movements. Don't care who runs it. Hope there will be some way to merge eBird with existing single country databases though (e.g. those in europe), since they are already a store house of data. It might be run by an international team eventually.

Jim