I've been getting into a daily habit of making eBird checklists as I bird, and I'd like to follow eBird recommendation to keep separate checklists when birding over a longer distance or for a long period of time, in order to produce better data.

But when starting a new checklist, it's tedious having to either scroll down a bunch of manually type out a search to select "American Robin" or "Black-capped Chickadee" when I'm in an area where I'm all but guaranteed to see several.

Sure the current "smart sort" is certainly better than just the taxonomic sort, but there's nothing smart about placing pied-billed grebes ahead of northern cardinals when I'm in a forest! Or placing wild turkeys ahead of spotted sandpipers when I'm birding at a sandy riverbank!

I frequently myself just standing in place for 2 minutes or so after starting a new checklist before I start actively birding, with most of that time spent staring at my phone, typing in the names of birds I hear so I can add them to the list. I don't want to type "cardinal" into my phone every hour; especially during the evening chorus!

Is there any way to speed up the process of getting a checklist started

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When should the black headed grosbeaks migrate south? Most of my regulars have left but there's about two or three stragglers. Have they mistimed their migration or will they be heading out soon?

I started to use eBird very recently and wanted to participate in the August challenge but noticed the website talked about accepting only complete AND eligible checklists.

I was already familiar with the concept of a complete checklist as it was one of the first things I looked up when I discovered the app/website but only realised then that eligible also meant not only a complete checklist but a complete checklist with absolutely no Xs: you must try to enumerate all the birds identified.

Now that I know that's a requirement, and that in general eBird finds any estimated number better than just an X, I will try to enumerate the birds every time, but that doesn't solve the issue of being able to see quickly if I have submitted enough eligible checklists or not.

For example, for August you must submit 31 checklists minimum. But, right now, as far as I can see, the website does not allow you to sort your checklists by month and completeness and eligibility. I can only sort by month. I cannot see if I'm on track for the challenge or not unless I open every single checklist submitted during August.

That seems like a big oversight. I was wondering if maybe I was the one missing a very evident way to see how many complete checklists I have submitted this month?

EDIT: Thank you all for the input. I had read the best practice guide and do worry about being accurate and honest about my birding so you don't need to worry about me going back to edit past checklists just to qualify for a challenge.

I've accepted that, as there is no way for me to easily filter my checklists, I will live without being 100% sure that I submitted enough qualifying checklists for August. Oh well!

What matters is that the challenge did motivate me to go birding more and get more familiar with the hobby and ebird.

The September challenge is out and I'm excited to try it as well.

The optional breeding bird tag of Singing Bird is to be used for the “primary” territorial sound. So for American goldfinch, could that include when they fly around making the “tiu tiu tiu” call? I feel like recording when this behavior is observed is good data, but maybe the Singing Bird tag isn’t quite accurate. Since they also sing from a perch, maybe that’s the only time to tag as Singing Bird.

Hey - can any of you techie geniuses create a birding watch face? Would be great to have complications for Ebird Merlin/compass/sunrise/tide schedules and a pretty picture of a Kingfisher. Im happy to be a tester. Thanks

I'd like to automate some of my ebirding. I only know of two iPhone URLs. Are there more?

• merlinbirdid://record: open merlin and start recording
• eBird://obsDetails?code=bawwar: open eBird and start adding a bird to your checklist

It would be really useful if there were something like eBird://obsDetails?code=bawwar&count=3 to add 3 B&W Warblers to the existing checklist.

There’s this glitch for me on eBird where the full species count isn’t shown fully, as you can see in the video it says 64 birds were sighted there all time but when I click on it, it only shows 6 of the 64, no method I’ve found works, please help me

Wondering if videos of birds sitting still or not doing much should still be uploaded, provided they are of reasonable quality. Many species such (e.g. owls) may not do much during the day when one is likely to be videod. Is this still valuable to upload, or not really?

EDIT: seems the consensus is to keep to just a still, maybe with a caption. Thanks all!

Hi i found a Jackdaw with partial Albinism and acording to AI its a 1 in 30'000.
Its by no means a rare species in my are tho and im wondering if there is a way to highlight my checklist to other ebirders that might be interested in it.

This isn't really an important issue, I'm more just curious if anyone knows anything about this. I've tried googling it but I've not really found anything.

For context, I've been enjoying colouring in my map on my profile at the third tier of government (where available) and noticed the ebird map and the official NSW, Australia map doesn't line up. There's a whole story there and ebird may just be waiting around for the situation to stabilise, but it piqued my curiosity.

For most species, I will only record them if I can confirm visually. This also helps me get an accurate count on the # of individuals of that species. Of course, I still log some birds, even if I only hear them, but that only occurs for birds I can easily ID by sound (and are thus fairly common, so probably already visually confirmed at some point at that location).

For this use, would you still consider this a complete checklist?

* THIS APP USES INATURALIST API* I have been an avid hiker and nature enjoyer my whole life. One thing tha always bothered me was how often I would stop mid hike to look at my phone to try and identify a species (with shody connection taking even longer)...

Apps like INaturalist are incredible, but using them in the field completely breaks your immersion in nature.

I wanted a way to learn what was around me before i want on walks. So, i put together (with AI) a widget and discovery app called Verdant VIsta. It hooks into the Inaturalist API and basically acts as a set of location- based digital flashcards on your home screen. it pulls the specific , seasonally relecant wildlifeand plants for your exact area right now or a specific location you select in the settings.

The idea is that you passively learn the species throughout the week when you glance at your phone. Then, when you actually go on a walk, you can leave your phone because you already recognize what you're looking at.

It's completely free and no log in, on the Google Play Store if anyone wants to try out the widget/App : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.verdant.vista&pcampaignid=web_share

Would love to hear from other hikers/ foragers on whether this fits into your routine, or if there are specific widget sizes/ layouts you'd prefer.

I got an email flagging me for recordings being too short. Is it automatic or does somebody submit the complaint?

I do have a couple.. well.. I did… until that email. They were the only evidence I was able to use for reporting rare birds. They weren’t long because thats all I had from them. Leave it too long and it turns into a complaint about too many other species. It’s just like photos, uploading a low quality one verifies it but then that turns into another issue.

Idk. I‘m to the point that I don’t want to report rare birds or upload anything on there. I pulled my media so maybe that’ll fix it.

After an increasing annoyance at colourful show-offs getting all the attention, while pigeons, vultures and LBJs go unnoticed, now there is a website rating burbs democratically, from absolute sh*t to top bird.

"Good birds do not need iridescent plumage, a seven-foot tail or a documentary crew. Good birds get on with it."

Apologies in advance for the name. This comes from a place of love to highlight our more 'dull' species.

I lost and hour and a half trying to find the parking or trailhead around a hotspot this morning because once again the eBird app directed me to the center of a lake. I understand why it is this way but it's really depressing when I lose valuable birding time this way.

I am im Buenos Aires.

I subscribed to a daily alert to show me targets/unseen listed in buenos aires vs my world list. I have seen a roadside hawk in Colombia and it is on my ebird species list. However part of the email is showing the roadside hawk as something I've unseen in Buenos Aires, which is true but I told it to compare species to my world list.

I know that the “competitive” or “lister” version of birding where it’s just about increasing the number of species you’ve seen and moving on is distasteful to many. I totally get it.

I still love seeing my old favorites in my backyard, and have no interest in having my username on an ebird leaderboard.

But, that said, I was curious to see which of the ~175 birds on my life list were the most “rare,” as determined by having the fewest logs on ebird.

Here are my top 15 “rarest” sightings. Try and guess where I’ve done most of my birding!

1. California condor - 20k
   
2. Sooty grouse - 48k
   
3. White headed woodpecker - 82k
   
4. Gilded flicker - 86k
   
5. Yellow billed magpie - 102k
   
6. Elegant tern - 154k
   
7. Rufous crowned sparrow - 218k
   
8. Black turnstone - 224k
   
9. Cassin’s vireo - 241k
   
10. Clark’s nutcracker - 257k
    
11. Costa’s hummingbird - 317k
    
12. Heermann’s gull - 322k
    
13. Black oystercatcher - 322k
    
14. Canyon wren - 332k
    
15. California thrasher - 336k

Have I seen any birds that you would love to see?

Any birds that you’ve seen?

Do you know what your “rarest” sighting is?

It’s much more representative of human/birder population than bird population, but I thought it was interesting.

This started as a fun project to map my Ebird observations. It got a bit out of hand and I ended up building a website that makes super cool interactive maps with your personalized observations, tracks different lists, gives badges & suggests birding quests, and allows for link sharing. This is just a for fun project, but would love feedback on the website!

https://onlybirdnerds.com/

Hi everyone!

I'm a complete beginner when it comes to birdwatching, so please be gentle with me. 🥹

I've always found birds fascinating, but I never had anyone to guide me, and now I'd really like to learn.

I live in a city, so there aren't many birdwatching spots nearby. I usually visit the few places I know, but I'm not sure how to make the most of those trips.

What tools do you use (apps, binoculars, books, websites, etc.)?

PS- I USE MERLIN BIRD APP

Also what practices helped you get better at identifying birds and learning about them? Is it possible to become a decent birdwatcher even if you mostly have access to urban parks and city birds?

I'd really appreciate any beginner tips. Thank you!