Birds & Science >

You can help us make birds count for conservation by participating in eBird and other citizen science projects through BirdSource, http://www.birdsource.org. Several projects are available, no matter your level of ability or comfort. Remember, you will double your impact if you take along a friend; and you'll multiply it many times over if you include a scout troop or a class of schoolchildren.

eBird
A great tool to help you participate in citizen science projects is eBird, Audubon’s new citizen science resource that allows anyone to report any bird species anywhere anytime. This joint venture of Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology opens a new era of citizen science, which will help our track bird populations in a time of increasing threats, ranging from habitat loss, to invasive species, to West Nile virus.

The goal of eBird is to have an "All Great Backyard Bird Count all the time" by allowing birders to log into the site and record their sightings for specific locations whenever it is convenient for them. This will, over time, create a huge database of bird sightings from throughout North America. Since this database is accessed by a username and password, not only will you be helping scientist and conservationists track North America’s bird populations, you will also have access to any sightings you submit as your own personal database.

There are also database query tools available, which will grow more sophisticated over time and as the amount of data grows. Eventually, you will be able to ask, for example, "where are all the locations in Connecticut that have records for Blue-winged Warbler in June?" and it will show you a map and/or table. This will not only help people to learn more about where to best see certain species of birds, but will be a tremendous tool for conservation planners. To try eBird go to http://www.ebird.org. It is also available through the Audubon website at http://www.audubon.org/bird/ebird/index.html.

Today we have a unique window of opportunity, as the vast majority of the species of birds in North America still exist in viable numbers in some remnant of suitable habitat. Today, we who love birds as well as the natural world in general exist in greater numbers than ever before, and those numbers are growing rapidly. Today we have the tools that allow us to know and monitor that fragile world with depth and breadth that was unimaginable 10 years ago, let alone 102 years ago when the first Christmas Bird Count was held. eBird, will be an important tool not only for helping us to learn more about bird distribution, but it will also help us to better recognize and understand both short term and long term avian population trends.

There is a wide range of other citizen science monitoring volunteer opportunities, for more information please click here.