About eBird

adult male Pileated Woodpecker on homemade suet log - © Dave Spier
complete eBird checklist at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35380190

About eBird

eBird allows you to keep all of your birding records in a way that makes them available to scientific research and conservation. The eBird motto is 

"Global tools for birders, critical data for science." (and it's free!)

The following is adapted from the eBird website About page (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/)

Record the birds you see

Keep track of your bird lists

Explore dynamic maps and graphs

Share your sightings and join the eBird community

Receive rare bird alerts

Contribute to science and conservation

Overview
Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird gathers data from birders around the world to develop basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of space and time scales. eBird’s goal is to harness the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers. In return, birders have free and permanent storage of all their sightings and birding lists (such as life, country, state, county, etc.).
Each participant's observations join those of others in an international network. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. This data set is becoming the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and now beyond.

How Does it Work?
eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A simple web-interface, or the alternative mobile app, engages tens of thousands of participants to submit their observations. Results can be viewed via interactive queries on the eBird website. Users are encouraged to participate by providing internet tools to maintain their personal bird records and enable them to visualize data with interactive maps, graphs, and bar charts.
A birder simply enters when, where, and how they went birding, then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. eBird provides various options for data gathering including point counts, transects, and area searches. Automated data quality filters developed by regional bird experts review all submissions before they enter the database. Local experts review unusual records that are flagged by the filters.

To get started using eBird, see these articles:
entering data via website: http://help.ebird.org/customer/en/portal/articles/1972661
entering data via mobile app: http://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/articles/2411868
I'll elaborate in future blog posts starting with creating a free account.

Data Accessibility
eBird 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 community. For example, eBird data are part of the Avian Knowledge Network (AKN), which integrates observational data on bird populations across the western hemisphere. In turn, the AKN feeds eBird data to international biodiversity data systems, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). In this way any contribution made to eBird increases our understanding of the distribution, richness, and uniqueness of the biodiversity of our planet.

For more information on birds, including photos and sounds, visit All About Birds.
Explore Data has an interactive range map for any species (zoomable to your location).

AAB home page:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=1189

map link: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/ and type in a species

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at ebirder_14432@yahoo.com 

or connect through my Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/northeastnaturalist)

Pileated Woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker -- © Dave Spier

It’s our largest woodpecker and almost as long as a crow. A white patch on top of each black wing and white underwing linings make it a flashy flier. The body and tail are also black. If you can see the red crest, you know it’s a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus, which translates to "crested tree-cleaver"). Closer inspection of this shy species, usually requiring binoculars, will reveal a white stripe extending from the top beak almost to the back of the head and then down the neck to the shoulder. The throat is white and there is a small white line over the eye. Adult males have a red forehead and red streak between the cheek and throat. On females the red is confined to the main part of the crest at the back of the crown.

Pileateds, nicknamed "log-cocks" and "cocks-of-the-woods," live mainly in mature forests, but are sometimes seen in suburbs, parks and even villages. They are year-round residents but may shift territory depending on food supplies. Their preferred diet is carpenter ants and the birds will excavate long, rectangular holes to extract them from trees. Pileated Woodpeckers locate their prey by listening for the insect’s chewing sounds. The woodpeckers also eat other insects, larvae, berries, and nuts in the wild. I’ve seen photos of these birds at suet feeders, but my feeders are too close to the house and almost never attract a wary pileatus. Other local woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, sapsucker and flicker) are regulars to semi-regulars.

Besides eating wood-damaging insects, pileateds contribute to their woodland ecosystem by chiseling a new nest cavity every spring. The previous year’s nest then becomes available for other residents such as flying squirrels and screech owls.

The range of the Pileated covers the eastern half of the United States, portions of the Pacific Northwest and most of southern Canada. By density, though, it is most numerous in the old conifer and deciduous forests of the southern states.

The population of Pileated Woodpeckers declined sharply in the 1800’s as forests were converted to farmland and the remaining birds were shot for target practice. Conservation laws and the reversion of fields to second-growth woodlots has allowed the number of woodpeckers to rebound, but it is not what anyone would consider numerous.

For more information, photos and sounds, visit the All About Birds website. An interactive range map (zoomable to your location) can be found in the eBird Explore Data section.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

November Trails -- Part 1

November Trails

© Dave Spier

Unexpectedly warm and sunny weather followed the first feeble attempt at an autumn snowfall. Call it Indian Summer, or just call it enjoyable. Mornings were chilly and dew-laden, but that's normal November. I hope you have a chance to get out and savor the weather before things go downhill again.

The trail through the field back to the woods is dotted with open milkweed pods releasing brown seeds to float on white down. The zebra-striped Monarch caterpillars that fed on the toxic white sap of the summer leaves long ago transformed to butterflies and headed south toward their winter home in Mexico. You might have noticed the Canadian Monarchs passing through New York in early October.

Near the milkweed, the once-plump, off-white berries on Red-panicled Dogwoods are now wrinkled and dry. Chickadees have been snatching as many of the fruits as they can, and the ones that fall to the ground become food for grouse. The shrub's name comes from the red stems that hold the berries, but the gray bark on the main branches gives it the alternate name, Gray Dogwood. [see the previous blog post] Next to the dogwood, a flock of Purple Finches landed in a small tree and then flew again in unison. These birds, red-raspberry relatives of goldfinches, breed across southern Canada and winter in the eastern half of the United States. We see them most often during their migrations.

In the middle of the field, a thorny rosebush is covered with tasteless rosehips that are nonetheless high in vitamin C. These small, red fruits are credited with supporting the expansion of the mockingbird from its southern strongholds to the cold climates of Upstate New York.

Northern Mockingbird in Multi-flora Rose bush -- © Dave Spier

In the woods, small beige moths flit among the trees while a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers chase each other from one tree trunk to the next. In spite of brilliant scarlet feathers on the nape (back of the neck) and crown of the male, the bird is named for an obscure patch of salmon red on the belly between the legs. The bird has to be at just the right angle to see it. The problem with the name is that another woodpecker with an entirely red head and neck took the name Red-headed Woodpecker. That species is a southern bird; we seldom see them in the Finger Lakes region.

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