Tag: News & Features

This month’s eBirder of the Month challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, will keep get you snapping photos and recording bird sounds. Every time you take a photo or hold out a microphone, you’re creating an incredibly powerful piece of data. Media help document records, provide resources for learning and education, and also pave the way for future eBird and birding tools like Merlin Photo ID. The eBirder of the month will be drawn from eBirders who submit 15 or more eligible checklists in September containing at least one rated photo or sound. Checklists must be for observations during this month; not historical checklists entered during September. Winners will be notified by the 10th of the following month.

In just under two years, the eBird/Macaulay Library partnership has resulted in more than 4.5 million photos and sounds added to eBird checklists and archived in the Macaulay Library. Incredible. This collection has become an unparalleled resource to document bird sightings worldwide, as well as providing an exceedingly valuable dataset for researchers and birders worldwide. As this collection continues to grow, being able to sort out specific photos becomes increasingly important. Learn how to rate images to make your photos as useful as they can be.

One of the most exciting uses of this media collection has been for Merlin Photo ID—automatic identification of bird photos. Merlin Photo ID now works for more than 1,500 species in the Americas and Europe, and will continue to expand in the coming months and years. In the future we plan to also integrate Merlin Photo ID into the eBird/Macaulay upload process, helping provide real-time feedback on your bird sightings as you add images.

The sightings and photos that you have contributed through eBird have made Merlin Photo ID possible. The best part about this is that you can help! By taking part in this month’s eBirder of the Month Challenge, your photos help make it possible for us to deliver the best Merlin, and eBird, that we can. Add your photos and sounds today.

Each month we will feature a new eBird challenge and set of selection criteria. The monthly winners will each receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular. In addition, don’t forget about the 2017 Checklist-a-day Challenge—can you submit 365 eligible checklists this year?

Carl Zeiss Sports Optics is a proven leader in sports optics and is the official optics sponsor for eBird. “Carl Zeiss feels strongly that by partnering with the Cornell Lab we can provide meaningful support for their ability to carry out their research, conservation, and education work around the world,” says Mike Jensen,  President of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, North America. “The Cornell Lab is making a difference for birds, and from the highest levels of our company we’re committed to promoting birding and the Lab’s work, so there’s a great collaboration. eBird is a truly unique and synergistic portal between the Lab and birders, and we welcome the opportunity to support them both.”

Find out more:

eBirder of the Month

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

The 118th Christmas Bird Count will take place from December 14  through January 5. This is perhaps the longest running citizen science project in Vermont. Each count occurs in a designated circle, 15 miles in diameter, and is led by an experienced birder, or designated “compiler”. Read more to learn where Vermont CBCs are located, date of counts and compiler contact information.

The longest running citizen science program in the world, the count originally began on Christmas Day in 1900 when ornithologist and legendary birder and ornithologist Frank Chapman posed an alternative to an earlier traditional holiday “side hunt.” Chapman proposed “hunting” birds to record their numbers. Instead of firing a shotgun, now we have an annual snapshot. Decades of data have added up to results envied by other scientists who don’t enjoy such a fleet of volunteer help, or creatures as easily seen and counted as birds.

While there is a specific methodology to the CBC and you need to count birds within an existing Christmas Bird Count circle, everyone can participate! If you are a beginning birder, you will be able to join a group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher. If your home is within the boundaries of a Christmas Bird Count circle, then you can stay home and report the birds that visit your feeder or join a group of birdwatchers in the field. If you have never been on a CBC before and you want to participate in a count this year, including feeder counting, please contact your count compiler prior to the count.

Would you like to explore the data from seasons past or see a map of count circles? Visit the Christmas Bird Count home page to learn more.

Are you planning on adding your observations to Vermont eBird too? Check out this short article about helpful hints.

VERMONT COUNTS (view map):

Barnet
Jan. 1, 2018
Contact: Charlie Brown – ccbrowne63@gmail.com

Bennington

Contact: Kevin Hemeon – mariekevinhemeon@msn.com

Brattleboro

Contact: Bob Engel – bengel@marlboro.edu

Burlington

Contact:  Shirley Johnson – rjsj489@comcast.net
Compiler: Eric Lazarus – ericlazarus@myfairpoint.net

Champlain Islands/St. Albans

Contact: Terry Marron – tgmarron@comcast.net

East Franklin County

Contact: Eddy Edwards – eddy_edwards@fws.gov

Ferrisburgh

Contact: Mike Winslow – mikekira@myfairpoint.net

Hanover-Norwich
Jan. 1, 2018
Meet in front of Hopkins Center in Hanover, N.H. at 7am
Contact: Daniel Crook – dc178@hotmail.com

Hinesburg-Huntington

Contact: Paul Wieczoreck – mgcpw@gmavt.net

Hunger Mountain (NEW!)

Contact: Zach Cota-Weaver- zcotaweaver@gmail.com

Island Pond

Contact: Jayson Benoit – jayson@northwoodscenter.org

Lamoille County

Contact: Noel Dodge – noel.dodge@gmail.com

Mad River Valley/Northfield
Dec. 15, 2017
Contact: Mad Birders – info@madbirders.org

Middlebury

Contact: Jim Andrews – jandrews@middlebury.edu

Mt. Abraham

Contact: Randy Durand – durand@gmavt.net

Plainfield

Contact: Chip Darmstadt – chip@NorthBranchNatureCenter.org

Plattsburhg, NY (reaches the VT Champlain islands)
Dec.
Contact: Michael Burgess – mburg005@plattsburgh.edu

Randolph Area

Contact: Brian Lowe – vtbirdguy@yahoo.com

Rutland

Contact:Kathleen Guinness – kathleenguinness63@gmail.com

Saxton’s River

Contact: Don Clark – sapsbks@gmail.com

Springfield

Contact: Hugh Putnam – putnams@vermontel.net or 802-886-8430

Winhall/Windham

Contact: Ruth Stewart – birder_rws@outlook.com

Woodstock

Contact: Sally Laughlin – slaughlin@myfairpoint.net

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

This month’s eBirder of the Month challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, encourages precise eBirding. When you go out, try keeping a few lists for your birding. If you get in the car, stop that checklist and start a new one when you get out at the next location. Check several locations to cover more ground, and who knows what you’ll find! The eBirder of the Month will be drawn from eBirders who submit 3 or more eligible checklists in one day in November. Each day with 3 or more eligible checklists is one chance to win. Checklists must be for observations during this month; not historical checklists entered during November. Winners will be notified by the 10th of the following month.

Precise and accurate locations are critical for useful data in eBird. If you’re looking for a specific bird you want to know where the specific sighting was. If you’re looking for a place to go birding, you want to know what birds were in that specific area. When you’re analyzing data for research or conservation, having precise locations allows you to understand habitat use at scales that are meaningful for birds. Luckily, eBird (and especially eBird Mobile) makes it easy to keep good location information while you’re out birding.

The best case for this is the ‘tracks’ tool on eBird Mobile, which is available on Android devices now, and will be out for iOS this month. Stay tuned! This allows you to collect precise information on the path that you walked, which gives an unprecedented level of precision to your eBird checklists. Even if you don’t use eBird Mobile, you can keep high-quality, precise locations! If you bird an area with a lot of hotspots, make sure that you are using the hotspots correctly: limiting sightings to within the bounds of the location, and starting a new checklist when you exit the hotspot. If there isn’t a hotspot that exists to accurately represent a public birding location, you can suggest one as well! Review our article on plotting your location for a refresher on best practices for location plotting in eBird.

Each month we will feature a new eBird challenge and set of selection criteria. The monthly winners will each receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular. In addition, don’t forget about the 2017 Checklist-a-day Challenge—can you submit 365 eligible checklists this year?

Carl Zeiss Sports Optics is a proven leader in sports optics and is the official optics sponsor for eBird. “Carl Zeiss feels strongly that by partnering with the Cornell Lab we can provide meaningful support for their ability to carry out their research, conservation, and education work around the world,” says Mike Jensen,  President of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, North America. “The Cornell Lab is making a difference for birds, and from the highest levels of our company we’re committed to promoting birding and the Lab’s work, so there’s a great collaboration. eBird is a truly unique and synergistic portal between the Lab and birders, and we welcome the opportunity to support them both.”

Find out more:

eBirder of the Month

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

Bird populations are at risk all around the world. As of 2015, BirdLife International assessed that 13% of bird species are threatened with extinction. eBird collects site-specific data on these birds—as well as the other 9500 bird species in the world—and this is a great benefit to birders, researchers, and conservationists around the world. We cannot protect the species we care about without knowing where and when they occur. However, these site-level data can also put certain species at incredible risk. Fine-scale site information can be used by hunters and trappers to target certain species. eBird has a responsibility to protect the specific locations of these species so that the data are not used to exploit these birds. Our new Sensitive Species initiative provides this protection.

For example, the Critically Endangered Helmeted Hornbill is hunted and killed so that its bill can be carved like ivory. Parrots have long been exploited for the pet trade, with a couple species (e.g., Glaucous Macaw) already extinct, or nearly so, as a result of overexploitation. Some falcons are similarly trapped in the wild for the falconry trade, contributing to population declines.

Bird trapping for the cage bird market happens in many areas, and is especially pronounced in parts of Southeast Asia (e.g., Indonesia). Many people in these areas keep pet birds in their houses or compete in singing competitions, leading to devastating declines in many species. Once common species like Straw-headed Bulbul and Great Green Leafbird have declined drastically in recent years, while others like Bali Myna and Black-winged Starling teeter on the edge of extinction.

For more on this massive problem, please see this short (12 minute) documentary and the Silent Forest website. While songbirds are the primary target, a number of other bird families are also included, with groups like owls growing in popularity for the pet trade.

Many eBirders already routinely obscure, hide, or do not report certain species of owls, grouse, and other birds. These eBirders are concerned about disturbance or harassment and have the best interest of the birds in mind, and we applaud their conscientiousness. Unfortunately this also meant the data were not available for science. We know of thousands of individual birds that have been left off of checklists or hidden from research outputs due to sensitivity. By treating these species as Sensitive Species, birders now can report these birds at accurate locations without fear that the birds will be harassed or disturbed in ways that place them at risk.

eBIRD SENSITIVE SPECIES LIST AND CRITERIA

Our Sensitive Species criteria are explained in detail in our Sensitive Species page on eBird. In general, species with very small populations or showing significant population declines are treated as Sensitive Species if there is clear evidence that targeted hunting, trapping, or disturbance places those species at risk. Species declining due to other non-targeted human activities—including threats from habitat destruction, introduced species, or even subsistence hunting—are not included as Sensitive Species since site-specific eBird data does not place these species at risk.

Sensitive Species may be set in eBird at a global level, regional level (e.g., Indonesia only), or at a seasonal level (e.g., only in breeding season). For example, Java Sparrow is treated as Sensitive in its native range but not in areas where it has been Introduced and naturalized, such as Puerto Rico.

eBird’s Sensitive Species list will evolve over time and species may be added or removed as new threats are highlighted or as populations recover. Please see our Sensitive Species List to understand the species that are included and the threats that these birds face.

Protecting these species in eBird does not prevent the locations from being discussed elsewhere on the Internet. We do hope that users who see the “Sensitive” flag will be cautious about their reporting elsewhere, including listservs, Facebook, photo sharing websites, and other public forums. We know for a fact that wildlife poachers use these tools to target species of interest, so please keep this in mind and be very careful about sharing Sensitive Species information.

eBIRD OUTPUT

Below we explain how species on eBird’s Sensitive Species list are treated in eBird output. Broad scale information on Sensitive Species is generally available (e.g., reports at the county level or above), but hotspot or other site-specific output is not.

Checklist view – When viewing a checklist in eBird (e.g., http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32176172), Sensitive Species are not shown in the public view of the checklist and the species total is recalculated to remove Sensitive Species from the total. If you are the observer (this includes anyone with whom the checklist is shared) then you will see the species, with a clearly marked “Sensitive” icon.

 

My eBird lists – All species you report always appear on all your personal lists in My eBird, including Sensitive Species.

Range maps – Range maps summarize Sensitive Species at the 100×100 km and 20×20 km grid cell level. As you zoom in, points for Sensitive Species are not shown. A note at the bottom of the page clarifies whether all sightings are obscured or certain sightings only.

Alerts – Sensitive Species are not included in eBird Alerts.

Region Explorer, Illustrated Checklist, Bar Charts, and Line Graphs – Sensitive Species appear in all outputs at the county, state, region, or country level, but are not included in output for a hotspot or other specific location. Checklist links for Sensitive Species do not appear on Region Explorer and Illustrated Checklist pages and the sightings are clearly marked as Sensitive and may be listed in a special grouping at the bottom of the page.

Hotspot Explorer and other hotspot output (bar charts, line graphs etc.) – Sensitive Species reported from hotspots will not be shown in public output and will be removed from species totals for the hotspot.

Firsts/Lasts/High Counts– Sensitive Species are not shown in these tools.

Media Search and Media Specimen Pages – Images and audio recordings of Sensitive Species will appear in searches at the county level or above. Specific location information and checklist links are removed. Camera metadata cannot be accessed for these images.

Profile Page, Top 100, and Yard/Patch – Your totals accurately reflect your species total for the region (including Sensitive Species). However, if your “most recent addition” is a Sensitive Species eBird instead shows the most recent non-Sensitive addition to your lists.

Targets – Sensitive Species appear on Targets lists (which are restricted to county-level or above).

eBird review – eBird reviewers may still follow up to verify reports of Sensitive Species. Reviewers are required to be discrete about these reports, while the review process ensures that the data can still be useful for science.

Science and Conservation – Data on Sensitive Species are still provided to the scientific and conservation communities working to understand and protect these species. We vet each request to ensure the data are used responsibly.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks to all eBirders for understanding that the safety of the birds is paramount. Please do try to be discrete with reports of species that are marked “Sensitive” in eBird—even posts to Facebook, Twitter, or photo-sharing websites can place these birds at risk.

While these developments are automatically applied to certain species (sometimes just in certain areas or seasons), there may be other scenarios where an eBirder wishes not to report a sighting publicly. Please see our article on Not publicizing observations for more on these options.

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

Distance within eBird should be the unique distance you covered along a trail, road, or water body, whether by foot, bike, car, kayak, or some even more adventurous means of moving across the landscape. If you submit a single checklist for an out-and-back birding event, only report the one-way distance. Shorter distance checklists are strongly preferred, ideally 1 kilometer or less, but do your best to keep it under 8 kilometers (5 miles). eBird Mobile tracks make this easier than ever. 

If you cover the same section of trail out-and-back we encourage you to submit a checklist for the trip in, and another for the trip out. This will provide us with extremely valuable information how detectable different species are under different conditions. However, we understand that many people will not want to submit two lists when walking out and back on the same trail. If you submit a single checklist for an out-and-back birding event, you should only record the distance traveling in one direction, but you should record the total time you spent traveling both out and back on the trail as long as it’s on one checklist. Only record birds on the return trip if you suspect that they are new. Be conservative!

One additional point: we want to collect the complete, accurate track of where you went birding. Please do not stop the track half way through in order to get the one-way distance. It is much better to let the track continue to run to record the full distance (including the doubling back) and then to cut your distance in half.

The most accurate way to report your location is using these new tracking versions of eBird Mobile. If you notice that the track made errors in terms of jumping around off of the route you walked, do your best to reduce the total distance to what you actually covered. If the track is really inaccurate, or if you accidentally hop in the car and drive 20 miles without realizing it, you have the option to delete the track and we recommend you do so in these cases. One of our next developments will be the ability to edit a track to correct for mistakes where you leave the track running for too long—we all have done it!

You can view the track on your device before submission by tapping on the distance and elapsed time on the checklist page, or on the map icon on the Review & Submit page. For the moment, it is not possible to view tracks on your submitted checklists on ebird.org, but rest assured that they’re being stored in the database.

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

The Christmas Count is the largest and longest-running ornithological citizen science project. Its data are a great complement to what we are collecting in Vermont eBird, and indeed the CBC has paved the way for Vermont eBird in many respects. It is not a problem to enter data in Vermont eBird and then submit it for the CBC too, since the two projects are collecting data in similar ways, but at different scales. eBird can be a great way to store your data and compare it from year to year.

Read more at eBird Help:

• Submitting your CBC list to eBird
• Find a Vermont CBC near you

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

The Vermont Bird Records Committee held its annual meeting on 11 November 2017 at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. The 37th annual report of the VBRC covers the evaluation of 46 records involving 28 species and 3 subspecies or ‘identifiable subspecific forms’. Forty records were accepted (87%) with the majority decided unanimously. There were no first state records for any species during this period. The first fully documented subspecies record for Northern Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis abieticola) observed in Springfield, Vermont and two Eastern Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus) at the mouth of Charcoal Creek in Swanton, Vermont were accepted. The first breeding record of Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina) was accepted with a male well documented carrying food and then feeding a fledgling in Hinesburg, Vermont by several observers.

Thayer’s Gull (Larus thayeri) was merged into the same species as Iceland Gull (L. glaucoides) by the American Ornithological Society Committee on Classification and Nomenclature—North and Middle America, decreasing the official Vermont State Bird Checklist to 387 species, representing 22 orders and 62 families of birds, including one extinct species (Passenger Pigeon [Ectopistes migratorius]), two extirpated (Loggerhead Shrike [Lanius ludovicianus] and Henslow’s Sparrow [Ammodramus henslowii]), six hypothetical occurrences, and nine introduced species. With the addition of Hooded Warbler as breeding in 2017, there have now been 203 species found breeding in the state. The checklist can be viewed and downloaded at http://vtecostudies.org/wildlife/wildlife-watching/vbrc/bird-checklists/. Species taxonomy and nomenclature follow the 7th edition of the AOS Checklist of North American Birds and supplements. Nomenclature for subspecies or ‘identifiable subspecific forms’ follows taxonomy of The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World (Version 2017).

The 2017 roster of VBRC voting members included George Clark, Ken Cox, Sue Elliott, Spencer Hardy, Kent McFarland (co-chair), Craig Provost, Chris Rimmer, Ruth Stewart, Allan Strong, John Sutton (co-chair), and Sue Wetmore.

The Vermont Bird Checklist is based on more than a century of documented observations. Reports that will expand this knowledge base are encouraged and appreciated.  Consult the checklist to see species and time periods for which the Committee requests detailed documentation. An online form for documenting rare species, out-of-season encounters, and rare nesting species can be found on the Vermont Bird Records Committee website.

For each record we present basic statistics: count of individuals, age and sex when known, location, when the bird was seen, and who submitted the report. We also indicate whether the evidence provided was a photograph, video, audio, or only a written submission. As always, the Committee strongly encourages written submissions even if other media exist. When available, a link to the record in Vermont eBird is included. All records accepted by VBRC, past and present, are stored in Vermont eBird either by the VBRC, if the observer did not enter it, or via the observer(s) directly entering the record. The VBRC strongly encourages observers to enter all bird observations, rare or common, in Vermont eBird.

You can download the full report at the VBRC web site.

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

By JoAnne Russo

Our 2017 Putney Mountain Hawkwatch season came to an end at 2 pm on November 10^th with the temperature just 40 F and winds gusting to over 35 mph. And what a season it was!

On September 19^th, we recorded 787 raptors, mostly Broad-winged Hawks, bringing our year-to-date total to 10,728. We broke two records that day: first – recording over 10,000 broad-wings and second – recording over 10,000 migrants passing over the mountain in one season. We eventually counted 11,728 Broad-winged Hawks and topped our previous highest count of 9,866 other raptors set in 2012.

Our final tally of 14,823 raptors for the year reflects both the unprecedented Broad-winged Hawk flight and our commitment to counting the entire year. We also count a few non-raptor migrants, like the 12,092 Canada Geese, 980 Blue Jays and 739 Monarch butterflies that passed by the mountain.

Monarch butterfly populations overwintering in Mexico have been in decline for decades. After a banner year in 2012 with 1,715 counted to an all-time low of just 20 the following year and then counts ranging from 100 to 200 each year, 2017 marks an apparent rebound in populations, a trend noted throughout the Northeast in 2017. Whether this is reflected in overall populations arriving and wintering in Mexico this year remains to be seen.

Putney Mountain is Vermont’s only hawkwatch operated every day during fall migration with reports sent daily to Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA). It is entirely run by a dedicated group of volunteers, organized by John Anderson. Sending counts to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science as early as 1974, Putney Mountain’s first hawkwatchers sporadically covered the fall season. In the early 1990s, the site was better organized, coverage improved, and records were sent to HMANA.

During the 2017 season, we covered 72 days, which breaks down to 562 hours and 2,168 watcher hours, averaging about 4 watchers per hour and 8 hours per day. At the close of each season, John tabulates the data and completes an annual report. We’ve noticed trends over the years, for instance, Bald Eagle numbers are increasing while Ospreys have decreased.

The 10-year average and comparison to 2016 totals show a large increase in counts of Broad-winged Hawks this year. Why were the counts so high? Our best guess was the wind! Hurricanes off the east coast in September likely pushed the flight paths to the west, sending the migrants over Putney Mountain. We noticed the numbers of Broad-wings at hawkwatch stations directly to our east were much lower than normal during peak migration, which is around September 10^th to the 23^rd, give or take a few days.

Weather can also be a factor in delaying migration. For instance, warmer than normal temperatures this fall probably resulted in fewer Red-tailed Hawks leaving in big numbers consistent to “normal” fall numbers. October is usually the month for migrating red-tails, but this year we only tallied 199 compared to 395 averaged over the past three years.

We like to think we can predict approximately how many migrants will pass over Putney Mountain on a given day; considering the temperature, wind direction, wind speed and cloud cover. However, each day is unique; some were absolutely thrilling, some unbelievably dull; some were blazing hot, and others icy cold. Our 2017 season is over, now we look forward to the next season and wonder if we’ll have another record year!

Web extra:  Join Outdoor Radio as hosts Sara Zahendra and Kent McFarland hike to Putney Mountain to join the hawkwatchers for a morning of monitoring the flight. 

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

Its finally happening. Red Crossbills are arriving. This year’s bumper cone crop of pine, spruce, larch, and hemlock is perhaps a once in couple-decades event. As a result, crossbills were predicted to flood into the region and birders have been waiting with anticipation.

Red Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) remain an enigma and birders like you can help solve some of the mysteries. Red Crossbills come in many shapes and sizes that appear to match their main food sources. There’s one called the Appalachian Red Crossbill and it has a medium-sized bill. There’s another called the Newfoundland Red Crossbill which has a large beak and mostly feeds on Black Spruce. The Cassia Crossbill (Loxia sinesciurus) was just another one of these red crossbill populations, found only in the South Hills of Idaho, until just this year when there was enough evidence to elevate it as its own species. Many scientists now recognize many ‘types’ of Red Crossbills. Understanding how these different types wander about the continent, or not, is a puzzle that will require an army of observers – birders like you – armed with recording devices and eBird.

Ornithologists have discovered that each Red Crossbill population gives a distinct flight call. The flight calls are the sound typically described as jip-jip-jip and usually heard when the birds are flying overhead, but sometimes even when they are perched. As many as 10 ‘call types’ of Red Crossbill can be found across North America. These call types have been found to correspond to slight differences in size, genetics, and core habitats.

Identifying a call type by ear is a challenge, but with experience, some differences can be learned. But to be sure of the identity of the call type, ornithologists use audiospectrographic analysis. Raven Lite software can be used to do this analysis. The software produces an image of the flight call. Since each type of flight call has a specific shape and frequency, scientists can match them for an identity, or type. In addition to flight calls, Red Crossbills also give other calls and various songs. Excitement calls, known as “toop” calls, can aid in identification to call type too. Songs aren’t much help for typing, at least not yet.

DISCOVERING VERMONT RED CROSSBILL TYPES

There’s been remarkably little work done here in Vermont with Red Crossbills. But this week, I found a rare type. Kyle Jones found Red Crossbills in Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park during the Woodstock Christmas Bird Count. With my recording equipment in hand, I went after them. After a few hours I managed to capture just a few minutes of calls from a small flock in the distance. But it was enough. Within hours of uploading it to my Vermont eBird checklist, one of the experts was in touch. I had found a type 4 Red Crossbill – the Douglas-fir Crossbill. With its core range in the Pacific Northwest, this bird was well out of range. It represents perhaps just the 6th record in the Northeast and one of the farthest east. There are likely a lot more of them to be found. Type 4 have moved eastward this year, and many records have already come in from the Great Lakes. First state records have already been established this year in several states.

Types known from Vermont:

• Type 1 – Appalachian Crossbill. One record in Vermont eBird. (2012)
• Type 2 – Ponderosa Pine Crossbill. One record in Vermont eBird. (2015)
• Type 3 – Western Hemlock Crossbill. One record in Vermont eBird (2017)
• Type 4 — Douglas-fir Crossbill. One record in Vermont eBird (2017)
• Type 10 – Sitka Spruce Crossbill. Four records in Vermont eBird. (2012, 2015, 2017)

HOW TO HELP DOCUMENT RED CROSSBILL TYPES

Anyone with a recording device – from smartphone to professional-grade equipment – can capture recordings to determine the call type. It is always better to download a sound recording app that makes .WAV files, which prevent loss of important audio information. However, even using the “voice memo” feature can get a decent recording that can help to type the crossbill. For example, on an iPhone just open your audio recording app, hit record, hold your phone as steadily as possible with the speaker toward the sound. External microphones can be purchased that improve the recording quality even more; check out recommendations from the Macaulay Library. Even poor recordings can often be typed, so be sure to upload them even if you think they might low-quality.

Matt Young, one of the North America’s experts on this complicated species complex, and Tim Spahr, an expert on typing crossbills, are reviewing all recordings submitted to eBird.

If you record a Red Crossbill, please enter it as “Red Crossbill” in Vermont eBird, upload the recording to your checklist. If identification to Type is confirmed from the recording, you can easily use the new “Change Species” feature to search for the correct crossbill type and revise the identification. If you try to identify the type yourself, do not worry if you misidentify the proper call type; one of the experts will contact you after listening to your recording.

LEARN MORE

• Read an in-depth article by Matt Young and Tim Spahr with information about each call type.
• All About Birds Guide – Red Crossbill
• Explore Audio and Visual files shared to Vermont eBird.

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching

This month closes out Vermont eBird’s 14th year. Your contributions have made Vermont eBird the largest community-driven biodiversity dataset ever amassed in the Green Mountain State. Nearly 2,000 Vermont eBirders have submitted 260,000 complete checklists, representing all 385 species of birds ever reported from Vermont. We’ve added over 26,000 images and almost 1,200 sound recordings to Vermont checklists. This year alone, we gathered more than 38,000 checklists comprising 280 bird species. And we join the more than 360,000 eBirders have submitted 472 million bird sightings, representing 10,364 species across every country in the world. This year alone, you helped gather a total of more than 100 million observations!

We are constantly inspired by the power and passion of this world of interconnected birders, and we are excited as we look to the future of what we can achieve. Don’t forget: these are all your achievements. It is your information that powers the eBird engine. Every time you go out and keep a list of birds, you’re making a real contribution to our understanding of the world’s ever-changing avian biodiversity. Thank you.

2017 was a big year for eBird, delivering novel scientific and conservation applications, innovative new birding tools, and much more. Of course, as always, this was provided 100% free of charge to any who wish to use it. We appreciate and thank all of our Vermont eBird collaborators.

Here’s what made our list of what we will remember from 2017.

Science and Conservation

• eBird Abundance Models covering the entire hemisphere are now available for a selection of species. This new generation of predictive models provides an unparalleled look at the full annual cycle of a species, and is based on your eBird data! Explore eBird Abundance Models, and stay tuned for broader species coverage in the coming months.
• 60 peer-reviewed publications were published this year incorporating eBird data, including research on increasing asynchrony between spring greening of foliage and migrant bird arrival, the importance of Latin American wintering grounds to North American migrants, and how eBird data can be used to dynamically conserve habitat for migratory birds. This brings the total number of peer-reviewed publications using eBird data over 150. See all eBird publications here.
• Exciting new work incorporating birdwatcher expertise into eBird models shows that even if you’re just getting started birding, you can report your sightings with the knowledge that every bird counts! Learn more.
• Sensitive Species protections now allow eBirders to safely report accurate locations for species whose future prospects are threatened by targeted human exploitation. Read more about eBird’s Sensitive Species approach.
• eBird data are a free resource to anyone accessible via the Data Download page. More than 80,000 people have downloaded raw eBird data for analysis, and more than 2,600,000 people visited the eBird website in 2017.

New Birding Tools

• eBird Illustrated Checklists revolutionize the exploration of eBird data. See the best photos and sounds plus time-of-year information for any hotspot or region in the world. Whether planning a trip, working on identification, or just trying to learn more about birds, Illustrated Checklists have what you need. Add your photos and audio and be featured on your local Illustrated Checklist! Search any region here and click on the Illustrated Checklist tab.
• With more than 5 million photos now in the Macaulay Library from your eBird checklists, how can you find the images that you want? Our Community Rating system lets every eBirder help curate the Macaulay collection, helping make it easier for you to find the information that you want, when you want it, and helping bring the best media forward for everyone to see.
• Have you ever dragged a photo into the wrong species by accident? Or realized a couple years after the fact that the small brown bird from your weekend birding trip was actually a different species than you had entered originally? Instead of having to delete and re-enter all the information, Change Species lets you effortlessly swap data around within a checklist.
• eBird Mobile got some serious upgrades in 2017. My eBird integration now puts your lists in your pocket wherever you are, and automated tracking lets you let the phone do the work to calculate distance and duration—all you have to do is watch birds! More than 60% of eBird data are now entered on eBird Mobile.

2017 eBird Growth Around the World

• 472 million bird sightings have been entered into eBird. This includes more than 100 million in 2017 alone; with 13,601,090 coming from just the month of May 2017. The one-month total this May is more observations than were collected in eBird’s first 66 months combined! eBird’s contributions make up more than one-third of the biodiversity data in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). See the eBird GBIF dataset here.
• The third Global Big Day set a new bar for birding’s biggest day. On 13 May 2017, 20,500 birders collectively noted 6,634 species of bird, reporting 54,000 checklists from 160 countries. Mark your calendar for next year’s Global Big Day: 5 May 2018.
• More than 2.5 million photos and 60,000 sounds were uploaded to the Macaulay Library through your eBird checklists in 2017 alone. Explore all photos and sounds here.
• New translations now support 11 languages throughout eBird.org (27 on eBird mobile) as well as more than 50 languages and regional versions of bird common names. See a full list of our eBird Common Names here.

It has been a whirlwind year with some huge steps forward, and we can’t wait to see what we can continue to create together with you in 2018.

Source: eBird VT Birdwatching