eBird and Citizen Science: How eBird is tapping into the crowd to revolutionize avian science.
-- Jeff Gerbracht-- •8,676 contributors
• 239,856 checklists
• 3,175,430 observations Overview
• Citizen Science • Introduction to eBird • Pushing data out • Research, Analysis, Conservation OBSERVATION OF NATURE
1982 - 83 1994 - 95 2000 - 01 2005 - 06
Millions of 21.2 54.1 people 70.4 71.1 Percent 12 % 27 % 33% 31% Of Adult Population
* Joint agency surveys of U.S. outdoor recreational habits Citizen Science and Birds
National Audubon Society’s 2,100 Counts >50,000 Participants Started in 1900 Christmas Bird Count
USGS Breeding Bird Survey 4,100 Counts >3,000 Participants Started in 1966
Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas >45,000 Effort Hours > 1,200 Participants [Feb 2010]
San Diego County Bird Atlas >50,000 Effort Hours >3,000 Participants
eBird >1,200,000 observations / month > 70,000 Participants Interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.
Global in 2010 Citizen eBird
Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation
Basic Data Exploration within eBird Seasonal Occurrence of Passerines:
San Bernardino (California)
White-winged Scoter (December – February) White-winged Scoter (March - May) White-winged Scoter (June - July) White-winged Scoter (September - November)
Flagged Records
• Around 15% of all checklists submitted to eBird are flagged by the automated filters.
A bird dog A Catbird Flagged Records
• Around 15% of all checklists submitted to eBird are flagged by the automated filters. • These flagged records are then reviewed by regional experts in bird distribution.
A bird dog A Catbird Growth in eBird Checklists and Observations
1,800,000 eBird 2.0 launch 180000
1,600,000 160000
Observations 1,400,000 140000
1,200,000 120000
1,000,000 100000
800,000 80000
600,000 60000
400,000 40000
Checklists 200,000 20000
0 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 eBird Statistics 2009
More than…
13.9 million observations submitted
302,000 unique visitors to eBird
14.1 million page views
10:47 average time on site
260 eBird editors Building Community
Way cool
Science BUT….,
What have we learned so far with eBird data??? STEM Modeling; Fink et al. Avian Spatial Analysis; T. Fox et al. DuckseBird /BBSUnlimited Modeling; – Latin Munson America et al. ShorebirdSTEM Modeling; Surveys; Fink Save et al.our eBird Participant Modeling; Wong et al. Shorebirds, Mendocino Co., CA MaxentLandscopemodeling; AmericaD. Jongsomjit, PRBO Species occurrence in N. Pacific Site-based bird conservation; K. Cauldwell Ranforest BCR; Canadian Wildlife YellowSnail-billed Kite Magpieresearch; Survey; K. Pias Audubon Bird OccurrenceService Analysis; Rogue Valley Upper Basin BirdCalifornia Monitoring; N. C. WA Council of Governments Avian habitat useAudubon analysis; Gailbraith et al., Kittlitz’s MurreletUSFWS,research; AK H. Carter
National Landcover eBird Data Data (NLCD) Traveling Count – 2001 Lat - Lon – 16 Classes Year (2004 – 2008) – 1.5 km pixel Julian Date (1-365) – Spatial Composition (% coverage) Observation Effort – Spatial Configuration (Fragstats) Observation Time Number of Observers o Elevation o Climate Presence/absence (30 yr average) <= 8 km long Housing Density <= 3 hours o ~150,000 observations ~30,000 locations Indigo Bunting | Full Year Indigo Bunting Spring Migration
April 7 April 15
April 26 May 14 Indigo Bunting | Breeding
Detroit Chicago
St. Louis
Atlanta Indigo Bunting Western Wood-Peewee
Spring Arrival Dates
Indigo Bunting Western Wood-Peewee
Fall Departure Dates Blackpoll Warbler Chimney Swift Eastern Wood-Peewee
Palm Warbler Northern Rough-winged Swallow Ruby-throated Hummingbird eBird — Increase in Standardized Observations
100%
90%
80% Standardized Observations 70%
60%
50%
40%
30% Casual Observations 20%
10%
0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 eBird | Site Survey eBird | County Birding
Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation