eBird is the Word

As sort of a new year's resolution, I've been trying to make more time for birdwatching.  Part of it is for relaxation and mindfulness, as well as a general appreciation for being outdoors.  Besides that, there's a lot of fun to it - sort of like how people enjoy playing Pokemon Go, only this time for real.  There's the sense of adventure in knowing that you never know what you're going to find, and how no two days will be the exact same.  There's the challenge of spotting birds, figuring out what they are, and understanding what it is they're doing and why.

I'm a bit of a latecomer to the game, but there are two tools that I've recently added to my equipment alongside my binoculars and field guide to help myself become a better birder.  The first is the Merlin app, created by the Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology.  Merlin records and identifies bird vocalizations, then, based on where you are, generates a list of the birds that you are hearing.  The names of the individual species light up as they are singing, and puts an identifying mark alongside the names of uncommon birds.  You can save these recordings too for future study.  

I have absolutely no ear for bird songs and, to this day, still can't remember what song goes to what bird, let alone describe a song for someone else, though I acknowledge that others are not so auditorily-stricken as myself.  I mostly use it for generating a list of what birds are within earshot of me, which can provide me with a list of possible candidates for unidentified birds that I've seen.  There is also a photo ID feature, where uploaded photos can be identified by AI.

The second tool is eBird, also by Cornell's Lab of O.  eBird is a website in which you can create an online account and essentially journal the birds you've seen.  You record what and how many birds you've seen in space and time, using detailed maps.  This data can then be used to help identify where and when birds are in certain places, which can be of service to both scientists and casual birders.  For example, if you are going to, say, California and you really want to see California condors in the wild, you can use eBird to determine where the best places are to look for condors, and when they were most likely seen there.  It can help track trends in the presence (or absence) of birds.  Changes in range, caused by climate change, habitat loss, or the introduction of species, can also be reflected here.  

I had a teacher in high school who first got me into birdwatching; he liked to say that as soon as someone come up with a new hobby, someone will be sure to find a way to make it more expensive and complicated.  Both of these programs are free to use.  Adding them to your birdwatching routine can make the task a bit more complicated, to be sure - and time-consuming, depending on how much time you spend logging the data.  I would argue, though, that using these tools can help provide more context and a better understanding of what you are experiencing when birdwatching.  It can also potentially provide data which has the ability to enhance our ability to study and protect the birds that we watch and admire.