What is eBird?
eBird is an online application for submitting, archiving and visualizing bird observations. In addition to seeing maps of bird distributions you can also generate frequency bar charts for most of the Caribbean. eBird provides a way for an observer to track their personal observations and keep life lists, country lists, year lists, etc. More than that, however, eBird is a way of sharing these observations with anyone with an interest in birds. The result is that we can learn much more about bird distribution, migration, and important wintering, breeding and stopover sites and use the data for conservation efforts.
A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird has recently expanded to the Caribbean. eBird and it's regional applications provide rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution throughout the Caribbean and the entire Western Hemisphere. If you are looking for local Caribbean bird news, recent bird sightings or would like to enter bird observations, select from one of the regional projects below. If there isn't a regional project for your area, you can enter Caribbean-wide data in any of the regional projects or you can use the main eBird application. On any of the sites below you can learn about eBird, submit your observations, and view and explore data. Check it out!
Puerto Rico eBird is a regional eBird project run by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico/Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society/Sociedad Ornitologica Puertorriquena. If you're looking for Puerto Rican bird news, recent sightings, or would like to enter bird observations for Puerto Rico, click on the link for Puerto Rico eBird.
Hispaniola eBird is an initiative of the Sociedad Ornitológica de la Hispaniola, The Audubon Society of Haiti, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and The National Aviary, in conjunction with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. This is the regional eBird project for the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the birthplace of John James Audubon. The island of Hispaniola has a rich and amazing avifauna with 31 endemic bird species, and we welcome the chance to help learn more about these birds through the inclusion of this island in the eBird database.
The University of the Virgin Islands, St. John Audubon Society, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have partnered to create the US Virgin Islands eBird. We welcome this exciting new expansion into the Caribbean. The new application allows users to enter bird checklists from anywhere inside the US Virgin Islands and its surrounding waters.
eBird’s goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers throughout the Western Hemisphere. It is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence. For example, in 2006, participants reported more than 4.3 million bird observations across North America.
The observations of each participant in the Caribbean join those of others in an international network of eBird users. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond.
Most eBird pages can be viewed in English and Spanish and some are available in French (we are working on this for the Caribbean).
eBird is a tool that can be used by many research, conservation and government organizations in the region. We are very interested in partnering with organizations in the West Indies to further their mission and goals. If you are interested in learning more about regional applications similar to those for Hispaniola, Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands please contact the eBird Project Leaders (Chris Wood & Brian Sullivan). Similarly, if you have an interest in helping us manage data quality and review unusual sightings in the Caribbean outside of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the US Virgin Islands, please contact Chris, Brian, or Jeff Gerbracht.