Wisconsin eBird Rarities

This group is for photographs of rare birds that have been submitted to Wisconsin eBird (http://ebird.org/wi). See below for a description of Wisconsin eBird.

The purpose of this group is to document observations of birds made outside of that species normal range or normal seasonal occurrence. By including images here, your photographs will be available to the wide audience of Wisconsin eBird and Flickr users.

For inclusion images must meet the following criteria:
1. Observations must be submitted to Wisconsin eBird.
2. Photographs must be labeled with the species name, location, date and photographer's name. We recommend using tags to do this.
3. Additional information on identification is also welcome.
4. Images should be of birds made outside their normal range, outside their normal seasonal timing, or to document exceptional concentrations of a single species.

What is eBird?— Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, 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. A web-based bird checklist program, eBird is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence. For example, in 2006 over 4.3 million bird observations were gathered. The observations of each participant 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.

Launched in 2007 by the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI), Wisconsin eBird is a local portal managed by Wisconsin birders that provides local news and statewide birding reports in addition to all the features of the original eBird. Wisconsin eBird is fully integrated within the eBird database and application infrastructure so that data can be analyzed across political and geographic boundaries. For example, observers entering observations of Cape May Warbler from Wisconsin can view those data separately, or with the entire Cape May Warbler data set gathered by eBird across the western hemisphere.

How does it work?— eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A simple and intuitive web-interface engages tens of thousands of participants to submit their observations or view results via interactive queries into the eBird database. eBird encourages users to participate by providing Internet tools that maintain their personal bird records, and ways to visualize data with interactive maps, graphs, and bar charts. All these features are available in several languages (English, Spanish, and French).

A birder simply enters when, where and how they went birding, and then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. eBird provides alternative methodologies 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.

Data accessibility—While eBird data are stored in a secure facility and archived daily, the data are also accessible to anyone via 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.