Caspian Terns - Photo: Bob Boekelheide

Bird Sightings

Bird Sightings September - October 2020 Final Report and eBird Tutorial

by Bob Boekelheide

With technological advances and the growth of online birding resources, bird sightings columns such as this one have become obsolete anachronisms. Bird sightings are now easily available just a few clicks away for everyone with a computer or cell phone. Consequently this will be my last official bird sightings column for Harlequin Happenings.

Bob Norton and I began writing these bird sightings columns almost 25 years ago, in Feb 1996. We took over the job from Dory Smith, who wrote her "Dungeness Diary" in the Harlequin Happenings for many years. Dory and her husband Stan are also renowned for starting and compiling the Sequim-Dungeness Christmas Bird Count from 1975 to 1994.

When we began, Bob Norton started keeping bird records using "Birdbase", the hottest birding software of the time. I then wrote the articles using Bob's data and my notes. In the 1990s, with less-than-reliable dial-up modems, dot-matrix printouts, and floppy disks, Bob and I often met while birding just to transfer data and ideas. Thanks also goes to Denny Van Horn, who filled in writing bird sightings articles when I was not available. I believe this is the 149th bird sightings article since we started.

By now, OPAS members interested in the latest bird sightings should be using eBird, the phenomenal online birding resource from Cornell University. eBird has revolutionized birding, providing a way for community-science birders to conveniently keep track of bird sightings, both their own and from others. It provides almost instantaneous alerts when someone reports unusual birds, along with a cornucopia of information about birds around the world. Even without the alerts, it is an incredible way to learn more about birds. 

If you haven't used eBird before (or maybe if you already have), go to https://ebird.org/about for a quick summary about how eBird works. eBird also has a free online training called "eBird Essentials," through Cornell's Bird Academy. It has been suggested that OPAS teach a class about eBird, but really there's no need to create a new class because an excellent training is already available online at eBird Essentials. If you need more hand-holding, there is also a "Help" tab at the top of each eBird page that covers Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting.  

Get to know the tabs across the top of the main eBird pages: 1) Submit, 2) Explore, 3) My eBird, 4) Science, 5) About, 6) News, and 7) Help. You use "Submit" to enter your data, "Explore" to look at sightings of specific areas and species, and "My eBird" to look at and edit your own eBird lists, and much more.

One of the best eBird tabs is "Science." Cornell experts have compiled millions of eBird records to produce striking graphics about bird migration and movements in North America. Want to know when Warbling Vireos arrive on the north Olympic Peninsula? Watch the spectacular animation that shows the movements of Warbling Vireos all over North America, created from data submitted by our fellow birders. It is community-science at its best. Wow!

You don't need an eBird account to look at recent bird sightings in our area or anywhere around the world. For example, to look at sightings here in Clallam County, go to eBird, click on "Explore," then in the section called "Explore Regions" enter Clallam. When the Clallam page opens, on the right side click on "More Recent Visits," and you'll see a listing of all the recent checklists that birders have submitted. Click on the dates and you'll see their actual bird lists. You can also look at bar charts that show the annual cycle of different species in the area you are exploring. Or to look up sightings of individual species, under "Explore" click on "Species Maps," then enter the species, the time period and location, and you'll get a map that shows where that species has been seen. Click on the locations and you'll see the bird lists. Phenomenal!  

If you want to find birds at even more specific locations, under the "Explore" tab go to "Explore Regions," enter Clallam, and then click on the map in the upper right corner. You'll next see a map with all the birding "Hotspots" in our area. Hotspots are good birding places like parks and public areas that birders frequently visit, such as Three Crabs or Railroad Bridge Park. Click on each Hotspot and "View Details" to see what birders have seen at that location.      

It is easy to start an eBird account, so please join up and enter your own bird sightings. Just like other online accounts, you must create a user name and password to do this. Your same account also gains access to other Cornell online birding projects, like Project FeederWatch and Great Backyard Bird Count. You can be as private or as open as you wish, so you can hide your lists from public view if you desire, although it is really nice for people to reveal what they see with others. You don't have to show the exact location and address of your house -- when you designate its location on the map, put the mark at a major intersection down the street and give it a creative name like "Heron Hacienda."  It is particularly helpful if you enter comments or photos about the birds on your lists, like if you see interesting behaviors or unusual plumages.      

If you wish to receive alerts about unusual birds, once you have initiated your account click on the "Explore" tab, then click on "Alerts."  At the Alert page you set up the area where you wish to receive alerts, like Clallam or Jefferson County, and how often you wish to receive alerts, like hourly or daily. You will then receive emails from eBird about rare birds seen in your appointed area. It is really quite amazing.

You can also enter your own eBird lists on your cell phone, but you need to first download the free eBird app from the App store to do this. After downloading the eBird app and opening your account, you can conveniently enter eBird data on your phone while you are birding, rather than waiting until you get back to your home computer to enter sightings. 

eBird can sometimes be a little intimidating when you begin using it, but don't be frustrated. It is easy to change or delete things if you make a mistake or change your mind.  After entering your first 10 lists you will start to feel very comfortable. After entering your first 100 lists you will be a pro. 

It's entirely up to you to decide how much you want to use eBird. You can use it to keep records of just the birds you see in your backyard, or you can use it to keep records for the entire world. Please remember that it is not a competition. Some people joke that the "e" in eBird stands for ego, and some aspects of eBird seem to encourage competition, like their "Top 100 eBirders" category. You can choose to not play the game, by opting-out of the listings. I encourage everyone to transcend the competition aspects of eBird and just use it as a very valuable tool to keep track of bird sightings. Remember, it's about the birds, not the people.

One of the biggest concerns with eBird is the accuracy and integrity of bird sightings. What keeps someone from entering the wrong bird, like listing an Elegant Trogan in Port Angeles? In reality it sometimes happens, but rare species get flagged and are checked by experts before becoming part of the public record. Sightings of unusual species require a written description and hopefully a photograph to document the sighting. We frequently get a chuckle around here during the tourist season when oddball birds or unbelievable counts start showing up on eBird lists, but fortunately it doesn't happen too often. Remember, it's about the birds, not the people.

Back to bird sightings. It has been an honor to write the bird sighting articles over the years. The best thing for me has been learning so much about the birds of the north Olympic Peninsula. I'm indebted to everyone who has submitted bird sightings, particularly in the good old days before eBird. Please go birding and enter your sightings using eBird, to add to our collective community-science knowledge about birds. If things work out, I hope to write a much smaller article about individual species in future Harlequin Happenings. Thank you very much -- let's go birding!

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