The Colorado and Wyoming eBird blog, a new era for eBirders in the region

Welcome to the first post in a new blog that is focused on eBird in Colorado and Wyoming. If you wandered here and found yourself wondering, "What the heck is eBird," then you might want to check it out. The eBird review teams of the two states mean for this to be a way to impart information about all aspects of the eBird review process to the region's eBirders, with its primary purpose of making the review system at least translucent. There will be essays on how eBird filters work, how they are created, and what they mean for your entry of data into eBird. However, there is a strong secondary purpose: to show eBirders how they can get more out of eBird and put more into eBird, through helpful hints on a variety of topics. Such may include essays on ways to make their data more meaningful from a scientific point of view, how to use eBird's output features to increase their knowledge and understanding of both spatial and temporal distribution, and when and how to use non-species entries, among a host of other possibilities.

All of us are quite busy with eBird review and birding, in addition to all of those other things that "normal" people do (going to school, working, sleeping, lazing around putting jigsaw puzzles together), so this will not be a blog that's updated daily. Or even weekly. But, give us a bit of time and a few posts and then we'd be happy to tailor future essays to questions about or problems with eBird that you encounter. Realize, though, that there is an extensive FAQ (that's "frequently asked questions" for you analog dinosaurs like me out there) at eBird that may well be able to answer your question(s).

Tony Leukering

Lead Colorado eBird reviewer and senior author of the Colorado & Wyoming column in North American Birds