eBird has released a new "data out" tool, the eBird Top 100. eBird users can now compare their species list and/or their total checklist submissions with other eBirders.
I'm not much into actively comparing life lists -- they really are measuring who has the opportunity to travel and the luxury to bird exotic places - but this is pretty cool. You can see how your life list (according to eBird) compares across the ABA area, in a particular country, a specific state/province, and so on. You can see how you rank in specific years, or all time.
More meaningful are how many checklists you've recorded. I suspect these indicate how often you collect valuable information that reaches beyond "the game" of birding.
That said, privately I do look. And I'm pleased to see I'm one of the Top 100 eBirders both for checklists entered (41) and species seen (91). I have no doubt I'll be dropping soon, as more and more prolific birders join eBird, as more and more people upload historical checklists, and as those more competitive than me get out and bird more.
My ego may take a hit, but I'll be taking one for the birds, and that's all right.
Check out the functionality on the eBird site.
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My 10 favourite bird books and why
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Birding is arguably the most bookish outdoor hobby. We need field guides,
ornithological papers and books, checklists, “where to finds” and stories
from ot...
17 hours ago
2 comments:
noflickster,
Thanks for posting the information on Top 100 eBirders. It was interesting looking at the results for Ontario. Many names that appear on the listserve are in the top 100, including myself.
I received an e-mail from eBird Canada informing of the recent additions. Looks like I have some work to do.
Bob
Congratulations on your excellent placement! Somehow I came in under eleven AND thirteen for the county. Guess that's because I went through a bit of confusion in the beginning, and inadvertently set up another eBird account with my Feederwatch passwords.
This new tool will give me (and others) incentive to get those lists off the counter and entered into the database.
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