Birding/Birdwatching Discussion Topic

[mollymjacobson]

eBird is, imo, really the best way to go for bird data. That is where the majority of birders post their data, therefore it’s much more complete, and it’s heavily quality-controlled. In general I find birds posted to iNat are duplicates or backups of what’s on eBird, and the ways you can visualize data on eBird are near limitless and far beyond iNat’s capabilities, especially when you see how they’ve used it for migration science and population trends. As a birder I rely 100% on eBird for scoping out birds in my area, checking migration timing, keeping track of my life/state/yard lists, and IDs (through AllAboutBirds, Merlin). As it looks like someone else linked already, they have eBird Essentials short courses to help you navigate the interface. I use the app to keep checklists when birding, it allows you to enter numbers tally style very quickly, plus it records your path, trip duration, location, etc. But you can always keep a paper list and enter it manually on the website as well, though it may be harder to keep track of how many miles you walked that way.