By Anne G. Miller, President, Alabama Ornithological Society (AOS)
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird database is based on checklists of bird sightings submitted from the field by amateur birders as well as ornithologists. eBird uses these checklists to document where each species of bird is found throughout the year, making eBird an essential tool for making important decisions about conservation priorities. Also, birders use the eBird database to plan their birding trips, and these trips are important sources of income for local economies. So it’s important to make sure eBird has a complete record from every region. But the database for Alabama is quite spotty, due to the small number of checklists submitted compared to other states. I’ve spent the last few days delving into the eBird database to learn more about what is needed here in Alabama.
What I found is both good and bad news. About half of Alabama’s counties have good numbers of eBird reports from around the year. Dedicated AOS birders of North Alabama like Damien Simbeck , Steve McConnell, and Sue Moske have made sure that most of our northern counties are pretty well documented. AOS birders in Jefferson and Shelby Counties and Montgomery and Lee Counties like Scott Duncan, Larry Gardella and Geoff Hill have also been actively reporting observations to eBird. Eric Soehren and John Trent, Biologists with the Alabama Department of Conservation stationed at the Wehle Land Conservation Center in Bullock County, have done an awesome job of reporting in their area and elsewhere around the state. And of course, the highest number of birds, and eBird checklists, come from our two coastal counties, where AOS members Howard Horne, Ben Garmon, and Andrew Haffenden are among the top eBird reporters.
But as I examined the eBird database closely, I realized that nearly half of our counties are seriously under-reported. I based my conclusions on three different factors: the first is of course, the number of bird species reported for each county. The highest species count was for Baldwin County (393), and the lowest was Lamar County (84). The second factor was the total number of eBird checklists submitted from each county. The highest number of checklists was from Mobile County (11,867), and the lowest was from Choctaw County (19). The third factor can be found by selecting an Alabama county in the eBird database, and clicking on the bar chart link.
The bar charts show the county-wide occurrence of each species week by week throughout the year. They make fascinating reading when the species is well reported. For example, in Madison County, a bulge shows the spring arrival of Eastern Wood Peewees, and then there is a drop to a thin line as many of the birds move north, leaving behind a smaller breeding population, followed by a bulge again in the fall as the migrants move south through the county before disappearing entirely in the fourth week of October.
The bar charts are used in many ways to help researchers and ordinary birders locate and study a particular bird species. But they are only useful if eBird receives enough checklists to fill out the entire year. This is where Alabama’s ebird reporting is weakest. Twenty-four Alabama counties have no eBird reports for at least ten weeks and as many as 38 weeks out of the year! It’s not just the remote, out of the way places, either. Take for example, the Cahaba National Wildlife Refuge in Bibb County: from the last week of August until the end of the year, no one has ever reported to eBird except for one week in October.
Below you’ll find a list of Alabama counties and their eBird totals for the three factors just described. It provides a fascinating look at the behavior of birds and birders in our state—for of course the human factor has a heavy influence on eBird data, and counties with the largest human populations have the highest bird counts. eBird checklists from regular and frequent visits to favorite locations can be extremely valuable sources of data. So if travel around the state is not a possibility for you, ‘patch’ birding checklists can contribute valuable information if you can send checklists from a favorite location weekly, monthly, or even quarterly.
However, we also need to explore underserved areas to provide a solid database for the birdlife of our state. Long-time AOS members like Sue Moske, Larry Gardella, John Trent, Ken Wills, Rick and Ron Kittinger, and Don and Judy Self show up on the eBird records of many counties. We need more birders willing to explore these under-reported counties, timing their visits seasonally to fill in the major gaps. Counties most in need of attention are listed in bold. As I suggested in a previous article for the YellowHammer, you can make your eBird reports especially useful if you choose to report from sites on the Alabama Birding Trails system.
As I said before, the news is both good and bad. The good news is that many dedicated Alabama birders are already using their skills to observe and report on the state’s birdlife to eBird. This is important scientific work that is especially urgent at a time when so many bird species are in decline. Each checklist we submit has long-term value for understanding and protecting the birdlife of Alabama.
The bad news is that many, many other excellent birders are just not taking the time and trouble to report to eBird. So if we talk about it, think about it, and do it, maybe someday all of us Alabama birders will get the habit of reporting our sightings to eBird. As President of AOS, I see this campaign to create a solid ebird database for Alabama as a major goal for our organization, on a par with the Breeding Bird Survey. It will take years, and real effort by our members, but it’s important and rewarding work.
But whether or not you are a member of the Alabama Ornithological Society, if you’re interested in birds and birding, I hope you’ll join eBird (ebird.org)and start contributing to the database. eBird is free, and open to everyone. Once you register, every checklist you submit will be used in the general database, but your checklists will also be stored for you so you can access them at any time. You can also explore the database to find out more about where to find birds around the state and around the U.S. and abroad.
I’ll wrap this up with some more good news: there are lots of first sightings still to be reported around the state that should be easy for any competent birder. First sightings, and the birders’ names, become part of the permanent record on the eBird database. Also, each county or hotspot lists the birders with the highest numbers of birds reported from that location. There are plenty of opportunities out there to leave your mark by observing and reporting to eBird in those under-reported counties. Here’s one to think about: no one has ever reported a Swallow-tailed Kite to eBird from Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge, although the birds are known to breed in the area.
eBird Rankings for Alabama Counties
Rank. County, # Species, #Checklists, #Weeks not reported
- Baldwin 393 10,655 0
- Mobile 365 11,867 0
- Lauderdale 289 1,994 0
- Colbert 282 1,814 0
- Morgan 280 2,179 0
- Limestone 276 1,772 0
- Barbour 263 1,012 0
- Montgomery 260 3,725 0
- Madison 254 10,216 0
- Lawrence 248 831 1
- Marshall 247 1,010 0
- Jefferson 240 4,892 0
- Shelby 240 1,922 0
- Lee 230 2,378 0
- Elmore 216 2,106 1
- Jackson 214 845 0
- Covington 208 629 0
- Hale 206 500 3
- Bullock 203 1,983 0
- Macon 193 1,371 0
- Geneva 190 362 1
- Russell 187 142 14
- Winston 184 2,580 0
- Tuscaloosa 181 532 1
- Cahoun 180 984 0
- Perry 180 649 14
- Cherokee 177 165 9
- St. Clair 177 675 2
- Lowndes 176 325 1
- Houston 173 641 0
- Cullman 172 437 3
- Wilcox 171 97 14
- Monroe 164 337 10
- Franklin 161 188 20
- Marengo 161 738 0
- Dale 169 659 0
- Clarke 156 901 6
- Cleburne 155 211 9
- Sumter 155 150 13
- Henry 153 324 14
- Chambers 152 148 8
- DeKalb 152 767 8
- Butler 150 120 9
- Tallapoosa 150 354 7
- Talladega 149 635 17
- Autauga 147 380 0
- Dallas 147 90 10
- Etowah 146 225 6
- Washington 143 263 4
- Escambia 139 128 10
- Coosa 136 239 10
- Bibb 136 192 19
- Walker 133 101 20
- Greene 132 105 12
- Pickens 131 107 18
- Blount 128 445 0
- Coffee 126 207 8
- Clay 117 1,001 29
- Marion 117 124 19
- Pike 116 83 19
- Conecuh 115 46 23
- Randolph 114 193 2
- Chilton 111 119 18
- Fayette 109 26 36
- Choctaw 105 19 38
- Crenshaw 95 27 35
- Lamar 84 27 37
Adapted from the Summer, 2016 issue of the Yellowhammer, the official newsletter of the Alabama Ornithological Society. AOS welcomes you to attend our meetings and become a member. For more information, go to aosbirds.org