After a couple of tough challenges in June and July, we return to a slightly simpler challenge for August — in fact the same target that started this monthly series, in April.
The target for August is to upload at least 20 lists to eBird during the month. As in previous months, each list should be an effort-based, complete list
of at least 15 min duration.
Here is a reminder of some of the recommendations for listing:
- Several short lists are better than one long list. For example, if out birding for an hour, it’s best to break this into four 15-min lists. This gives a better idea of the relative chance of seeing a species at that location and date: is it 1/4 or 4/4? One wouldn’t know if a single long list were uploaded. If you find it painful to upload many short lists, please do consider using the free smartphone app, which simplifies the task considerably. There are also a few tricks that one can use to make it quicker to enter lists through a regular web browser. If you still don’t like short lists, no problem! They are just a recommendation, not a requirement.
- Please aim for ‘complete’ lists. That is, don’t leave out any species you have seen, regardless of how common or ‘uninteresting’ they are. If you are listing all species, you should say Yes to the question “Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you were able to identify?”, just above clicking the Submit button. Complete lists allow the calculation of the relative chance of seeing different species. But if crows and mynas (for example) were routinely left off such lists, then we couldn’t make this calculation for them.
- Documenting the effort you spend birding is very important. You are likely to see more species if you spend 2 hrs birding than if you spent 30 min; or if you walked 2 km than if you remained at one spot. That’s why eBird asks for these details.
You can watch for (or listen for) birds virtually anywhere and at any time, so 20 lists in August should be easy! We look forward to congratulating many eBirders for having reached the target.
Please upload all your August lists by 5 September so that we can announce the results on 6 September. All birders who reach this target will be named and recognized on this website. One of these names will be chosen at random to receive a small birding-related gift in appreciation.
Here are the general rules of our monthly challenges. You can keep track of fresh lists coming in from India at this page.
Important. if you are new to eBird, please read this description first, and do take a look at the Beginner’s Guide.
Header Image: Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica by Ashwini Bhatt/ Macaulay Library
