August is an interesting time of the year for birds and birdwatchers. Migrants are on the move and are so are the birders! This year a long-distance trip to watch specific migrant species may not be possible, but it still gives us immense joy and excitement to spot the ‘first’ of the migrants in our nearby birding sites.
Some of our resident species are still breeding. From weavers and munias building their nests to the newly-hatched chicks or fledgelings incessantly calling in their high pitched squeaky voice, the evidence is there to see. Such fascinating behaviours are worth documenting.
This month’s challenge is about both birding efforts as well as media uploads. Not only do media help make checklists more illustrative and pretty, but they also add great value to the documentation and overall repository of images and audio.
The challenge for August is to upload 30 or more lists and 10 out of 30 lists should have at least 1 media. Each list should be complete, of at least 15 mins duration, and with no ‘X’s
Guidelines for this challenge:
- All checklists must be for observations made during this month
- The media must belong to the same date, time, and location of the checklist.
- Media must be directly uploaded to eBird, not embedded from third-party sites (like Flickr). See here to know more about uploading media.
- The media uploaded should be of sufficient quality so that the species in question is identifiable.
- Do rate your (and others’) images as well. Here’s the eBird guide to rating uploaded media.
- Please upload all your lists by 10 September 2020 so that we can announce the results soon after that.
Important note: While observing/documenting breeding birds please follow these practices: maintain a suitable distance; don’t use playback; don’t trample habitats where birds are likely to nest. If you fear that others may notice your observations and disturb the birds you have seen nesting, you can delay adding your comments or photographs for a few weeks. Please follow the basic principles of birding ethics, including in photography.
If you do not have a good camera or audio recording equipment, don’t feel discouraged! Even a point-and-shoot camera can take decent record shots and you can get very good results even by taking images with your phone through a scope or pair of binoculars. Phones are also fairly good at recording audio. So do give it a try! See this short video here about how to edit and upload sound recordings to your eBird checklist.
Check out the yearlong challenges for 2020 as well! You can keep track of fresh lists coming in from India on this page.
Note: With ongoing pandemic restrictions in mind, please ensure that you adhere to all instructions by central and local authorities while birding.
