June 2015 eBirding Challenge

We are very curious to see who has been able to meet the rather tough challenge for May, which was to upload at least 6 complete birdlists per week in that month. While we wait (until 5 June) for everyone to complete uploading their May lists, let’s forge ahead with  the challenge for June.

In June, we are focussing on consistency in birding at the same location. The target for June is to upload at least 20 complete lists from the same location during the month. As in earlier challenges, each list should be an effort-based, complete list, of at least 15 min in duration.

The main reason to look regularly for birds at a single location is that by repeatedly recording the birds in a familiar area, we better understand how regularly or irregularly particular species are seen at the same location, and how their occurrence and numbers change over the seasons. We also get into the habit of being on a constant lookout for birds and so  tend to notice much more of what is around us. Finally, given the current heatwave in many parts of the country, we would like all eBirders to have a chance to meet the month’s target without having necessarily to travel to different sites to look for birds.

If you are able to explore several birding spots during the month, please do! But at the same time, do try and do a regular 15-min list through the month at your home, office, campus, or any location you can easily visit.

While birding, please do remember to help document the locations and timing of breeding of birds by adding a suitable ‘breeding code’ whenever you see any signs of breeding: from ‘Singing male’ (indicating possible breeding) to ‘Nest with young’ (indicating confirmed breeding). More information on these codes is available at this help page; and you can enter the appropriate code next to each species in your eBird list by clicking on ‘Add details’ and then ‘Breeding code’ as in the screenshot below.

Please upload all your lists by 5 July so that we can announce the results on 6 July. All birders who reach the 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: Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon Columba elphinstonii ©Tomáš Grim/ Macaulay Library/ IBC