Birding a Local Patch

Patch Birding Challenge 14

 in Projects
A Patch Made in Heaven

A Patch Made in Heaven
Dominic Couzens

Following on from the series of articles from Bird Count India about Patch Birding, we are pleased to announce details of the exciting Bird Count India Patch Birding Challenge. Simply register to take part below and write a patch report, based on the ideas discussed in the previous article, that covers the complete winter season: start as soon as possible, and end at the end of April 2017.

Reports can be produced individually, or as a team effort. If multiple people visit the same patch (whether known to you or not) you should include collated observations from all of them into an overall summary. If you know that you are not going to be able to visit your patch personally for a period of time, we recommend asking someone else to visit to ensure you have good coverage.

Submit your report (in any format) to Bird Count India by 1 Jun 2017 and the best three reports will win the following prizes:

Reports will be judged on a combination of factors, including patch-birding effort, quality of presentation and interesting analyses. We will be looking for reports that demonstrate thorough coverage of your patch; however, the actual number of species recorded is irrelevant, and the number of checklists or hours spent watching is of secondary importance.

Register to take part below. Registrations received so far are listed on the next page. Do use the Facebook group to discuss and share your patch birding with others.

    Patch Birding Challenge Registration Form

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* eBird location id can be found from the Hotspot Explorer (search for the location by name, then click View Details, and note the last part of the URL, e.g. http://ebird.org/ebird/india/hotspot/L1234567) or via Manage My Locations (search for the location by name, then click Edit, and note the last part of the URL, e.g. http://ebird.org/ebird/india/MyEBird?cmd=EditLoc&locID=L1234567)

To be eligible for publication in Indian Birds, you will have to continue your report to the end of 2017 so that it covers an entire calendar year. (Reports may require specific editing to fit the constraints of a printed magazine, and the final publication decision will rest with the Indian Birds editors.)

When patch birding, don't forget to look up!Greater/Sykes's Short-toed Lark © Mike Prince

When patch birding, don’t forget to look up!
Greater/Sykes’s Short-toed Lark © Mike Prince

We hope you have enjoyed the patch birding series and are encouraged to try it yourself, and enter our challenge: let us know how you get on in the comments, or in our Facebook discussion group.

Leave a Comment

14 thoughts on “Patch Birding Challenge”

  • Reply ↓
    Lakshmikant Rajaram Neve

    I already used Patch Tool of eBird.& satisfactorily maintained it.Last time you said Patch Tool have no access for eBird.Is information of this tool is not sufficient /elgible for the contests.

  • Reply ↓
    Wes Rajaleelan

    Dear Suhel
    How does one find the e-bird ID for a specific location ?
    My usual location says 11.502×76.499 !
    Please help !

    • Reply ↓
      Bird Count India

      Hi Wesley — if you go to Manage My Locations, find your location, and click on Edit, the location ID is part of the URL.

      By the way, once you’ve clicked on Edit, please rename the location to something human-understandable — thanks much!

  • Reply ↓
    Lakshmikant Rajaram Neve

    I will made the Report for Whole PATCH … BHUSAWAL THERMAL POWER STATION. I distributed this Patch into nos of small patch for Specific observations & each small patch having different eBird ID,..as per My locations option.I want to consider the Whole Patch while preparing report…Now How I locate eBird Location ID for my Whole Patch insted of small patches.Can I ref any one location ID for Whole main Patch.

    • Reply ↓
      Bird Count India

      Certainly Sir, the idea to ask for eBird location ID was just to get an idea of which kinds of areas are being patch-monitored. When you have multiple locations being part of your patch, you could give any one location ID, or all location IDs. For the summary report of course you would want to include information from all locations within your patch.

    • Reply ↓
      Bird Count India

      Hi Sheethal, if your location is already a hostpot, you will be able to find it using the hotspot explorer. The location ID is part of the URL for that hotspot.

      If it is not a hotspot, you can go to Manage My Locations, find your location, and click on Edit, the location ID is part of the URL.

      Could you let us know if this works for you?

    • Reply ↓
      Bird Count India

      Sir, in eBird nomenclature this is called Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Are you using the web interface (ie not phone)? If so, please first search for the species as usual. If you can’t find it, please click on “show rarities” and search again. If it is still not visible, you can go to “Add species” to add it from the global list of species.