What is eBird and why do I need to create a checklist to upload new media?
eBird is a real-time, online checklist program that has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. A checklist is the foundation of eBird records and includes information such as location, time, date, and the number of each species you saw on your outings. These data are critical to better understand bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond. Hence, every time you have media to share, we’d like to also know when and where you saw that bird. In this way, all of your media will also be tied to an eBird checklist, so you can keep better track of your media. Learn all about eBird in our free self-paced eBird Essentials course. In this course, you will learn everything you need to know to get started using eBird.
How do I upload media to the Macaulay Library via eBird?
Uploading media to your eBird checklist is as easy as dragging and dropping your media files. Learn how to add media to your eBird checklist here.
I want to upload a single photo to eBird and the Macaulay Library. Is there a way to do this without creating a complete checklist?
We encourage you to submit a complete checklist to eBird each time you go birding and collect audio, videos, and photos. A complete checklist is any eBird list where birding was your primary purpose, and you report every species you could identify to the best of your ability, by sight and/or sound.
However, we understand that sometimes it’s not possible to make a concerted effort to find and record all the birds at a given site, especially if you are focused on collecting audio, video, or photos. If you didn’t create an eBird checklist in the field, and don’t have the necessary information to create a complete checklist after the fact, you can create a “Historical” checklist to upload your media. Visit the Upload Historic Media page that contains guidelines on how to create a Historical checklist specifically for adding media.
I uploaded videos to IBC. Will I still be able to upload videos to eBird/ML?
Yes, IBC users who uploaded video in the past (prior to October 1, 2019) have permission to upload videos to their eBird checklists. The Macaulay Library website contains video upload guidelines and video recording tips.
As an IBC audio contributor, I’m used to uploading .MP3 sound files to IBC. Why should I record and upload .WAV files to ML?
Whether you’re capturing bird sounds with a smartphone or a more advanced system, the Macaulay Library encourages you to create .WAV files when you’re recording. WAV is the standard audio format used at the Macaulay Library, the Library of Congress, the British Library, Indiana University, and other sound archives dedicated to the long-term preservation of audio. WAV is an uncompressed audio format that provides an accurate copy of wildlife sounds. By recording in the WAV format, you will maximize the usefulness of your recordings for research and conservation both today and in the future. More about .WAV Files
What are the best practices for preparing audio?
Contributions to the Macaulay Library should be an accurate copy of an original field recording. This means doing a minimal amount of editing to sound files. We suggest following these 8 simple steps: 1. Save copies of your original sound files; 2. Create and submit .WAV files; 3. Trim the ends of recording; 4. Boost the volume (normalize); 5. Group recordings of the same bird together; 6. Keep it continuous; 7. Append voice announcements; 8. Avoid filters and cosmetic editing. Learn more about preparing audio including step-by-step tutorials
