As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 16 March 2018

Citizen science birding data passes scientific muster



Amateur birders' reports track trends in government bird surveys, could fill data gaps in developing nations

Date:  March 12, 2018
Source:  University of Utah

As long as there have been birdwatchers, there have been lists. Birders keep detailed records of the species they've seen and compare these lists with each other as evidence of their accomplishments. Now those lists, submitted and aggregated to birding site eBird, can help scientists track bird populations and identify conservation issues before it's too late.

Joshua Horns is an eBird user himself and a doctoral candidate in biology at the University of Utah. In a paper published today in Biological Conservation, Horns and colleagues report that eBird observations match trends in bird species populations measured by U.S. government surveys to within 0.4 percent.



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