This month’s eBirder of the Month challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, is all about capturing birding memories through photos and audio recordings. Each photo or audio recording you upload is an incredibly powerful piece of data. Media help to document records, provide resources for learning and education, and also pave the way for future birding tools. The eBirder of the month will be drawn from eBirders who upload 50 or more rated photos or audio recordings to eligible checklists in December.
There are more than 44 million photos and sounds currently archived in the Macaulay Library. This collection has become an unparalleled learning resource and an exceedingly valuable dataset for researchers and birders worldwide.
One of the most exciting uses of this media collection has been for Merlin Bird ID— automatic identification of bird photos and sounds. The media that you contributed through eBird have made it possible for Merlin to identify over 8000 of the world’s bird species, with more species coming soon.
By taking part in this month’s eBirder of the Month Challenge, you help to make Merlin, and eBird, even better. Add your photos and sounds and learn how to rate them to make your media uploads as useful as they can be.
Checklists and media must be for observations during this month; not historical checklists entered during December. The winner will receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular and will be notified by the 10th of the following month. Each month we will feature a new eBird challenge and set of selection criteria. And don’t forget to submit lists for the 2022 Checklist-a-day Challenge!
Carl Zeiss Sports Optics is a proven leader in sports optics and is the official optics sponsor for eBird. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and support the vital scientific data being collected by dedicated eBirders.” – Richard Moncrief, Birding and Nature Observation Segment Manager at Carl Zeiss SBE