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I have written about eBird on a few occasions on this blog (for example, here and here). EBird is a website, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, that solicits sightings reports from birders across the Americas. Data from the submitted checklists is used by scientists at the CLO for population and distribution studies. The site's public software allows registered users to view their own submitted data, along with data submitted by other birders.
Since late summer, I have been contributing lists of my bird sightings to eBird. In December, one of my lists became the one millionth checklist submitted to eBird.
The one millionth checklist was one I submitted for a recent trip to Liberty State Park. Shortly after the submission, I received a notification from eBird that my name would be featured in a press release and that they would send me a pair of Zeiss binoculars as a gift to commemorate the occasion. The news came as a real surprise. I had no idea that eBird was planning a prize for the one millionth checklist, or that the one million-checklist milestone was even approaching.
The press release is now online.
Here is the millionth checklist.
| Location: | Liberty State Park |
| Observation date: | 12/15/07 |
| Notes: | 30degF; 20mph wind |
| Number of species: | 34 |
| Brant | 400 |
| Canada Goose | 150 |
| Mute Swan | 1 |
| Gadwall | 100 |
| American Wigeon | 3 |
| American Black Duck | 30 |
| Mallard | 6 |
| Ring-necked Duck | 1 |
| Greater Scaup | 170 |
| Bufflehead | 10 |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 3 |
| Ruddy Duck | 60 |
| Horned Grebe | 5 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 8 |
| Great Blue Heron | 1 |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 |
| Killdeer | 3 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 180 |
| Herring Gull | 40 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 3 |
| Rock Pigeon | 100 |
| Mourning Dove | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Horned Lark | 3 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 3 |
| European Starling | 40 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 3 |
| Song Sparrow | 2 |
| Snow Bunting | 60 |
| American Goldfinch | 4 |
| House Sparrow | 20 |
