The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and eBird have been hard at work making improvements to the online bird checklist site, eBird. Their latest eBird update on November 3rd brings the ability to attach photos and audio clips to bird checklists. Prior to this, photos had to be hosted on Flickr and just linked to in the check list. This rich media becomes a part of the Macaulay Library, which acts an a permanent archive for eBird data.
Another new feature is a rarity photo feed. This is simply a photostream of rare birds on the homepage that is updated automatically and no longer relies on Flickr.
The final announcement is an upcoming update: an enhancement to Merlin, the bird ID app. Soon you’ll be able to upload and annotate your own bird photos to Merlin, teaching it to better ID birds using your own photos. This will allow anyone around the world to make Merlin smarter more accurate.
Read detailed information about the eBird updates on eBird’s website.
