2,000 Consecutive eBird Checklist Days

     On Wednesday I submitted another checklist to the eBird database for Island Beach State Park.  This checklist marked the 2,000th consecutive day for which I submitted a checklist.  The first checklist in this streak started back nearly five and one-half years ago on July 28, 2018.  When I reached this milestone, it was no different than any other day that I entered a checklist.  There were no popping balloons and confetti on my screen, like a birthday text message on an iPhone.  There was no congratulatory message from the administrators at eBird or Cornell Lab.  Actually, no one would even know how many consecutive days anyone else has since this statistic only appears on each person’s personal eBird account screen.  If I recall correctly, my friend Larry experienced the same when he reached 10,000 checklists.

Screen shot of my eBird home page.  The stats, other than the Days of Checklist Streak, are for New Jersey checklists only.

Of course, people like Larry and I do not bird and use eBird looking for milestone applause.  We do it because we like to bird and, for me at least, eBird is easier than toting around a notepad and pen. Checklists for eBird mean different things to many of the birders I know.  Some use them regularly with strict adherence to all associated protocols and some could care less at all about submitting a list.  I am one of those somewhere in between the extremes.  I use eBird as my personal birding filing cabinet.  It keeps all my bird sightings in a neatly stored and retrievable database.  It even gives me iCloud storage of bird photos.  Also, my efforts may be of help to scientists and the birding community.  

I can look back at the past 2,000 days of birding and share some interesting statistics because I submitted checklists.  Since late July 2018, I have added 246 new life birds.  The first one was a Florida Scrub-jay on August 27, 2018.  The most recent was the Red-flanked Bluetail this past December.  That same old-world flycatcher was my 82nd new bird for New Jersey during this time.  Over the course of the streak, I added nearly 8,000 photos and roughly 80 audio clips to the Macaulay Library.  Since July 28, 2018, I have submitted over 4,100 checklists.  I birded in 12 different states, four countries, two oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.  

I don’t know how long I will keep this personal streak going, but I will keep submitting data as long as I can find a bird.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Jersey’s First Limpkin. 11/13/2023

Image
     Yesterday, reports were circulating of a limpkin  at a private residence in Manasquan, Monmouth County.  Pictures of the bird appeared on a Facebook page.  The reports were confirmed, and this was the first limpkin for New Jersey.  Pending acceptance by the New Jersey Birds Record Committee, this will be the 497th species recorded in the state. I am not a Facebook subscriber, so I did not hear about the bird until late on Sunday.  Earlier today, an administrator of the NJ Rare Birds GroupMe reported that the bird was still in town and the homeowners were allowing viewers to see the bird.  I saw that report in midafternoon.  I have seen the bird many times in Florida, where it should be.  I always threw that bird name out whenever there was a discussion about what would be among the next possible birds to appear in the Garden State.  So, after some self-contemplating, I decided to give it a try.  I put the address in to my car navigation system and I was less than a half hour away.
Read more

24 Hour Cape May Pelagic, 6/18-6/19- Skua, Jaeger, Beaked Whales, Devil Ray, Hammerhead Sharks and more

Image
     Just a few days after returning from a Bahamas cruise, I headed down to Cape May for a 24-hour pelagic trip aboard the American Star .  We left the dock at nine in the evening to make our way out about 90 miles offshore.  After about an hour I decided to turn in for the rest of the night.  The boat is set up for daytime whale and dolphin watching tours, so there are no real sleeping quarters on board.  I enveloped myself in a sleeping bag on a metal bench on the upper deck.  The bench was only as wide as me, so it was not a comfortable night.  The sea conditions were not bad, but I catnapped through the night ride trying not to roll off the bench.  Around five o’clock, daylight started to break up the night sky and people began emerging from their makeshift beds.  I’m sure those who brought beanbag cushions slept much better than I did.  Either way I survived the night and the day ahead turned out to be well worth the ride.  We saw the expected pelagic birds for this season, plus
Read more

Cruise to Bahamas- Antillean Nighthawk, Red-legged Thrush & Bahama Woodstar

Image
     This past week my wife and I took a cruise from New Jersey to the Bahamas.  Our ports of call were Port Canaveral, FL, Nassau and the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas.  Prior to leaving I made a list of new birds I would like to see on the trip.  The list constituted new life birds that could be seen at those locations at this time of year.  In reality it was more of a wish list as I knew I would never get all 35 birds.  I would have been satisfied with one new bird, but I got three and happy. We left Bayonne on Friday and arrived at central Florida on Sunday afternoon.  Before we left I became aware of a wayward Large-billed Tern that showed up in Brevard County.  Large-billed terns are a South American species and look kind of like our Royal Terns , but (of course) with an exceptionally large bill.  This mega rarity would have been a great score, but I had to take a pass.  It seemed too convenient as Port Canaveral is also located in Brevard County.  Unfortunately, a
Read more