How eBirders can be part of BirdLife Australia's national monitoring efforts
BirdLife Australia and eBird Australia
BirdLife Australia is excited to be working alongside eBird Australia to better understand and protect Australian birds.
In 2024, our two organisations launched a collaboration to expand the reach of BirdLife Australia’s national bird monitoring program. As part of this collaboration, we have created a BirdLife Australia project in eBird to allow eBirders to record surveys using BirdLife Australia’s most important standardised survey type, the 2ha 20minute survey. BirdLife Australia’s 2ha 20minute survey method gained currency during the 1990’s “New Atlas” project and has become the “go to” method for scientifically repeatable bird surveys around the country.
Who should use this project?
Birders who wish to use eBird as their data collection platform, but:
- are familiar with the 2 hectare, 20 minute survey method, and
- want to make their data more accessible for use in BirdLife Australia’s scientific research and conservation management activities.*
* Please note that BirdLife Australia is restricted in how it can share eBird data with third parties (see Note on the limitations of eBird data within Birdata below).
How is eBird data used by BirdLife Australia?
Surveys submitted to the BirdLife Australia 2ha 20-minute Surveys Project in eBird are vital to our internal scientific work.
Standardised survey methods give significantly more power to statistical analysis of monitoring data. Because Australia’s great diversity of bird species is spread so widely across our vast continent, BirdLife Australia’s scientists need the extra power of standardised survey data to help bridge gaps in our human monitoring efforts. They particularly rely on standardised surveys to build species distribution models and to estimate trends in our bird populations over time. These kinds of analyses are critical to conservation assessments such as threatened species listings and to prioritising conservation management actions.
For this reason, every checklist submitted using one of BirdLife Australia’s standardised survey types punches above its weight in contributing to scientific and conservation outcomes for our birds.
Note on the limitations of eBird data within Birdata
Users should note that eBird surveys submitted via the BirdLife Australia Monitoring Project are used only in BirdLife Australia’s internal scientific and conservation work. As BirdLife Australia is not the custodian of eBird data, we do not share these records onwards as part of our data sharing agreements with third parties, including governments, external researchers, scientists and conservation organisations, and organisations seeking data to inform environmental impact assessments for proposed developments. For this reason, if your overarching concern is to maximise the impact of your observations within Australia’s conservation landscape, we encourage you to submit your surveys directly to BirdLife Australia via our Birdata platform, as this data can be shared with our third-party data sharing partners.
How to enter a 2 ha, 20 minute survey in eBird
1. Refresh your knowledge (if needed):
If you’re unfamiliar or need a refresher on the 2ha, 20 minute survey method, check out these resources:
2. Join the BirdLife Australia project in eBird
Visit the following link:
- On the Overview page, click Learn how to Join Project.
- Under Project Access click Join Project.
3. Conduct your survey in the app:
- Open the app and tap Choose Projects on the home screen.
- Select BirdLife Australia 2ha 20 min survey.
- Tap Start Checklist to begin.
- Follow the 2ha 20minute survey method.
- When finished, tap 'Stop'.
4. Enter survey details
- Tap the map to confirm your location—ideally central to your 2ha area.
- Enter 2 (hectares) for area and ensure that duration is exactly 20 minutes.
- Select Yes to "Is this a complete checklist?"
- Add the number of observers and any notes.
- Tap Submit.
To learn more about eBird projects, visit eBird’s help centre or contact eBird here.
Birdata x eBird FAQs
How quickly will my eBird surveys in the BirdLife Australia 2ha 20minute Surveys Project be transferred to BirdLife Australia?
Will eBird surveys submitted using the BirdLife Australia Monitoring Project appear in the Birdata Explore platform?
Due to eBird’s data privacy restrictions, BirdLife Australia will not receive eBird user’s personal details to reproduce and store in Birdata. For this reason, the Observer name will not appear on an eBird survey visible in Birdata’s ‘Explore’ feature, and the person submitting the checklist will not be able to see their data under the ‘My Data’ feature in Birdata.
Does other eBird data get used by BirdLife Australia?
Whilst eBird collects data in a different way to Birdata, often eBird data can complement and bolster Birdata data. For example, in the 2020 Action Plan for Australian Birds, in cases where Birdata standardised survey data were limited for particular taxa, eBird sightings were included to support estimates of abundance. Internally, BirdLife Australia predominantly uses its standardised survey data to conduct analyses as these data are more directly comparable. For this reason, BirdLife Australia only imports eBird checklists that use the 2 ha 20 min survey protocol, thereby ensuring the data remain comparable and consistent with the most valuable Birdata data.
Are Birdata usernames and surveys public like eBird?
Whilst eBird shares the names of eBirders (unless you adopt an ‘Anonymous eBirder’ private username), Birdata usernames are kept private. The general public can use Birdata’s online ‘Explore’ feature to visualise the national database of surveys and sightings, however, username and survey point names remain private to respect the privacy of individuals and/or groups who have submitted data.
BirdLife Australia regularly provides licensed data extracts of Birdata records to scientists, teachers, governments, conservation organisations, industry, consultants, and volunteers to be used in research, planning, advocacy, education and conservation work across Australia. These requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis to ensure quality use of data and protection of sensitive species. Sensitive data such as sightings of critically threatened species are hidden or obfuscated in Birdata’s open-access platform to ensure these data are not used for conservation-adverse purposes.
Can I submit my survey both in eBird and Birdata?
Although you can technically submit your survey in both eBird and Birdata, it is not encouraged as this will create duplicate surveys. Whilst analysts can filter out duplicates in some cases, choosing only one platform to submit data minimises this time-consuming work. Instead, we recommend considering which platform better suits the type of survey you are submitting. For example, you might consider always entering 2 ha 20 minute surveys (especially those that you repeat at the same survey site) into Birdata, but log incidental, opportunistic sightings into eBird.
Can I do my 500m Area Search in eBird?
While it was previously possible to enter your 500m Area Search in the eBird platform, due to differences between how the eBird and Birdata platforms record information for Area based survey protocols, we no longer offer this option in eBird. Whilst you can conduct an eBird survey within the parameters of a 500m area search, it won’t directly get flagged as a 500m area search, nor will it be imported by Birdata in this specific collaboration. If you want to use the 500m area search and have it treated as such, we recommend directly entering it into Birdata.
* Please note all previous 500m Area searches submitted to the eBird platform are still flagged as such and will continue to be used for BirdLife Australia’s internal analysis.
How do eBird Hotspots differ to Birdata Shared Sites?
In Birdata, you can place your survey point anywhere on the map. We only direct where people should survey for birds when asking them to assist with long-term monitoring at designated sites, our Shared Sites (see below). Survey point location (latitude and longitude) accuracy is important to Birdata’s data integrity. Where possible, we encourage Birdata users to record their surveys at points that accurately represent the area surveyed (e.g. a central point, or an established access trail entry point).
Birdata also has a Shared Site system which might look similar to eBird Hotspots but differ in many ways. Shared Sites have been predefined by scientists and conservation managers for repeat monitoring and have designated survey protocols. With comparable surveys over time, this enables monitoring of bird populations, providing the most accurate picture of trends in bird distribution and abundance. Most Shared Sites are open to the public, and you can place your survey point within the purple Shared Site polygon (shape) and use the same designated survey protocol to contribute. If you do see a purple polygon where you are surveying, you can click on it to see the Shared Site name and survey protocol, e.g. KBA-Scenic Rim-500mRadius-11. If you want to find more information about a specific Shared Site, you can search for it on the Shared Sites webpage.
An eBird Hotspot is a quick and convenient way for eBirders to pin multiple checklists (regardless of survey protocol) to a location that’s visible to other eBirders. The eBird team then ‘aggregate’ survey and sightings data at the Hotspot level when they present summary information on the eBird website (number of species seen, number of checklists submitted, recent sightings, top eBirders, etc). This enables eBirders to share knowledge of who has seen what, where, and when.
eBird and Birdata have been designed to meet different user needs. Simplifying greatly, you could say that Birdata was established with the needs of Australia’s bird research scientists and conservation managers in mind, whereas eBird has evolved to meet the needs of general birders.
How are Sensitive Species protected in Birdata versus eBird?
Bird sightings in Birdata are governed by BirdLife Australia’s Species List. Species on this list are in accordance to state/territory/federal threatened species lists and the following criteria:
- Sensitivity to harm,
- Exposure to harm, and
- Utility of data handling in reducing exposure.
Sightings of sensitive birds are either partially or fully restricted from public display depending on their level of sensitivity. These species include those at high risk from disturbance, poaching, or hunting. While this data is protected from public view to ensure that risks to individual birds are minimised, this data is shared with our verified data sharing partners to ensure that it is factored into research, planning and conservation.
There are currently two species that are not visible to the public including Paradise Parrots and Night Parrots. There are also several BirdLife Australia Programs that remain private from the public including Birds on Farms, Colonial Nesting Birds, Nest Box/Hollow Monitoring, Orange-bellied Parrot, Red Goshawk, Regent Honeyeater, and South-eastern Glossy Black-Cockatoo. Currently, there are 59 Australian Bird species with their locations desensitised and 145 breeding species sightings not visible or desensitised to the public.
Data submitted to eBird is open-source and freely downloadable for non-commercial research, education, and conservation purposes. eBird also maintains a sensitive species list where there are currently four species within the Australian region listed. This includes the Night Parrot, Orange-bellied Parrot, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Coxen’s), and the Regent Honeyeater. These sensitive sightings are shown only at the grid-cell level of 400km2 accuracy in the eBird species maps and are hidden from checklist views (except to the original observer), Hotspot Explore, and other eBird listings and outputs. See Sensitive Species in eBird : Help Center.