Volunteer Spotlight...

This is the first in a new series of stories from you, our members that volunteer! Our first spotlight is on:

Craig T. Hammer, PE, MPH

Charleston County Historical eBird Data

When the Cornell Lab of Ornithology first released their eBird platform in the Spring of 2002, it took a period of time to gain general usage.

When we return from a bird walk with Keith McCullough or Kristina Wheeler, most of us take it for granted the birding observations encountered during this activity will subsequently be entered into the eBird System. This process was not always followed by the Charleston County Parks Staff. There is a file drawer at Caw Caw’s Admin Office that is filled with Bird Walk Checklists covering such activities logged on paper during the first decade of the 21st Century.

Fast forward to early in 2023; I had just completed the Coastal Master Naturalist course taught by Keith and Kristina in December of 2022. I certainly wanted to keep my accreditation current. But I literally had fractured my foot about 2 weeks after the Course was done, so, I was sidelined for months while my foot was healing, giving me no opportunity to perform any volunteer hours that required the use of my feet. Then Keith and Kristina came up with a unique opportunity for me to serve those hours.

Keith and Kristina had been hoping to get the Checklists data that have been sitting in the file drawer for years, logged into the Historical Data section of eBird. So, I was tasked with getting it done. Keith got me started and I quickly realized there is a learning curve associated with being able to log these entries accurately.

First, the old Checklists on which the bird counts were logged have the various birds listed in a somewhat different order from where they currently appear on eBird. Secondly, my computer is the 14 inches screen sized MacBook Pro. That means I cannot see the whole Checklist on one screen view. I have learned where the various birds are listed, and scroll up and down to where I need to be for logging the counts.

In addition to this, the names of some of the birds have changed somewhat over the years. This means I end up sending emails to Keith or Kristina to find out where particular birds should be logged. Then there are observations that have more than just a number. For instance, with Eagles there are notes on how many adults, juveniles and immatures were observed and if they were on the nest. This requires a drop down to get to the proper listings area.

Of course, there are birds not on the current eBird List and they have to be added, after finding them in the assortment of birds available to log. Then, after a Checklist is entered into eBird, I have to crosscheck the count by the birder with what I have just logged. Periodically, the numbers do not match! That means I start looking for the discrepancy.
Eventually, with time and practice, I have gotten much more adept at getting the data entered into eBird. I have told Keith I will continue, at various paces, until I have logged all of the files. Thus far, I believe I have logged somewhat over 200 Checklists. In doing so, I have learned much more about the various species.

I have observed a definite trend in the drops in the total numbers of birds being observed…not only numbers of birds observed in a specific species at any given time, but also what birds are rarely seen any more.

The bottom line is I can honestly say that doing this somewhat mundane task of digitally logging Historical data is ultimately giving me the satisfaction that I am preserving local birding information in perpetuity.