Collecting birding data for science at eBird.org

As if I needed an excuse to keep track of the birds I see at my feeder . . .

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is collecting data on birds sighted all over the world.  It's a very easy process to submit your data.  Just go to eBird.org and register.  Once registered, input the location, date, time and species seen.  You can submit as many or as few reports as you like.  You don't always have to report from the same location.  If you're walking in the park and you see some interesting birds, you can submit that location as well.

Some of my interesting submissions for today were a great egret and two canada geese from the marsh less than a mile from my house.  I was driving to Panera Bread for lunch and I spotted them in and around the water, so I was, unfortunately, unable to photograph them.  However, I was able to photograph this pair of mourning doves.



Mourning doves

While these may not be the most interesting or rare of birds, they are still important data for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  They are also extremely interesting for my little cat, Bo.  He goes absolutely nuts whenever he spots them.  Yes, birdwatching can be fun for more than just humans.



Buster keeping his eyes on the feeder