How birdwatchers help science: eBird, iNaturalist and your first list
Your sightings can become real science. How eBird and iNaturalist work, what makes a useful record and how to start contributing as a beginner.
Choose your practice guideExplore birds by regionBirdwatchers are a huge sensor network
Millions of people notice birds every day. When those sightings are collected in one place, scientists and conservation groups can follow migration, see where species are increasing or declining and spot changes that no single observer could see.
eBird in a nutshell
eBird, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a free tool for bird lists. You record where you watched, when, for how long and which species you identified. Complete checklists, where you list every bird you can identify, are especially valuable because they show what was absent as well as present.
iNaturalist in a nutshell
On iNaturalist you share a photo or sound of any organism, and a community suggests or confirms what it is. When enough people agree, the observation becomes research grade. Many observers share photos with open licences. Lore uses such photos, with credit to the photographer.
What makes a record useful
The basics are the date, the place, the number of birds and how you identified them. A photo or recording is a strong extra. Be honest about uncertainty: a record marked as unsure is more useful than a confident but wrong one.
Beginners are welcome
You do not need to be an expert. Start with the birds you know, log them, and learn from the feedback. Mistakes get corrected by the community, and every record is a small lesson.
More ways to help
National bird organisations run counts, atlases and surveys that welcome volunteers, from garden counts to breeding-bird surveys. Look for the organisation in your own country and see what you can join.
Practise first, then log
Lore helps you build the identification skills before you record. Every photo in Lore is credited to the observer who shared it, so each round is also a small thank-you to the community behind it.