Although eBird is a great tool for the avid birder, its data may not be accurate enough to determine actual ranges of birds in British Columbia.

Our hypotheses:

1. Data from eBird will be more consistent with actual ranges in the summer months, because there are fewer impediments to birding in the summer, like rain and snow.
2. Areas that are easily accessible and/or near high human populations will have more recorded data, and therefore more statistical certainty.
3. Easily spotted birds (raptors, breeding ducks, etc.) will have more extensive and accurate data than smaller, cryptic species (Passerines)

Our first hypothesis proved difficult to test, as the bird sighting data for time was not available to be downloaded in a shapefile from the eBird website. So, we were unable to test this hypothesis. Future studies will have to incorporate the temporal factors into their analysis in order to improve upon the accuracy of the results and to determine whether there is a temporal factor to eBird accuracy.

Hypotheses two and three proved easier to test. Areas that are near high human populations did in fact have more recorded data. There were many more bird sightings near areas of high population density, like Vancouver, Kelowna, and Victoria.

If hypothesis three was correct, more easily spotted birds, like the peregrine falcon and the wood duck would have had more accurate and extensive data than the cedar waxwing, which is much smaller in size. This proved true for the wood duck in British Columbia. This range was the most accurate of the three that we studied, at 39.14% overlap between the eBird wood duck sightings and the actual range (with a 50-km buffer zone around sightings). This means that the eBird program contained recorded sightings in 39.14% of the actual range of the wood duck in British Columbia. As for the other two species, the overlap was much lower — 3.75% and 17.15% overlap for the peregrine falcon and the cedar waxwing, respectively. It should be noted that these two species have much larger ranges within British Columbia than the wood duck, which can be seen in Figures 1-3 in the results section. The fact that the actual range of the peregrine falcon encompasses the whole province can account for the low overlap percentage (3.75%). Since there are far fewer people in northern BC, it is likely fair to conclude that there are also far fewer birders who record their data using eBird in the North. This can account for the small overlap areas for the peregrine falcon and cedar waxwing.

**It is also important to note that the cedar waxwing (left) and its cousin, the bohemian waxwing (right) bear a large resemblance. This often leads to misidentification between the two species, especially when in motion.

 

 

 

Overall, eBird may be more functional in determining actual bird ranges in areas that are more densely populated. For this reason, results may be more accurate in the United States than in Canada, considering that the northern part of our country is so sparsely populated.