Beta Feature Alert! This feature is currently only in beta testing and may change based on user feedback. A full release is planned in the coming months, so watch out for updates and improvements.
Checklist Media is a new way to add depth to your eBird checklists, capturing more than just birds. By uploading photos and recordings that showcase habitats, soundscapes, and experiences, you can enrich your records while contributing valuable data for research and conservation. This page explains how to categorize and upload media, why it matters, and how your contributions help enhance our understanding of birds and their environments.
All media uploaded at the checklist level must be assigned to one of three categories. Be sure to review the descriptions and examples to select the most appropriate one, as this affects where the media appear and how they can be searched.
Important: Just like bird media, checklist media must be uploaded to the eBird checklist that matches the exact date, time, and location of capture. Adding a habitat photo from last month to today’s checklist is just as problematic as uploading a bird photo from a different time or place.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Checklist media quick guide
- Checklist media categories
- Rating checklist media
- Photos of people
- FAQs about checklist media
Checklist media quick guide
Upload habitat photos and non-focal (ambient or environmental) recordings to Habitat/Soundscape
Upload photos of the birding experience (landmarks, signs, birding party) to Experience
Upload recordings or photos of other notable wildlife to Other animals
Add descriptive captions, additional species, and other metadata for added value
Checklist media categories
Habitat / Soundscape
Upload habitat photos taken during your eBird checklist to showcase the environment where birds were observed. These can include wide-angle views of landscapes like forests, rivers, parks, or city trees, as well as close-ups of key habitat features such as a bush or tree used by birds. Even plant life like flowers, seeds, or floating seaweed qualifies if it plays a role in the ecosystem. Birds may be present but should not be the main focus—otherwise, upload them under that species. Avoid including humans when possible, and for images of distant scenery, weather events, or human-made landmarks, use the Experience category instead.
Upload audio recordings that capture the overall soundscape of a location, rather than a single prominent species. This could include a dawn chorus, the sounds of a marsh, or a mixed species flock. Do not upload recordings with significant talking, walking, or handling noise, especially if recording was not the main purpose. If your recording focuses on a particular species, trim and upload it under that species instead. Follow editing best practices as much as possible, including trimming and normalizing audio files.
Data recommendations
For photos, add Birds observed in this habitat to habitat images. These should be bird species that were observed or heard using the habitat in the picture (whether or not they are visible in the image). A patch of underbrush where a White-eyed Vireo was singing should be tagged with the vireo. A photo of a beach with gulls and shorebirds just visible in the distance should as well. These images will be searchable as habitat for those species, so it’s valuable to make that connection when you upload it. Note: only species on your checklist can be added in this way; if the habitat looked good for a species you didn’t observe, you could add that to the Caption or Media notes field instead.
For audio, please add Birds in this recording for any species you can identify that are audible in the recording. Adding these makes these soundscape recordings much more valuable and searchable.
For both media types, if possible, provide a written description in the Caption field (limit 300 characters) that will serve as a title for that media. For photos, you can describe the habitat depicted, explain the position or context within the location, or go into detail on how birds were using it. For audio, you can give the recording a title that describes the location or the type of habitat or environment where the recording was made.
Habitat or soundscape caption examples: Mixed coniferous forest; Open spruce-tamarack bog at dawn; Flowering apple tree where mixed species flock was foraging; Tropicbird nesting cliffs overlooking bay on Caribbean; Looking south down the coulee from the Dutch Henry Falls trailhead; Sounds from a cattail marsh; Dawn chorus in dense choco forest; Late afternoon cicada chorus in dry woodland
Why is this media important?
Habitat photos hold tremendous promise for improving bird occurrence models and understanding long-term changes to habitat conditions. We encourage users to document habitats during their visits and continue tracking changes over time. Tagging observed species in habitat photos may help reveal important connections between birds and their environments.
Soundscape recordings hold similar promise, capturing the broader soundscape of a site and how it may change. They will also play a key role in training Merlin Sound ID to recognize individual species within busy dawn choruses and environmental recordings.
Experience
Use this category for photos that document your visit but don’t strictly depict habitat. This includes trail maps, signs, landmarks, artwork, buildings, weather events (e.g., rainbows, eclipses), food, restaurants, or checklist-related notes or sketches (see more examples). Do not upload copyrighted or private images.
Photos featuring friends or your birding group also belong in this category. Always get consent before uploading images of people. These photos will be visible to you and checklist companions but won’t appear in public outputs. This policy may change, so use discretion when sharing images with people. See Photos with people below.
This category helps others understand what a location is like and what to expect when visiting, as well as document any other aspects of your birding experience that may be important to you. These images may also appear publicly on Hotspot or Region pages.
Data recommendations
Provide a description or title for any media uploaded to this category using the Caption field. This will help give other users context for the media and help you remember what was special about it. It will also display as the title for that image in media search and Macaulay Library pages.
Experience caption examples: Information kiosk at trailhead; Trail map of park; Reserve entrance gate; Visitor center and observation platform; Hooded Plover mural; Beware of snakes sign; Watching capybaras; Group photographing warblers; Total solar eclipse during totality; Sketch of trail with rare bird marked.
Why is this media important?
This category is for images that could provide insight and guidance about the site to other birders, as well as photos that hold personal significance or enhance your checklist for you and your friends. In the future, these images may also help enrich Hotspot pages or other features that provide context for a location.
Other Animals
Use this category for photos or recordings of wildlife other than birds encountered during your checklist. This could include a memorable encounter with a bear or a fox, a sound recording of a particularly piercing frog or insect, or a striking butterfly you saw while waiting for a bird to appear. Sound recordings in this category are especially valuable, as the Macaulay Library has gathered them for nearly a century to support research and will use them in training Merlin Sound ID.
Humans, pets, plants, and captive, farm, or zoo animals should not be uploaded to this category.
While eBird checklists are a great way to document your birding experience, they aren’t the best place to upload every nature photo or seek identification help for non-bird species. For a more comprehensive way to catalog all aspects of the natural world, we recommend iNaturalist, where you can log plants, insects, mammals, fungi, and more with AI-assisted suggestions and input from a global community. Your observations in iNaturalist help drive biodiversity research and conservation. The iNaturalist community can also help you get accurate identifications for your “Other animal” media that can be added to media on your eBird checklist. Once an ID has been added on iNaturalist, use the Classify and Caption fields to update the media on your eBird checklist.
Data recommendations
Choose the taxonomic class your media belongs to (Reptiles, Amphibians, Insects, etc.). For Amphibians and Mammals, you can then choose a family, genus, or exact species (if known) from the full taxonomy in a type-ahead field. For other taxa, add the name of the species (common, scientific, or both) if you know it to the Caption field. Add other relevant behavior or context to the Media notes field.
Why is this media important?
Recordings of non-bird animals have long been part of the Macaulay Library’s history and are valuable for improving automated recognition algorithms used to monitor soundscapes. Uploading recordings of frogs, toads, and mammals helps document their vocal repertoires and supports their inclusion in future versions of Merlin Sound ID. Photos of other animals also enrich the Macaulay Library archive, providing a more complete picture of the landscape and its wildlife. Plus, they’re a great way to enhance your checklist!
Rating checklist media ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rating checklist media can be more subjective than rating focal bird media. What makes this picture of habitat 3 stars vs. 5 stars? You can still use criteria like sharpness and lighting to make these calls, but unlike rating bird media, you might consider usefulness and beauty in assigning these ratings. It is likely we will take ratings into account for choosing default photos to show up on hotspot and region pages, so photos that illustrate a location well and are pleasant to look at could be rated higher.
Photos of people
While photos that prominently feature people aren’t specifically encouraged, we understand that capturing habitats, locations, and birding experiences sometimes makes it unavoidable. Photos of your birding group, friends, and family can be an important part of your checklist. If you choose to upload images with people, please use discretion and always ensure that anyone pictured has given their consent.
To help manage privacy concerns, we automatically detect photos containing people and apply a Person tag. This tag prevents these images from appearing in most public views. However, the uploader and anyone on the shared checklist will still see them in the checklist view, and the uploader will be able to access them in Media Search. These images will not appear on Hotspot pages or other public feeds.
Please keep in mind that this policy may evolve over time. As a general guideline, only upload content that you’d be comfortable sharing publicly.
FAQs about checklist media
Where will checklist media be shown?
The media you upload as checklist media will be shared publicly in most cases. Please keep that in mind, and don’t upload anything that you would not be proud to show to your grandparents or coworkers! Below are some general guidelines about where checklist-level media may be encountered:
Personal eBird checklist view — All checklist-level media will show here for you and anyone with whom the checklist is shared (i.e., anyone listed as an observer on the checklist). Signed in users not listed as observers on the checklist will be able to see all media except images that have been tagged as prominently featuring humans, which will only be visible to you and your companions. Signed out users will only see media in the Habitat/Soundscape and Other animals categories.
Trip Reports — Checklist media is not currently displayed on Trip Reports. A future update will allow you to see all of your checklist media on your trip report. If your trip report is public, signed in users will be able to see all media except people photos.
Media search — You will be able to see all of your checklist media if you use the appropriate filters. Signed in users will be able to see all your media except people photos.
Hotspot pages — Checklist media is not currently displayed on Hotspot pages. In future updates, Hotspot pages may display a selection of your checklist media in the Habitat/Soundscape and Experience categories.
Should I upload media to Checklist Media or to a particular species?
For photos, if a bird is prominent or at least identifiable, it should be uploaded to that species. (For species photos where the habitat features more prominently than the bird, please add the Habitat tag under the Tags section). The Habitat category for Checklist Media should be used for images focused on habitat or scenery where birds are inconspicuous or not present.
For sound recordings, is the focus is more on the chorus or the environment, or on a particular species? In some cases, a segment of a soundscape recording could also be extracted and uploaded to a particular species if desired, but in others, this species could just be tagged as an additional species. Soundscape recordings should not be used to document rare birds (species flagged as rare on an eBird checklist); please extract a clip with a representative, diagnostic set of vocalizations and upload it to the species. We want to avoid requiring regional reviewers to listen to very long, unedited recordings to verify rare birds.
What about photos of plants?
Plants and fungi are an integral part of the habitat and we recommend they be uploaded to the Habitat category, with a caption about the species or how birds interacted with them if relevant. A close-up of a flower or other plant or fungus that is most interesting from a personal perspective could be uploaded to Experience if desired, but should not be added to the Other animals category.
Can I upload videos to Checklist Media?
At this time, videos are not permitted for Habitat/Soundscape and Experience categories. While this may change in the future, video permissions are still limited to users who contact the Macaulay Library and can demonstrate a portfolio of high-quality, stable videos. See our video best practices page for more information.
What if my media fits into more than one category? How do I know which category to use?
Some media may be ambiguous as to where it best fits. For example, is a photo of a trail better categorized as Habitat (it shows where you were birding and seeing birds) or Experience (it shows human-made infrastructure and pertains to access for that location.) Media like this might come down to a judgement call, so here are some additional examples of what should go in each category. Note: please only choose one category for media like this, rather than uploading multiple versions to different categories.
Habitat photos: photos that illustrate habitat birds were using, habitat seen along the way, scenery that shows at least some habitat in the foreground or that was close enough to detect birds in, trees and other plants, close-ups of plants or fungi, plant seeds or fruits or other food sources birds were or might have been using, water sources, vistas where birds were seen moving or migrating.
Experience photos may include, but are not limited to: parking lots, trailheads, trail maps, informational signs, kiosks, trail conditions, boardwalks, viewing platforms, visitor centers, other buildings at the location of the checklist, other human-made structures, notable landmarks, outdoor art, rainbows or other weather events not depicting habitat, eclipses or other celestial events not depicting habitat, birding companions, friends and family, pets, sketches or written notes about a location, or annotated maps showing specific locations of birds. Experience photos are mostly to enhance your personal checklist; they may also be used to illustrate hotspot or region pages in the future.
Other animals: any media where a wild animal (other than a bird) is the focus. Pictures of people, pets, and captive, farm, or zoo animals should not be uploaded to this category. Recordings are most valuable here, but photos can also be useful.