eBird has all kinds of ways for you to explore and learn about birds. Checklist data from eBird, media from the Macaulay Library, and identification tips from Merlin all combine here to place an unparalleled resource at your fingertips. 


An eBird account may be required

Some of the Explore functions described below require a free eBird account to access. This prevents us from exceeding the website activity limits set by Google Maps and also helps to keep our data exploration tools functional and your eBird observations safe.


Creating an eBird account is 100% free and easy. To get started, go to eBird.org and click on the green 'Create account' button in the top right corner of the page.


Quick Links


Explore species:


Explore regions and hotspots:


For mobile devices: 


Explore features:


Explore Species


species page for Barn Swallow

Species Profiles


You can explore all the world’s bird species through Explore Species in eBird! Each species profile includes live observation maps, reporting stats, media, and a short description of the species. eBird also shows whether you've reported, photographed, or recorded that species for your life and year lists.


To access species profiles: Go to the Explore page and type in a bird's common or scientific name under "Explore Species", or use the “Surprise Me!” button to jump to a random species. You can also access Explore Species pages from anywhere in eBird by clicking on the species name in blue.


Explore Species pages are displayed in taxonomic order, so you can use the arrows in the top right to quickly jump to the closest relatives of a species.


The Statistics section displays both your personal statistics and the eBird community's combined stats. To change the region for which the stats and map are generated, use the dropdown menu in the top left of the page.



Map and stats of species reports to eBird


Photos and Sounds

If you scroll to the bottom of the species profile, you’ll find a gallery of photos and recordings of that species from your chosen region. Use the arrows in the top right to browse top-rated media, click “View all” to jump to all media, or click “My media” to see your personal media for that species.



Barn swallow photos and sound recordings


Currently, non-species taxa are not searchable in Explore Species. You can still view sightings and media of non-species taxa using Species Maps (below) and the Macaulay Library's Search Photos and Sounds.


Species Maps

There are two ways to view maps of individual species reports on eBird:

  • from the Species Profile (above) click "Large Map" in the Range Map section
  • from the Explore page, click "Species Maps


Enter the name of a species and a region of the world (optional). When zoomed out, the map will display a rectangular grid with cell colors based on the number of reports. Zoom in to see the locations of individual observations.




Explore Regions and Hotspots

Explore Region provides one of the most powerful tools in eBird, allowing you to view data summarized across geopolitical regions from local counties to entire countries in a near instant. Just go to the Explore page on eBird.org and type the name of a county, state, province, or country into the search bar under "Explore Regions" to get started!



Explore entire continents and hemispheres: You can also view certain larger regions using the Major Regions dropdown menu below "Explore Regions" (these regions will not appear in the search box). 


Explore US National Wildlife Refuges: You can view sightings from anywhere in the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, which includes over 560 refuges across all 50 states. Unlike other regions in eBird, refuge borders sometimes cross county or state lines.


Explore individual towns and cities: At this time it is not possible to explore eBird data for towns/cities. The smallest geopolitical areas summarized in eBird's Explore tools are counties or districts. You can also explore popular birding patches in your area using eBird Hotspots instead.


Explore Hotspots

There are three ways to explore eBird Hotspots. On the eBird.org website, open the Explore page and click "Explore Hotspots" or search for any county, state, or country using "Explore Regions" then click the Hotspots tab. You can also explore eBird Hotspots on your mobile device using eBird Mobile Explore (below).


Hotspot offer many of the same Explore features, including species lists, illustrated checklists, recent visits, and top eBirders. These sections are described in detail below


eBird Mobile Explore

eBird Mobile Explore is an exciting way to discover new places to go birding and find the species you are looking for, all from the free eBird Mobile app on your mobile device. 


eBird Mobile Explore lets you search for recent reports of your favorite species and discover eBird Hotspots in a selected area. eBird Mobile Explore also gives you essential information to plan your birding activity such as when a species was last reported in your area and which Hotspots have been visited recently, plus handy navigation directions so you can find local places with the species you want to see.

To explore species on eBird Mobile, simply tap “Explore” at the bottom of the app. Change your search area by tapping "Edit" in the upper right corner.



 



Explore features

Explore pages for Hotspots and geopolitical regions offer many summary features, described below. 


Explore page India


Use the Change Location” and "All Years" menus to explore a new place or time period. Tap any of the icons at the top to jump to recent visits, Top 100 eBirders, top hotspots, and more:

Explore statistic icons


Quick links to explore more

The “More about this…” section provides quick links to Bar Charts, Illustrated and printable checklists, as well as links to your life list, target species, and personal eBird activity for that region or Hotspot. On mobile devices, tap Region/Hotspot Navigation above the data summaries for quick links.


Region navigation for India


Compare species and checklists between regions

Explore pages for larger regions like provinces or countries will display information for either the states/provinces within a country or territory, or all of the counties within a state/province. Tap this number to compare states/provinces (or counties) by the number of species reported or checklists submitted. 


State/province checklist stats for India


Recent visits and Top eBirders

The ten eBirders with the most species or checklists are shown on the overview page of any region or Hotspot, with your own stats underneath for comparison. You can switch between Top 10 lists by tapping the "Species" or "Checklists" buttons. On mobile devices, tap the "eBirders" icon to see these lists.


The ten most recent checklists are also displayed on the overview page. Check the "Recent Visits" tab to see a longer list. Only the 200 most recent checklists are displayed. For heavily birded regions, 200 lists may only cover the last day or two. For less frequently birded areas, the 200 most recent checklist may span several months! 


Hide your checklists from recent visits and rankings

You can hide your data from appearing in Recent Visits and Top eBirder rankings by clicking your username in the upper corner of any eBird.org page, selecting "Preferences", and scrolling down to the "Data Privacy" section.


Species lists for a region or Hotspot

The overview page for any region or eBird Hotspot provides a list of all species reported to eBird that area, sorted by when the species was last observed. More recently reported species will appear near the top of the list. 


You can change the default sorting of these displays to Species Name (taxonomic order), Count, or Date. You can also choose to see the first time a species was seen ("First seen"), or the highest count reported for that species ("High count"). Tapping "Show all details" will display species comments and media added to that observation.


NOTE: the default display, "Last Seen" will only show the most recent record of that species for that region. If your sighting isn't showing up there, it probably means that someone reported that species more recently! Check out the Recent Visits to see your checklist(s) on the Explore Region or Hotspot page.



Printable species checklist

For a pre-formatted, printable list of all species reported to eBird from a region or Hotspot, open the Explore page for an area and click "Printable Checklist" on the left side, under "More about this..." On mobile devices, tap "Region/Hotspot Navigation" (above the summary icons).


printable checklist


Illustrated Checklist

The Illustrated Checklist tab of any Explore page combines eBird Bar Charts with the natural history media archived by eBirders in the Macaulay Library to display an enhanced visualization of species occurrence in a region. The highest-rated media asset from the region will be displayed for each species entry on the Illustrated Checklist. You can search for any species on the list, view which species have photos and audio recordings, and which species lack them. Can you help fill in these frequency and media gaps? 


illustrated checklist


Bar Charts and Graphs

Click Bar Charts on the main Explore page, or check the "Bar Charts" link on any region or Hotspot page, to see when a species is frequently reported from an area. To view bar charts on mobile devices, tap "Region/Hotspot Navigation" on any region or Hotspot page (above the summary icons) .


Reading bar charts

The taller the bar, the more likely you will encounter a species during that time of year. No bar (an empty gray box) indicates a species is not reported in that region during that time period. The current date is always marked with a vertical black line.


eBird bar charts are based on frequency: the percentage of checklists reporting that species within a specified date range and region. Thus, taller bars indicate a species is reported on a large proportion of checklists from that area and time of year. 


You can change the date range or location of the Bar Chart data by clicking the corresponding buttons at the top of the page.


bar charts


From the Bar Charts tab, click the:

  • Species name to visit the species page
  • Map icon to see the map of eBird reports for that species
  • Chart icon to get detailed histograms and line graphs of frequency and counts throughout the year


eBird's line graphs and histograms (from the chart icon) are particularly useful for comparing reporting rates across multiple species and dates. 

  • To add more species to the same chart: click the "Change Species" button 
  • To compare data for a single species across a range of years, click "Change Date" and select "Separate years (max. 5 years, 1 species)".


You can also download histogram data directly from these pages. 


line graphs of eBird data


Other Features

   

View Global Big Day data: to view any of the Global Big Day and October Big Day summaries for any region, use the "All Years" dropdown menu on the overview page. Since these Big Days cover a single date, the “Date” column will display the checklist start time rather than the calendar day.


Wandering Whistling-Duck

Wandering Whistling-Duck by Terrence Alexander/Macaulay Library (ML91990791)