When Will I See the Most Bird Species Here?
And when am I most likely to see a certain species?
I'm planning a visit to Texas, and want to do some birding while I'm there. When will I see the highest number of species?
Looking at any of the eBird year report summaries for 2002 (High Count,
Abundance, Frequency -- pictured here), I can scan down the columns to
see how many and which species are found in Texas during each month of
the year.
What time of year am I most likely to see that species (Forster's Terns) here?
I start by looking at the range map for Forster's Tern (below), found in the species account of the All About Birds Online Bird Guide.
In addition, I can look again at the eBird Frequency table and
search for Forster's Tern in the column of bird species names, then
search across the other columns to see which month(s) Forster's Terns
are found in Texas. The column with the highest frequency number
represents the month when Forster's Terns were reported on the highest
percentage of checklists. In this case, Forster's Terns were most
likely to be seen in Jan and April of 2002.
(Note: eBird was launched in 2002; as more people report their bird
counts, these summaries will present a fuller picture of where the
birds are, and when.)