UMichBirders for Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Time   [birders] New BirdsEye Application for iPhone/iTouch   Ray Stocking    9:46am   [birders] in between Cooper's Hawk   Sherri Smith    5:05pm

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Subject: [birders] New BirdsEye Application for iPhone/iTouch
From: Ray Stocking <rstocking(AT)gmail.com>
Date: 9 Dec 2009 9:46am

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This sounds like a winner....

~ Ray

*App in the hand finds birds in bushes as you roam *

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- When Jory Langner finds time for a field trip during an
upcoming visit to Washington, he won't have to ask local birders where to
find candidates to add to his life list of birds sighted.

All he'll have to do to is pull out his iPhone and fire up BirdsEye, a new
bird-finding application that gives users instant access to recent reports
of birds spotted near their location, tells them where to look for specific
birds, and keeps track of their lists of all the birds they've ever seen.

The application makes its debut just ahead of the National Audubon Society's
annual Christmas Bird Count, an effort that enlists as many as 55,000 bird
watchers around the country - from the kitchen window crowd to
slog-through-the-woods diehards - who report back the kinds and numbers of
birds they spot.

The count, which runs from Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, collects data used to
track the health of bird populations, identify trends and guide
conservation.

"If you don't know the area, whether you're new or traveling through, it's a
really good way of finding birding hotspots nearby," said Langner, 60, a
software designer. "I'm really looking forward to using it during my
upcoming trips around the country."

BirdsEye, recently released for iPhone and iPod Touch at a cost of $19.99,
was developed through a collaboration of some of the top ornithologists in
the country, using content from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology,
the Academy of Natural Sciences and field guide author Kenn Kaufman.

"This application has pieced together a network of experts to make possible
something no one has done before," said Pete Myers, CEO of Environmental
Health Sciences, an environmental journalism organization based in
Charlottesville, Va.

Myers got involved in the BirdsEye project when Todd Koym, a programmer who
works for him, hatched the idea two years ago. Myers contacted prominent
birders he knew when he was senior vice president of the National Audubon
Society, and they were eager to help.

It's not an electronic field guide to help identify birds. There are plenty
of those around. This is new: a bird finder. It taps into eBird, the
massive, constantly updated database of bird sightings maintained by the
Cornell lab and the National Audubon Society.

Here's how it works.

Suppose you're a bird watcher on a business trip or visiting relatives
across the country and you have some spare time to take in the local fauna.
Where's a good place to go?

You start BirdsEye and poke "Find Nearby Birds." Using the iPhone's built-in
GPS, it calculates your location and gives you a list of all the birds ever
recorded in the area or just the ones reported recently. If you've entered
your lifetime bird-sighting list, the application can show you just the
birds not on your list.

Users of the iPod Touch can enter their location manually if there's no
Wi-Fi access.

If the list includes a bird you've never seen, you can tap on it for a map
showing where the bird was reported - say, a nearby park. You head over
there and find woods, fields, and a pond. Where to look? The application has
a brief narrative by Kaufman telling whether the bird is likely to be in
treetops or grassland, alone or in a flock. It also has photos and
recordings of the bird.

About 40,000 birders enter up to 2 million sightings a month into eBird,
said Brian Sullivan at the Cornell lab.

"We've been contacted by lots of other application developers," Sullivan
said. "This is the first that uses eBird data. The database is open source
for any developer to use."

The biggest limitation to the eBird database is that it has many
observations from heavily populated areas and fewer from more remote
locales. An application that makes it easy for birders to log sightings from
the field would likely improve the database, Sullivan said. BirdsEye doesn't
allow users to upload data to eBird now, but it will in the future, Koym
said.

"You might think of bird watchers sitting in the woods eating granola and
writing with lead pencils," Kaufman said. "But most of the birders I know
are eager to go high tech and use whatever is available to find birds."

Myers, who travels extensively in his work, found the application proved its
worth the first time he tried it.

"I have a pretty decent life list, with 571 birds, so it usually takes some
work to find something new," Myers said. But during a trip to San Francisco,
he turned on BirdsEye and it told him there had been sightings of red-masked
parakeets nearby the previous day. "I had never seen one. So I followed the
map it gave me and found about 60 of them within a half hour."

---

---
* birders FAQ - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/birders_FAQ.html
* photo sharing site - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/se_mich/photos.html 

* To unsubscribe from birders(AT)umich.edu send a blank message to
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resubscribe use SUBSCRIBE BIRDERS Your Name. 

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<p class="ap-story-p">This sounds like a winner.... <br></p><p
class="ap-story-p">~ Ray</p><p class="ap-story-p"><br> </p><p
class="ap-story-p"><b><span class="headline">App in the hand finds birds in
bushes as you roam </span></b></p>
<p class="ap-story-p">ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- When Jory Langner finds
time for a field trip during an upcoming visit to Washington, he won't
have to ask local birders where to find candidates to add to his life
list of birds sighted.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">All he'll have to do
to is pull out his iPhone and fire up BirdsEye, a new bird-finding
application that gives users instant access to recent reports of birds
spotted near their location, tells them where to look for specific
birds, and keeps track of their lists of all the birds they've ever
seen.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">The application makes its debut just
ahead of the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count, an
effort that enlists as many as 55,000 bird watchers around the country
- from the kitchen window crowd to slog-through-the-woods diehards -
who report back the kinds and numbers of birds they spot.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">The
count, which runs from Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, collects data used to
track the health of bird populations, identify trends and guide
conservation.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">"If you don't know the area,
whether you're new or traveling through, it's a really good way of
finding birding hotspots nearby," said Langner, 60, a software
designer. "I'm really looking forward to using it during my upcoming
trips around the country."</p> <p class="ap-story-p">BirdsEye, recently
released for iPhone and iPod Touch at a cost of $19.99, was developed
through a collaboration of some of the top ornithologists in the
country, using content from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology,
the Academy of Natural Sciences and field guide author Kenn Kaufman.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">"This
application has pieced together a network of experts to make possible
something no one has done before," said Pete Myers, CEO of
Environmental Health Sciences, an environmental journalism organization
based in Charlottesville, Va.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">Myers got
involved in the BirdsEye project when Todd Koym, a programmer who works
for him, hatched the idea two years ago. Myers contacted prominent
birders he knew when he was senior vice president of the National
Audubon Society, and they were eager to help.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">It's
not an electronic field guide to help identify birds. There are plenty
of those around. This is new: a bird finder. It taps into eBird, the
massive, constantly updated database of bird sightings maintained by
the Cornell lab and the National Audubon Society.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">Here's how it works.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">Suppose
you're a bird watcher on a business trip or visiting relatives across
the country and you have some spare time to take in the local fauna.
Where's a good place to go?</p> <p class="ap-story-p">You start
BirdsEye and poke "Find Nearby Birds." Using the iPhone's built-in
 GPS,
it calculates your location and gives you a list of all the birds ever
recorded in the area or just the ones reported recently. If you've
entered your lifetime bird-sighting list, the application can show you
just the birds not on your list.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">Users of the iPod
Touch can enter their location manually if there's no Wi-Fi access.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">If
the list includes a bird you've never seen, you can tap on it for a map
showing where the bird was reported - say, a nearby park. You head over
there and find woods, fields, and a pond. Where to look? The
application has a brief narrative by Kaufman telling whether the bird
is likely to be in treetops or grassland, alone or in a flock. It also
has photos and recordings of the bird.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">About 40,000
birders enter up to 2 million sightings a month into eBird, said Brian Sullivan
at the Cornell lab.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">"We've
been contacted by lots of other application developers," Sullivan said.
"This is the first that uses eBird data. The database is open source
for any developer to use."</p> <p class="ap-story-p">The biggest
limitation to the eBird database is that it has many observations from
heavily populated areas and fewer from more remote locales. An
application that makes it easy for birders to log sightings from the
field would likely improve the database, Sullivan said. BirdsEye
doesn't allow users to upload data to eBird now, but it will in the
future, Koym said.</p> <p class="ap-story-p">"You might think of bird
watchers sitting in the woods eating granola and writing with lead
pencils," Kaufman said. "But most of the birders I know are eager to
go
high tech and use whatever is available to find birds."</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">Myers, who travels extensively in his work, found the
application proved its worth the first time he tried it.</p> <p
class="ap-story-p">
"I
have a pretty decent life list, with 571 birds, so it usually takes
some work to find something new," Myers said. But during a trip to San
Francisco, he turned on BirdsEye and it told him there had been
sightings of red-masked parakeets nearby the previous day. "I had never
seen one. So I followed the map it gave me and found about 60 of them
within a half hour."</p> <p class="ap-story-p">---</p>

---
* birders FAQ - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/birders_FAQ.html
* photo sharing site - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/se_mich/photos.html 

* To unsubscribe from birders(AT)umich.edu send a blank message to
lyris(AT)listserver.itd.umich.edu with UNSUBSCRIBE BIRDERS as the Subject line. To
resubscribe use SUBSCRIBE BIRDERS Your Name. 

--0016e64b0448efc4b6047a4cc18f--


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Subject: [birders] in between Cooper's Hawk
From: Sherri Smith <grackle(AT)umich.edu>
Date: 9 Dec 2009 5:05pm

Monday a Cooper's Hawk flew into my garage and couldn't get out, so I  
had to catch her.  She is in between immature and adult plumage.  her  
lower breast is white and brown vertical streaks, but her upper chest  
is rust crossways brindles.  Her back is getting grey, and her eyes  
are the color of a pumpkin.   I have to catch these birds pretty often  
when they get in trouble.  most are immature, but I have never seen  
one right on the dividing line before.
Sherri Smith
Ann Arbor

---
* birders FAQ - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/birders_FAQ.html
* photo sharing site - http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/se_mich/photos.html 

* To unsubscribe from birders(AT)umich.edu send a blank message to
lyris(AT)listserver.itd.umich.edu with UNSUBSCRIBE BIRDERS as the Subject line. To
resubscribe use SUBSCRIBE BIRDERS Your Name.