Those of you that attended our Final Season Kickoff got to meet eBird’s Ian Davies. Ian wanted to share his appreciation and let Wisconsin Atlasers know that the platform we’ve built continues to lead the way.
Five years ago, the Wisconsin birding community went out on a limb—and forever changed bird atlasing. Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II, the first dedicated eBird Atlas portal, has led the way for the next generation of bird atlases. The efforts of Wisconsin birders have shown how an integrated online atlas platform can make a huge difference in our ability to understand bird populations. Thank you.
When more breeding observations were collected in the first year of the WBBA II than the entire WBBA I, it seemed that something special was happening. The next year, 2016, Virginia launched an eBird Atlas. In 2018, Maine joined the atlas team with their own state-level portal. 2019 brought an exciting new chapter: the New Zealand Bird Atlas. An entire country, atlasing online, using the platform inspired by Wisconsin.
In 2020, no fewer than three atlases will launch using the eBird Atlas framework, in New York, Maryland-DC, and Israel. Both our team at eBird and other birders around the US and the world are incredibly thankful for your pioneering efforts on eBird Atlasing. We can’t wait to see what the WI BBA III brings!
Ian Davies
eBird Project Coordinator