Recommended citation

For any use of eBird data, or for general reference to the project in peer-reviewed literature, use this citation:

eBird Primary Reference:

Sullivan, B.L., C.L. Wood, M.J. Iliff, R.E. Bonney, D. Fink, and S. Kelling. 2009. eBird: a citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation 142: 2282-2292.

eBird Visualizations

eBird bar charts, maps, graphs, tables, and other visualizations from the ‘Explore Data’ tab and ‘My eBird’ tab may be reproduced in publications without further permission provided that the figure is attributed as follows: Image provided by eBird (www.ebird.org) and created [date].

Use the following format to cite data retrieved from the eBird website:

eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: Date [e.g., February 2, 2021]).

Use the following format if citing data from an individual checklist:

In the following example, “Lastname, Firstname” should be replaced with the name of the observer in the checklist being cited.

Lastname, Firstname. 2021. eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S36954356. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: Date [e.g., December 9, 2017]).

Accessing raw data from eBird

In addition to the visualizations provided with eBird, we make all raw data available for free for noncommercial use. For eBird raw data access, click “Request Data” in the footer at the bottom of any eBird page, and then click the lock icon to request access.

This dataset is called the “eBird Basic Dataset”, and it should suit most analyses. All data use is subject to our Terms of Use policy.

Where the eBird Basic Dataset is used, please include the citation provided with the downloaded data in the file named “recommended_citation.txt”.