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. 2017. 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, 2017]).

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

Kelling, S. 2017. 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]).

In the above example, « Kelling, S » is the name of the observer, and should be replaced with the name of the observer in the checklist being cited.

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, go to Explore Data on eBird and then click « Download Data ». 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.

Citation:

eBird Basic Dataset. Version: EBD_relMay-2017. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. May 2017.