eBird Media Frequently Asked Questions

Calculation photos and audio recordings

  • How practise I add a photo or audio recording to my eBird Checklist?
  • How do I add together a photo or sound recording on eBird Mobile?
  • Why tin't I accept the media licensing understanding on my smartphone?
  • How do I upload images on shared checklists?

Types of media immune

  • I have a "terrible" photograph, should I upload information technology?
  • Can I upload photos of dead birds?
  • What about photos of nests, eggs, feathers, tracks, etc.?
  • Tin I upload media from a different appointment or location to my checklist?
  • Can I upload video to my checklists?
  • Why tin can't I put non-bird photos in the checklist comments?
  • Why tin't upload more/larger files?

Rights and access to uploaded media

  • What is the copyright status of my media on eBird?
  • Tin can I use photos from other people's eBird checklists?
  • Where are my photos and recordings stored and how tin can I access them?

Additional questions

  • Why does information technology take so long to upload my images?
  • My audio recording still says "Processing sound" after several hours, what tin can I do?
  • I uploaded my friend'south photo and it has my name on it. How practice I change that?
  • What almost all the images I've embedded from other websites (e.yard., Flickr)?

Ring-winged Nightjar by Jhonathan Miranda/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab (ML28987481)

Adding photos and audio recordings

How exercise I add together a photograph or sound recording to my eBird checklist?

Y'all can notice our complete prepare of instructions on how to add photos and audio to an eBird checklist here.

How do I add a photo or audio recording on eBird Mobile?

At this time, in that location is no way to add a photo or recording to your checklist through eBird Mobile. If you would like to upload a photo to your checklist using your telephone:

1. Open eBird Mobile and tap Checklists (at the bottom of the screen) then select "Submitted"

2. Tap the checklist y'all want to add photos to

3. Tap "eBird.org" at the bottom of the screen

iv. Select the dark-green "Add media" push button and follow our Add Photos and Sound instructions to upload your photos. Yous volition be able to access and upload images from your phone'due south photograph gallery.

If you lot don't see the green "Add media" push button, make sure you are logged in to eBird; you should come across your username in the upper correct corner of the checklist page.

Why can't I accept the media licensing agreement on my smartphone?

If you lot're uploading media for the first time on your phone, you will exist asked to accept our Media Licensing Understanding. Some phone browsers may hibernate the "Accept" button when the phone is held vertically (portrait orientation). Try rotating the phone 90 sideways so your browser displays in landscape orientation; the concur and submit button should appear!

How do I upload images on shared checklists?

Adding media items to a shared checklist follows the same process every bit adding media to a personal checklist.

Information technology's important to understand that when someone shares a checklist with you lot, or you share with someone, you tin encounter their media and they can meet yours. However, they cannot edit or change your media, and you lot cannot change theirs.

It'southward too important to empathise that currently only 10 rich media files (photos or audio files) can exist associated with each species on a checklist, regardless of number of observers. Therefore, if someone shares a checklist with you and a species already has 10 media files, you lot must start remove the media from the other observer(south). This won't change the media that they see on their version of the checklist, but it will open up space for you to add together your own media files to support the record.

Types of media allowed

I have a "terrible" photo, should I upload it?

Is the bird marked equally unusual in eBird, and can you tell what species information technology is? If and so, then yes! Even the worst quality photos are valuable if they can exist used to establish the identification of a bird. In the case of documenting a rare or unusual sighting, Any photo is often better than no photo!

Can I upload photos of dead birds?

In short, no. eBird is intended for wild, living birds; in nearly all cases dead birds should not be reported on your checklists. We brand rare exceptions for particularly unusual records of national involvement. If you think your record might qualify for an exception, please contact us showtime. Otherwise, please do not upload photos of dead birds. See our Best Practices for eBird checklists for more than information.

What virtually photos of nests, eggs, feathers, tracks, etc.?

eBird is designed for observations of wild, living birds. To ensure we collect the highest quality information on when and where birds occur, nosotros encourage you tobutupload non-bird photos (east.g., photos of nests, eggs, feathers, etc.) when you also observed the birds themselves.

The "count" on your eBird checklist should reflect the number of wild, living members of that species you observed while birding. If you document a nest, eggs, feathers, etc. on your checklist but no wild, living member of that species, your count for that species should exist 0.

Nearly chiefly,whenever you lot upload photos of nests, eggs, feathers, etc. to your eBird checklist - whether they also contain a living bird or non - please apply the appropriate "tags" in the Manage Media tool (learn more than about tagging photos).

photo tags of nest

Can I upload media from a different date or location to my checklist?

Every photo or sound recording you lot upload should accept been taken, by you, at the exact date and location indicated on the checklist. Please exercise non upload photos or recordings that do not directly correspond with that checklist and, more importantly, never upload a photo from a different date or location every bit "proof" of a rare bird observation.

Can I upload video to my checklists?

The Macaulay Library currently archives selected videos from professional bird videographers, researchers, and trained Cornell Lab staff and students. If you lot are an experienced videographer who would similar to participate in our limited video testing group, click here to larn more.

You may as well see videos that were imported during the transition of media items from the Cyberspace Bird Collection (IBC) to the Macaulay Library. These video items were previously archived, and most IBC users do not have the ability to upload new video items at this time.

At this time, each photo is associated with a specific observation in a checklist. Due to how the database is structured, you are unable to upload images of habitat or not-bird fauna and flora into the checklist comments.

Why can't I upload more/larger files?

The electric current file limits are 10 photos per species and 10MB per image. The limiting factor for any media hosting is the technology required to upload, process, and maintain the files that people contribute. As engineering improves over the years, we may eventually increase these limits.

Rights and access to uploaded media

What is the copyright status of my media on eBird?

All your media is copyright You. The Cornell Lab is allowed to utilize media that y'all upload for not-for-profit uses in eBird, the Macaulay Library, and other Cornell Lab resources. We will not sublicense your photos or sounds to any third party for commercial use without your permission. Whenever the Cornell Lab uses your media, yous volition be attributed. Please see our licensing agreement hither.

Can I utilise photos from other people'south eBird checklists?

The Macaulay Library archive is primarily a data repository for inquiry purposes. It is not an open up repository of rich media available to the general public for any and all use. Avails in the collection are owned by the original author (e.g., photographer/recordist), and the copyright lies with each author unless otherwise indicated. It is not appropriate to download these assets for general 3rd party use, without permission from the author. Delight read the full terms of use policy. For additional information on requesting and licensing media please visit here.

Where are my photos and recordings stored and how can I access them?

The images uploaded to eBird through the media upload process are archived in the Macaulay Library. You can download the original files of your media past viewing the asset page (due east.one thousand. ML###) and clicking 'Download Original' in the lower right corner.

You can also download an organized spreadsheet of the metadata for your personal media assets in eBird/ML, much like with your eBird checklists themselves. Just become to your eBird Profile folio and click 'View All' next to 'Latest Photos' or use the Media Search to admission your media gallery by searching for your name under 'Contributor.' Once there, you can click the blue 'Save Spreadsheet' link in the superlative right corner and begin the download.

Additional questions

Why does it take so long to upload my images?

Several processes take place when yous upload your photos to eBird. There are two primary reasons it might take longer than expected to upload photos:

  • Dull connection: the speed in which your files are transferred to eBird depends largely on your internet connectedness and bandwidth. Faster connection speeds mean faster upload times. Bigger files take longer, so if your connection is slow, because limiting the file sizes of your images/sounds to something smaller.
  • The photo "ingestion" process: this occurs on our end. Once we receive the file, we ingest it into the database, catechumen the file to a smaller version for display, and send it back to the eBird checklist. This process commonly happens instantaneously, only if there is a lot of traffic, it's possible that your files will be put into a processing queue, which could outcome in minor delays.

If a file isn't uploading or the process isn't completing in a timely manner, please permit the states know at ebird@cornell.edu.

My audio recording still says "Processing audio" after several hours, what tin can I do?

If yous see the "Processing audio" message a few hours later uploading a recording, delight be patient and do not delete the file. Processing audio files so that they play chop-chop with a visual representation takes some time. Nosotros place sound files in a queue and process them in the lodge in which they were uploaded. At that place are several queues and some audio files are larger than others, so they don't all move at the same speed. If you delete the file that yous uploaded, you volition make the process take longer for anybody, including yourself.

I uploaded my friend'southward photo and it has my proper noun on it. How do I alter that?

Photos are associated with the eBird account they are uploaded under, and the rights to the photo belong to that account. If it is a photo from your friend, then y'all should share the checklist with them, and get them to upload the photograph! eBird is 100% free, so there is no reason they can't upload it on their own.

What about all the images I've embedded from other websites (e.1000., Flickr)?

If you uploaded your photos to Flickr and hyperlinked them to eBird checklists, you can use the eBird Flickr Importer to import your photos automatically from Flickr to eBird, replacing hyperlinks with media curated in the Macaulay Library. Please make sure to follow the tool'southward instructions closely!

For now, nosotros have no mode to retrieve images from websites other than Flickr and embed them in your eBird checklists. If you have media hosted at other sources and want to include them in in eBird, you will have to go back and personally enter them at this time.

Chilean Flicker

Chilean Flicker by Joshua Covill/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab (ML173732531)