eBird Media Oft Asked Questions

Calculation photos and audio recordings

  • How do I add a photo or sound recording to my eBird Checklist?
  • How do I add a photo or sound recording on eBird Mobile?
  • Why can't I accept the media licensing agreement on my smartphone?
  • How practice I upload images on shared checklists?

Types of media allowed

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

Rights and access to uploaded media

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

Additional questions

  • Why does it take so long to upload my images?
  • My sound recording notwithstanding says "Processing audio" subsequently several hours, what can I exercise?
  • I uploaded my friend'due south photo and it has my name on it. How do I change that?
  • What nearly all the images I've embedded from other websites (east.grand., Flickr)?

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

Adding photos and sound recordings

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

You can find our complete prepare of instructions on how to add together photos and sound to an eBird checklist hither.

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

At this time, at that place is no manner to add a photo or recording to your checklist through eBird Mobile. If you would similar 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"

two. Tap the checklist yous want to add photos to

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

4. Select the green "Add media" button and follow our Add together Photos and Audio instructions to upload your photos. You volition be able to access and upload images from your phone's photo gallery.

If you don't run across the green "Add together media" button, make certain you are logged in to eBird; you should encounter your username in the upper right corner of the checklist page.

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

If you're uploading media for the first time on your phone, you lot will be asked to accept our Media Licensing Agreement. Some phone browsers may hide 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 agree and submit push button should appear!

How practice I upload images on shared checklists?

Calculation media items to a shared checklist follows the same process as calculation media to a personal checklist.

It's important to sympathise that when someone shares a checklist with y'all, or you lot share with someone, you can see their media and they tin see yours. However, they cannot edit or alter your media, and you cannot change theirs.

It's also important to understand that currently simply 10 rich media files (photos or audio files) tin be 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 x media files, you must first 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 y'all to add your own media files to support the record.

Types of media immune

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

Is the bird marked equally unusual in eBird, and can you tell what species it is? If so, then aye! Even the worst quality photos are valuable if they can be used to establish the identification of a bird. In the example 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 non be reported on your checklists. Nosotros make rare exceptions for particularly unusual records of national interest. If you retrieve your tape might qualify for an exception, please contact us first. Otherwise, delight do non upload photos of dead birds. Encounter our Best Practices for eBird checklists for more information.

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

eBird is designed for observations of wild, living birds. To ensure we collect the highest quality data on when and where birds occur, we encourage you lot toonlyupload non-bird photos (e.thou., photos of nests, eggs, feathers, etc.) when you likewise observed the birds themselves.

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

Virtually importantly,whenever you upload photos of nests, eggs, feathers, etc. to your eBird checklist - whether they besides contain a living bird or not - please use the appropriate "tags" in the Manage Media tool (learn more near tagging photos).

photo tags of nest

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

Every photo or audio recording you upload should accept been taken, past you lot, at the exact date and location indicated on the checklist. Delight practise non upload photos or recordings that exercise not straight correspond with that checklist and, more importantly, never upload a photograph from a different date or location as "proof" of a rare bird observation.

Can I upload video to my checklists?

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

You may too run across videos that were imported during the transition of media items from the Internet Bird Drove (IBC) to the Macaulay Library. These video items were previously archived, and virtually IBC users practise not take the ability to upload new video items at this time.

At this time, each photograph is associated with a specific observation in a checklist. Due to how the database is structured, y'all are unable to upload images of habitat or non-bird beast and flora into the checklist comments.

Why tin 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. Every bit engineering science improves over the years, we may somewhen increment 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 utilise media that you upload for not-for-profit uses in eBird, the Macaulay Library, and other Cornell Lab resource. We will non sublicense your photos or sounds to any third political party for commercial use without your permission. Whenever the Cornell Lab uses your media, y'all volition exist attributed. Please see our licensing agreement here.

Can I use photos from other people's eBird checklists?

The Macaulay Library archive is primarily a data repository for enquiry purposes. It is not an open repository of rich media available to the general public for whatsoever and all use. Assets in the collection are owned by the original author (e.g., lensman/recordist), and the copyright lies with each author unless otherwise indicated. It is not appropriate to download these avails for general 3rd party utilise, without permission from the author. Please read the full terms of utilise policy. For boosted data 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. Y'all can download the original files of your media by viewing the asset page (due east.g. ML###) and clicking 'Download Original' in the lower right corner.

You tin can too download an organized spreadsheet of the metadata for your personal media avails in eBird/ML, much like with your eBird checklists themselves. Just go to your eBird Contour page and click 'View All' next to 'Latest Photos' or use the Media Search to access your media gallery by searching for your name under 'Correspondent.' Once there, you can click the blue 'Save Spreadsheet' link in the tiptop right corner and brainstorm the download.

Additional questions

Why does it have so long to upload my images?

Several processes take place when yous upload your photos to eBird. In that location are ii primary reasons it might take longer than expected to upload photos:

  • Slow connection: the speed in which your files are transferred to eBird depends largely on your internet connection and bandwidth. Faster connectedness speeds mean faster upload times. Bigger files take longer, and so if your connectedness is irksome, considering limiting the file sizes of your images/sounds to something smaller.
  • The photo "ingestion" process: this occurs on our cease. In one case nosotros receive the file, we ingest it into the database, catechumen the file to a smaller version for brandish, and send it dorsum to the eBird checklist. This process usually happens instantaneously, only if at that place is a lot of traffic, it's possible that your files will exist put into a processing queue, which could upshot in minor delays.

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

My sound recording nonetheless says "Processing sound" later on several hours, what can I do?

If you see the "Processing audio" message a few hours afterwards uploading a recording, please be patient and practice not delete the file. Processing sound files so that they play quickly with a visual representation takes some time. We place audio files in a queue and process them in the order in which they were uploaded. There are several queues and some sound files are larger than others, and then they don't all move at the same speed. If you delete the file that you uploaded, you will make the process take longer for everyone, including yourself.

I uploaded my friend's photo and information technology has my name on it. How do I change that?

Photos are associated with the eBird account they are uploaded nether, and the rights to the photograph belong to that account. If information technology is a photograph from your friend, then you should share the checklist with them, and get them to upload the photo! eBird is 100% free, so at that place is no reason they tin't upload it on their ain.

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

If you uploaded your photos to Flickr and hyperlinked them to eBird checklists, you lot tin employ the eBird Flickr Importer to import your photos automatically from Flickr to eBird, replacing hyperlinks with media curated in the Macaulay Library. Please make certain to follow the tool's instructions closely!

For now, nosotros accept no mode to retrieve images from websites other than Flickr and embed them in your eBird checklists. If you accept media hosted at other sources and desire 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)