Utah Birds Website Proposal
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Objective
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Displaying Dusky Grouse
by Paul Higgins
©Paul
Higgins
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Young Common Goldeneyes
leaving their cavity nest
by Eero Mustonen
©Eero Mustonen |
Utahbirds.org is a live, interactive
site engaging daily with Utah birders. It is a highly ranked birding
website maintained by a
small staff looking to find it a new home in
Utah academia so that the site and its contributions to Utah birding can
continue. The site's excellent content and close connection to and use by
the Utah birding community makes it a valuable asset, data source, and
opportunity for student and faculty research.
Overview
After a short background and
description of the birding site's content, I'll mention the site's
research, historical, citizen science, and birding community value—and the
possible academic departments, faculty, and students who could benefit
from continuing this important natural science and environmental resource.
Background
The Utah Birds website was developed in 1997 by the Utah County Birders
organization, its current sponsor. It was created to provide a single site
for birding organizations and people interested in birds in the state of
Utah. For much of the last 20 years this website has been ranked number 17
among birding websites in the English-speaking world by Birding.com.
Now, it is
ranked #
21 in the top 30
in Thayer Birding.
The site is about 13.5 GB in size and is hosted by ZMC Consulting in
Highland, Utah. Its webmaster and primary caretaker for the past 23 years,
Milton Moody, resides in Provo, Utah and can be reached at webmaster@utahbirds.org
to answer any questions about the site or its content.
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Some
Site Content and Assets
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Arches National Park
by George Lyman
©George Lyman |
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Common Loon
by
Jack Binch ©Jack
Binch |
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Uinta Mountains
by Merrill Webb
©Merrill Webb |
Utah Bird Records Committee.
Nearly every state has a committee that reviews and vets sightings of
rare birds and publishes their results. All
relevant sightings in Utah since the committee began in about 1980 have
been digitized and posted on our website. Also, historical sightings from
reliable sources (some from as early as the 1800's) have been listed by
species on the
comprehensive list of sightings of rare species reported.
Photo
Gallery. The Photo Gallery is a collection of photos of the birds of the
US & Canada, taken by around 250 different photographers,
mostly from Utah. These photos are arranged by plumage, sex, age, activity,
etc. to show the different aspects of each bird species. There are over 17,000
photos in this collection.
Utah
Listing Records. The birders of the state send in the numbers of species
seen in different locations and over a given length of time to see how they
compare with other Utah birders’ numbers. The site also includes
numbers for sightings in different states, foreign countries and regions, as well as the
different counties in our state. This motivates birders to get out and look for
birds they need for their lists and at the same time be inspired by Utah's
stunning landscapes and the variety of birds living in the state's many
habitats.
Birding
Organization Information. There are links to the different birding
organizations in Utah, including a website for the Utah
County Birders, which is the website's sponsor. We also post information
about special events around the state like birding festivals, the annual Christmas
Bird Count (there are around 30 or them in the state), and other things of
interest to the birding community. We've also set up Google Group email lists
for most of the birding groups of the state.
Good
Birding Places. We have collected information and photos of over 600 good
places to see birds in Utah. We list them individually and also by county.
Each of the birding place pages has links, if available, to eBird data for
that location and other nearby places. On the individual County
Pages we have other county information that might be useful in finding
birds in that area.
Print
Center. We have the latest official checklists for Utah as well as local
checklists, like one for every
county, as well as other documents that might be useful to birders.
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Website
Resources
Research
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Utah
Rare Bird Committee
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Photo Gallery (variety of views for each species)
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Checklists of Birds in different parts of the state
Historical
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Comprehensive Rare bird sightings
list.
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Utah Rare Bird
Committee reports
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UBRC Archives
Citizen science
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Christmas Bird Counts in Utah
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Connection with eBird
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Communication with groups in state
Community Outreach
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Listing Records
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Places to find birds in Utah
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Feature articles
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Photo Gallery
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Photographers
Organizations That Could Benefit from Managing the Website
(with some examples)
Academic.
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Biology/Zoology/Ornithology/Ecology
With a lot of reviewed sight records available for study, students can
learn the ins and outs of differentiating similar species by field marks,
habitat, and behavior.
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Biology Teaching in Primary and
Secondary Schools
By using the numerous photos, tools for teaching students can be
created to show characteristics of different bird groups as well as
showing diagnostic characteristics for different species within the
groups.
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Computer Science
There are many challenges to create software that will make if easy and
convenient for users to submit sightings records of rare birds, contribute
bird photos and photos of good birding locations, send in information to
post on the website, as well as report their birding numbers to be listed
with those of other birders. Programming to meet specific needs with
an interacting public would be a very challenging and educational experience.
One specific example would be to automate The "Utah
Bird Records Committee" to function according to its bylaws, from public
submission of records, to a nine-member review committee voting and
commenting on them, to creating searchable databases that can be used for
the study of birds populations. This would be a very complex and useful
challenge for computer programmers.
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Statistics
Sighting data for rare birds from as early as the 1800's can be
combined with voluminous eBird data to provide a comprehensive database
for bird ecology research. Using statistical and machine learning tools,
wildlife management could use these data to get a more complete picture of
wildlife health. Such analyses could guide or motivate management
decisions and interventions to preserve ecological stability.
Museums and Conservation
Organizations.
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Life Science Museums
Museum outreach programs like, photo contests, field trip
opportunities, school education programs, etc. could be facilitated
through the website.
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Audubon Society
and birding groups
With a connection between birding groups and museums and conservation
organizations, all can be mutually benefited by an exchange of
information, the sharing of assets and using the expertise of their
members, university students and staff to enhance the public's
awareness of birds and the environment.
State Agencies.
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Utah
Division of Wildlife Resources
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Utah Division of Parks &
Recreation
The many programs, festivals and education events provided
by government agencies can be facilitated by advertisement and
communication through the website, and assistance from experts and
students associated with universities of the state participating in these
activities could be beneficial to all.
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This would be a good opportunity
for university students to Learn while serving
Since a university may have an ornithology
department, a computer science department and a museum of natural history
or the like, it would be an ideal place to use all of the data and
different aspects of the Utah Birds website in a coordinated effort, to
benefit students and increase the community awareness and appreciation of
the natural world around us.
The Utahbirds.org staff would like to
work with you to further the appreciation of nature in Utah.
If you have any question, just email the webmaster
at UtahBirds@gmail.com |
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