eBird Competition

Sponsored by eBird, AOS, and Colorado Field Ornithologists

This competition is open to everybody attending the AOS 2024 Annual Meeting in Estes Park, Colorado (30 September–5 October 2024). To join you just need to get out birding and submit qualifying eBird checklists. Participants will be entered into daily drawings to win prizes sponsored by eBird and AOS! 

Daily drawings: During the morning announcements at the plenaries on Wednesday–Saturday, a winner will be announced from a random draw of all individuals who submitted a qualifying eBird checklist for the previous day (checklists must be submitted by 9:00 p.m. local time the prior evening). The drawing on 2 October will include checklists from September 30 and October 1. Once an individual has won a daily draw they are not eligible to win another daily draw. Daily draw prizes must be picked up from the registration table by 1:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, 5 October. 

End of meeting draw: Everybody who enters three or more qualifying eBird checklists submitted to the AOS eBird competition trip report will be entered into the conference drawing. The winner will be announced during the closing Ceremony on Saturday, 5 October. Qualifying checklists must be submitted by 1:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, 5 October. You or a proxy must be present to win. 

All of the checklists submitted by conference attendees, including media submitted, can be viewed on the “AOS Annual Meeting 2024—Estes Park” Trip Report, which you can find here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/273822. 

Qualifying Checklists

Qualifying checklists must be complete lists (no incidental lists) and must have counts for all species (no X’s). For more information on complete lists see info here.  

How to Submit a Checklist for the Competition

1. Register for eBird. If you don’t already have an eBird account, go to eBird and sign up. You might also want to go to the appropriate app store for your phone/device and download the eBird app so that you can enter your list in the field as you bird. If you are new to eBird, you can find additional help here.
2. IMPORTANT: Get added to the trip report. Email your eBird username to mjonespatterson@cobirds.org. You will then receive an invitation to join the conference Trip Report (https://ebird.org/tripreport/273822). Allow 24 hours for the Trip Report invitation to arrive. Once you accept the invitation, your eBird lists and media from the conference period will automatically be included in the summary—and appear on the meeting’s birding map! You must accept the invitation to join the Trip Report for your checklists to count for the drawing.
3. Go birding and submit complete checklists. During the conference, go out birding and submit a complete eBird checklist for each outing. Report all species you could identify by sight or sound and include counts for each species. Qualifying checklists must be complete lists (no incidental lists) and must have counts for all species (no X’s).  For more information on complete lists see info here.  
4. Listen for your name. Everybody who has their name on a qualifying checklist entered by the time deadlines listed for the drawings above will be eligible for prizes. 

If you have questions about the competition, please contact Megan Jones Patterson (mjonespatterson@cobirds.org).

Sponsors

Thanks to our generous sponsors for making this event possible.