Audubon Everglades Presents

“eBird from a Volunteer Regional Reviewer’s Perspective” with Dan O’Malley

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 7pm (Note: New date)

UPDATE: If you missed the program, you can catch it on our Program Videos page.

Join us for our November Zoom-hosted program with Dan O’Malley, a volunteer regional reviewer for eBird, who will explain the eBird review process in detail and will inform listeners how they can best document their flagged sightings to expedite the review process.

eBird is a citizen science project coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that maintains a global database of bird sightings. The volume of data generated by the veritable army of eBird contributors is incredibly powerful and has been used in numerous scientific publications and government agency reports. As with any dataset, accurate interpretation of data relies on quality control. For eBird, this quality control function is performed by volunteer regional reviewers who are responsible for setting filters that flag unusual sightings in their geographic area of expertise and for reviewing any reports submitted to eBird that are flagged by those filters.

Dan O’Malley was born in Rhode Island and was fascinated by the coastal environment and natural world at a young age. He was first introduced to ornithology while attending Tulane University in New Orleans and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Although his master’s thesis at Nicholls State University focused on using oyster reefs for coastal erosion protection, he was also involved in ornithological research projects at the university and took advantage of the world-class birding opportunities offered by the nearby Louisiana coast. Dan was employed for three years by the Natural Heritage Program at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, where he developed and conducted research and monitoring projects on birds and other non-game wildlife species. During his time in Louisiana, he was mentored by several expert ornithologists associated with the renowned LSU Museum of Natural Sciences. Moving to Palm Beach County in 2016, Dan worked for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for three years, using his wind-ranging background to work on both marine habitat restoration projects and non-game species conservation projects, especially birds. Dan recently became licensed as a Registered Nurse and relocated to Gainesville, where he looks forward to exploring new birding territory.

Please check your email for a link to join this exciting member presentation via Zoom.