Recently, I came across a reference to this program called . What a neat idea. The program was launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. Anyone – amateur birdwatcher, backyard observer, professional scientist, etc. – can quickly register with the program and then record their bird observations including mapping. There are now various regional programs including eBird Canada.

Apparently the program now has bird recordings/observations into the multi-millions. Wikipedia describes the program as:

an on-line database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance across the Western Hemisphere. eBird has been described as an ambitious example of enlisting amateurs to gather data on biodiversity for use in science.

What a great concept.I’m not much of a birder – but what a great way to connect a huge community of people that are birders.

With the hundreds of thousands of individuals involved in wild salmon-related projects in Western North America – is this something that could build a community of salmon folks? Maybe improve estimates of annual salmon returns? Could the multitude of salmon folks out there “democratize” science surrounding wild salmon?

could something like this be utilized to map and identify Atlantic salmon that show up in British Columbia streams? (or maybe there is already something out there).