Live on the globe now: 1,613 tracked
This layer plots the rare and notable bird sightings that birders are filing right now to eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's global citizen-science database. Each glowing point is a recent observation flagged as out of the ordinary for its area: a species that turns up rarely there, or in numbers high enough to trip eBird's regional filters and land on a "rare bird alert." We pull eBird's recent-notable feed across a curated set of birding-rich countries (the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, much of Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, Japan and more), refreshed every few minutes. Click any sighting to inspect it: the common and scientific name, how many birds were counted, the place it was seen, the observation date, whether the record has been confirmed by a volunteer reviewer, and a link straight to the original eBird checklist. Unlike the photo-driven, all-species iNaturalist layer, this one is birds only and notable only — it surfaces the vagrants, first records and unusual counts that send birders running for their binoculars. It is one of roughly 29 live layers you can toggle on the same spinnable globe, free and with no login.
Data source: eBird
From eBird, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The observations are submitted by birders worldwide through eBird's checklists, and we read its recent-notable endpoint, which flags sightings that are unusual for a given region.
eBird compares each report against regional filters. A species seen infrequently in that area, out of season, or in an unusually high count gets flagged as notable. These are the records that drive eBird's rare bird alerts.
eBird is organized by region, so we sweep a curated set of birding-active countries rather than every nation. Coverage also follows the birders: areas with more eBird users naturally report more notable sightings.
The feed refreshes every few minutes and shows recent observations. Click a point to see the observation date and whether a volunteer reviewer has confirmed it; unreviewed records are still pending eBird's data-quality check. Each point links to the original checklist.