Checklists & Reporting

Recording what you see can be fun for you—and it can help make you a better observer.  Taking the next step and reporting what you see in the field is important not only to RBA members, but to the entire birding community.  We hope these resources will help you track and share your bird sightings.

We advise several methods for reporting sightings:

• Input your data into eBird
• If you see something you know to be rare for our area, post a message to a Rare Bird Alert, to a listserv or to one or more social media sites
• In the cases of any species found on the New York State Avian Records Committee (NYSARC) list, submit a written report to NYSARC

If you want your sightings included in the “Historical Records” section of the Little Gull (and we hope you do), you must enter them in eBird.

Use these to keep track of your sightings in the field.

• RBA Printable Checklist
• eBird

These are e-mail lists you subscribe to for free, where you can post your sightings, ask birding related questions or read what others are observing.

• GeneseeBirds serves western New York (includes but is not limited to Monroe County, Livingston County, Buffalo and Niagara Falls areas). To subscribe or for posting privileges, register on the Info Page.
• CayugaBirds covers the area around the Cayuga Lake Basin. To subscribe or for posting privileges, email the following with your name in quotation marks:  JOIN Cayugabirds-L “Your Real Name”
• ABA Birding News is a repository for nearly every birding listserv in the U.S.

Be certain to read the rules for each group, as they may prohibit certain kinds of content (nesting owls, for example) or as they may have a particular focus.

• Rochester Birding Association
• Rochester Birding Community Group
• Buffalo-Niagara Birding
• Western New York Birders
• New York Birders
• New York Rare Bird Alert

• Buffalo Dial-A-Bird: 716-896-1271.  This service offered by the Buffalo Ornithological Society gives an updated report every Thursday of local sightings.