The species list you see (when adding a sighting or suggesting a species) on Birda is dynamically generated based on the location of the sighting. The first section of Birda's species list only contains species that have been previously seen within about 65km of the location of the sighting you are posting. The second 'Less Likely' section of Birda's species lists contains species that have previously been seen in the sighting region but not seen in the general location of the sighting you are posting.

The first section of Birda's species list is sorted in order of most common to least common for the location of the sighting. Species at the top of the list are likely to be relatively common in the location of the sighting, and species towards the bottom of the list are likely to be relatively uncommon in the location of the sighting.

These location-based species lists are generated from over one billion bird sightings recorded over the last decade. In the majority of circumstances, Birda's location-based species lists are a very accurate reflection of the species that occur at any location globally. Birda's location-based species lists will also improve over time as more bird sighting data is collected.

The benefit of these location-based species lists is that they simplify and accelerate searching for the correct species when adding a sighting. They also limit the scope for users to misidentify species. In doing so, we also improve the quality of data we provide to the scientific community.

GBIF.org (21 March 2022) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.qarpxp