Leveraging eBird data products to inform regional bird conservation priorities and objectives

Abstract As migratory bird populations continue to decline at alarming rates worldwide, there is an urgent need for comprehensive information on their distributions, abundances, and population trajectories to help pinpoint causes of declines and develop strategies for recovery. To address these needs, North American Migratory Bird Joint Ventures (JVs) are increasingly leveraging eBird Status and Trends data products—freely available, scalable information on bird populations—to fill key information gaps and inform on-the-ground habitat conservation planning and delivery. We present 6 empirical case studies demonstrating how JVs are applying eBird data products to address regional conservation priorities and meet common information needs encountered by conservation organizations: (1) estimating region-specific proportions of global populations to support priority species selection; (2) assessing temporal abundance patterns (ie, migration chronologies) to inform full annual cycle conservation; (3) identifying areas of multi-species habitat use (ie, hotspots) across seasons; and (4) monitoring spatially explicit population trends to detect and respond to localized changes. Together, these examples offer a transferrable framework for how conservation practitioners can integrate information from eBird into decision-making—enabling more targeted, data-informed conservation delivery in the face of escalating biodiversity loss and limited resources.