CBC Count Circle Viewer

An application for viewing and navigating your count circle.

Launch

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds primarily in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the winter by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology. The CBC is the longest-running citizen science survey in the world.

The current CBC count circles we have available are listed below. When you select your circle this application will launch a map with your circle on it. Before you launch your map you may want to check out the other tabs on this page, they will help explain some of the tools in this app and how to use them.

Please select:  

Locate

This map can show your location. If you click the locate button in the upper left hand section of the map, the map will zoom in on your current location.

If you have bad cell service you may notice a small ring around your location, this is the margin of error in your phones location abilities.

If you have location settings in your phone to prevent your phones browser from using your location you will have to adjust those settings to use this feature.

Record Lat/Longs

If you tap (or 'click' for the computer users) anywhere within your count circle you will notice that a pin gets dropped. On pin drop you may also notice that the legend in the upper right hand corner of the map gets updated with information about the area in which you dropped the pin.

If you need to record latitude/longitude, simply tap the pin button in the upper left hand corner of the map. This will bring up a pop-up of the pins latitude and longitude which you can copy/paste into your notes. If you see a 'write up' bird and need to report its location, this is an extremely accurate way to do so.

Layers

In the bottom right of your count circles map you will see a layer control. We have 5 options for layer types you can use while out in the field.

  1. Gray Canvas is a simple low contrast map ideal for printing.
  2. National Geographic is a shaded relief of the region.
  3. Open Street Map is often the most useful for seeing roads and trails.
  4. Satellite is ideal for seeing physical features as they appear on the ground.
  5. Topographic is ideal for understanding changes in the elevation of your count area.

Print

This option is suited for surveyors who prefer not to use a phone. Within this tool there are three different orientations to choose from. It can be a bit tricky getting exactly the correct orientation for your survey area, so a desktop computer is recommended.

When you click 'print' your computer will send a PNG picture to your downloads folder. From there you can send it to your printer. Whatever basemap you have selected will print with the map (layer control is in the lower right hand corner of the screen).

If you use this feature on a phone in the field, the photo snapshot can be sent over text message. This in addition to coordinates is a solid method of sharing bird locations with team members.

About

My name's Will Wiskes. I found my path through working in avian ecology. After a few years in the field I decided to build my skills in web development and the analysis of ecological data. During the day I work as a Data Scientist, however if you like my work I am available for contracts (although this project I will always maintain for free).

This application is built in python on a flask framework. If you want your count circle included shoot me an email for our style guide and check out the map. My contact information can be found by clicking my name below.

Thanks and happy surveying!

-Will Wiskes (made with <3 in Python & Flask)