By Ashley Peele
Maybe Atlas volunteers find themselves asking where they should submit their breeding data? Simply put, if your checklist has ANY breeding codes on it, then it should be submitted to the Atlas eBird portal at https://ebird.org/atlasva/home.
For those observers who prefer to enter their eBird lists via smartphones, it is important to know that a one-time step needs to be taken to ensure that your Atlas checklists end up in the VABBA2 eBird portal. It is now possible to report observations directly to the Atlas eBird portal via your smartphone by switching portals. The picture below illustrates how to change eBird portals on your smartphone.
Switching portals on your Smartphone- (1) Click the Settings icon (2) Tap the portal button (3) Select the preferred portal, either ‘regular’ eBird (illustrated) or scrolling down to the VA Breeding Bird Atlas portal.
If you need to change portals via your computer, follow the steps shown in the next image. Remember that you can always go back and change the details of a checklist, especially what portal it has been submitted to!
Step One: Open the relevant checklist of interest and look for the Checklist Tools button (circled in red below)
Step Two: Click the Checklist Tools button and select to Change Portal from the drop-down menu (circled in red below).
Step Three: A new screen will appear with another dropdown menu. Click the arrow at right (circled below) and scroll down to the bottom of the portal list, where you will see the ‘Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas’ listed. Select this, click the green change portal button and you’re good to go!
Remember to switch your portal setting back to regular eBird by late summer, when breeding observations wane. It is important to keep non-breeding related data from filling up the Atlas database, so by August consider switching. You can always switch back to the VABBA2 portal for the odd, late breeding observation.
~ Ashley Peele, VABBA2 State Coordinator