Hello fellow birders,

Spring is just around the corner and we have completed the total
updating of Vermont’s hotspots, including the adding of many new
hotspots throughout the state.

If you use eBird you know that when submitting a checklist you can
select either a “personal” location (one of your own making) or a
“hotspot” location (created by eBird). Only you can add additional
checklists to your personal locations. However, anyone can add a
checklist to a hotspot location.

Hence each hotspot gathers bird information from many different birders.
This is the reason eBird wants states like Vermont and countries around
the world to add more hotspots. No longer just a location for seeing
rare or extraordinarily abundant birds, hotspots also now invite birders
to less visited locales, ecosystems, and landscapes.

When you use hotspots to report your birding observations you greatly
facilitate the value of your observation at that location. This is
because anyone can utilize all the different checklists in the hotspot
in creating maps, bar graphs, species lists, graphs, reports, and other
analyses. New and out-of-state visitors can use the hotspots to find out
what birds to expect, for example. Or you can follow the patterns of
certain species through time at that place.

So when you go to submit a checklist, we encourage you to select your
location via the “Find it on a Map” function. Look to see if there is a
hotspot that serves the area of your birding. If you are a long-time
eBirder, you can also use the “Find it on a Map” function to discover
the many new hotspots that we’ve created. There are now 813 hotspots
statewide!

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New hotspots have been added around the state at nearly all Vermont
State Parks and Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), at large tracts of
land such as the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, in areas with very
little birding (to encourage more birding) such as the thousands of
acres of National Forest in southern Vermont, and from the
recommendations of numerous birders. Nearly all lakes and ponds over 10
areas in size have hotspots.

Likewise, we have competed assessment and editing of all pre-existing
hotspots in Vermont. This includes renaming many for consistency and
clarity, adjusting the map location as necessary for accuracy, and
consolidating redundant hotspots.

Soon to come – Look for additional information on hotspots and new
places to bird in Vermont on the Vermont eBird website “Birding News and
Features.”

Thanks for using eBird – and the hotspots!

If you have any questions please contact us:

Ron Payne
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Ian Worley
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Kent McFarland
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