One of the purposes of citizen science is to bring knowledge and awareness to the natural world. The more individuals that know what a Henslow’s Sparrow is, for example, the likelier the chance that this species will be included in conservation managment projects.
Flickr.com is where the Birdfreak Team manages photos and shares them with others. Flickr is totally free for a basic account. We found it is a great way to look at birds through another’s eye and to learn and share information about birds. It is also easy to post the pictures to our blogs and website pages.
Common Yellowthroat
Some groups on flickr are geared solely for birds such as Tufted Titmouse – The Bird and Crows. Some are used for citizen science projects such as Song Sparrow Variation and Citizen Science: Great Blue Heron.
We have started three groups on flickr, to promote and share birding coolness. The first group we started quite a ways back is called Free to Use Photos for anyone who needs a bird photo to use or add. We don’t take the best photos, but we thought it would be nice to provide a free bird photo resource for others to use.
The second group, The Secret Life of Birds is a photography group on flickr that anyone can add photos to, provided they show some type of bird behavior. This group has grown fast and is a wonderful place to find many types of bird activities.
This is our favorite group to add and look at photos of birds.
One of the reasons for creating this group is to learn more about what birds are doing and to share with others the great wonderful things about them. It is so fun (though time consuming) to look through everyone’s bird action shots.
The last group is called Birds As Art, to show the beauty of birds both realistic and abstract. If people love birds they will want to help save them and that is priceless!
Flickr bird groups might not save the world, but they give us a peek into the life of birds through thousands of eyes worldwide.
Hi, thanks for your efforts in sharing such great resources. I’ve added them to my Favorites and will be taking a closer look at a later time. I’m sure some of them will end up on my blog in the futre (with proper credit given of course).
Cool on your photo groups. I’d recently heard something about Flickr becoming the owner of any photos uploaded there, so I’ve been hesitant to get an account with them. I’ll have to read all of their legalese before I do, at any rate.
I love this project you’re hosting. Keep up the great work and creative thinking!