Test Run Data Collection for Battling Birds: Panama Edition!

January 21, 2021

Before we launch into the data collection phase of Battling Birds: Panama Edition, we need to test the protocol.

On the lefthand side is a videofeed in which there is a small bright blue-green bird perched on a feeding table in front of green vegetation. On the right is buttons and a question to illustrate the data collection protocol.
A screenshot of the first question in the data collection protocol on Zooniverse.

Thanks to the community discussions and feedback, we’ve finished designing a protocol for data collection. This protocol will allow participants to record the essential information that we’ll need to investigate the social rankings of birds at the feeder and evaluate what could be affecting these rankings (such as the type of food).

The data collection is hosted on Zooniverse, an online platform that hosts thousands of projects where people just like you collect data for citizen science projects. It’s also where we collected data for the first Battling Birds investigation. This platform allows us to collect data from short video clips we’ve taken from archived cam footage.

Ready to get started?

  1. Begin by bookmarking the Zooniverse project’s URL on your web browser: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/cornellbirdcams/battling-birds-panama-edition. We haven’t made it publicly available yet, so you’ll need this link to navigate back to the project later. Tap here if you need help bookmarking a link on your browser.
  2. Create a free Zooniverse account once you visit the project.
  3. Click “Classify” and test the data collection protocol.
  4. Let us know what you think on the Zooniverse Project Talk Board “Feedback.”

Thanks for helping us do this test run. It’s an important step before we start the actual data collection.