JOSH'S BIG YEAR TRACKER • ABA AREA
Command Center
Complete ABA checklist, encounters by sight or sound, evidence tracking, seasonal target intelligence, trips, chases, calendar, eBird import and analytics.
Bird Commander will download and validate the current official ABA checklist automatically.
TODAY'S COMMAND VIEW
Planning day
Loading target intelligence…
Field Conditions
Weather for the selected hotspot area.
Rare Radar
Highest-priority notable reports near your local base.
What should I bird?
Best target clusters today.
Upcoming Trips
Next planned travel blocks.
Active Chases
Highest chase scores first.
Quick Actions
Field and sync tools.
ABA Checklist
Sync the official list to begin.
PERSONAL RECORD
eBird Life List
Import your eBird Download My Data CSV to build a lifetime species view. This is stored separately and never changes your 2027 Big Year count.
Lifetime Species
Import an eBird CSV to begin.
Target Engine
Score is a planning aid, not a probability claim.
Explore Any Location
Enter a park, hotspot, city, county, address, or coordinates. Commander builds a temporary live birding read without changing your saved locations.
Location Intelligence
Clusters remaining targets by destination so you can maximize additions per stop.
Big Year Map
OpenStreetMap + your encounters, targets, local rarity radar and trips.
Phone Chase Pack
Choose a target location, rank the best birds by score, then share, save, download, or email the pack.
Trip Planner
Projected target pool and actual additions by trip dates.
2027 Seasonal Calendar
Click a month to set the planning date and jump into Targets.
PRIMARY WATCH ZONE
Two Rivers Rare Bird Radar
Centered on Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Uses eBird's recent nearby notable-observation feed and cross-checks each report against your 2027 Big Year list.
Home-zone Intelligence
Two Rivers city center: 44.1549, −87.5764.
eBird API Setup
Your personal eBird API key stays in this browser only and is deliberately excluded from Big Year backups.
In the hosted PWA, eBird requests use the same-origin Bird Commander Cloud API. Your personal eBird key remains stored only in this browser/device.
Current Alerts
Sorted by Big Year chase score, then freshness and distance.
How the score works
The local score favors birds you still need, fresher reports, shorter distance from Two Rivers, repeat reports at multiple nearby locations, higher ABA rarity codes, and reviewed/valid observations. It is a chase-priority score, not a probability of success.
Chase Board
No cost math. Just rarity, freshness, confidence and whether you still need it.
New Birds by Month
Encounter Mix
ABA Code Coverage
Region Target Coverage
eBird Import
Import My eBird → Download My Data. Only observations dated in 2027 are applied to this Big Year.
An eBird observation marks the bird as encountered, but eBird's spreadsheet does not reliably say whether you saw it or heard it. Classify 👁 / 👂 afterward. Media catalog numbers are preserved as evidence without guessing whether they are photo or audio.
Backups
JSON is the full-fidelity backup. CSV is convenient for spreadsheets.
Taxonomy Safety
Load the official ABA checklist to run integrity checks.
App / Offline
Hosted Bird Commander PWA.
Checking install and offline support…
The tracker shell and your locally stored records remain available offline after the first successful hosted load. Live eBird, weather, geocoding and map tiles require internet. Recently used reference bird images can be retained by the PWA cache.