Back Bay Bird Identification

Hello, fine feathered friends!

I am happy to announce the launch of Back Bay Bird Identification! This is a Zooniverse project that asks you to identify the presence and species of birds in game camera photos collected from the Back Bay of Biloxi, Mississippi. Zooniverse is an online platform that allows volunteers to assist in citizen science projects. This is your chance to directly contribute to coastal research! No experience is needed to help sort through photos.

This project is looking to monitor bird presence in the Back Bay of Biloxi at various shoreline environments before and after the construction of a living shoreline built to prevent erosion. Findings from this project will provide valuable insights on bird habitat usage in the Back Bay of Biloxi and the effectiveness of living shorelines in restoring coastal habitats.16 game cameras collect an image every 5 minutes while deployed and are deployed in 2 week increments 6 times a year. Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center has a small team working on this project, but there are a few hundred thousand photos to go through. Help is needed to sort through these images and identify birds. Please consider helping out with this project!

Get involved and give the project a try – visit https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/leslieazwell/back-bay-bird-identification

If you have questions, feel free to contact Leslie Azwell at laa255@msstate.edu. The Zooniverse web page has great information about the project on the “About” tab, and all the information you need to get started with sorting photos is in the “Tutorial”.

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Great blue heron photo by Mandy Rigsby