About
WhatsRareToday.com shows notable bird sightings across the United States, pulled live from eBird — the world's largest citizen-science bird observation database, maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
"Notable" sightings are observations flagged by eBird as rare or unusual for the time and place — species outside their typical range, out-of-season arrivals, or genuinely uncommon birds. Every dot on the map is a real report submitted by a birder in the field.
How the data works
Sighting data is fetched directly from the eBird API and is as fresh as eBird's own database — typically within minutes of a checklist being submitted. Reload the page to get the latest reports.
The API returns sightings flagged as "notable" — eBird's term for observations that are statistically rare for that species, location, and time of year. This flag is assigned automatically by eBird's review system and may later be confirmed or rejected by regional reviewers. Most sightings you'll see here are genuine rarities, though occasionally a flagged record turns out to be a misidentification.
You can browse up to 30 days back — the maximum window the eBird API supports for notable sightings. Older records are available directly on ebird.org.
Sighting times are displayed in the local time of the observation location, not your time zone. A bird spotted at 9:35am in Texas will show as 9:35am regardless of where you're viewing from.
How to use the map
Markers: a green dot means one notable species was spotted at that location; a yellow dot means multiple notable species were reported at the same spot. Click any marker to see the full list of sightings and links to the original eBird checklists.
When many sightings are close together, the map clusters them into a numbered circle. Click the cluster to zoom in and spread them out. Use the ⟵ Full US View button (bottom-right of the map) to reset the view at any time.
Frequently asked questions
Make sure "All States" is selected in the state dropdown and the date range covers the period you're looking for. Some states have fewer observers, so quiet days do happen.
eBird uses "notable" as a catch-all for anything flagged as unusual — that includes genuinely rare birds, but also common species seen in unexpected places or at unexpected times. A Robin in Alaska in January is notable. A Painted Bunting in Maine is notable. Not every notable bird is a mega-rarity, but all of them are worth a second look.
Not currently — the map covers the contiguous US, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington D.C. Global coverage may come in a future update.
No — times reflect the local time where the observation was made. A sighting logged at 9:35am in Texas will show as 9:35am regardless of your time zone. Keep this in mind when comparing sightings across different parts of the country.
The data comes directly from eBird, so corrections should be submitted there. Each sighting on the map links to its original eBird checklist — click the ↗ checklist link to view or flag the record.
No. WhatsRareToday.com is an independent project that uses the public eBird API. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Privacy
WhatsRareToday.com uses Matomo for analytics — a self-hosted, open-source platform that keeps all data on our own servers. No data is shared with Google or any third-party ad networks. Matomo respects Do Not Track browser settings.
No account is required and no personal information is collected. The only data stored is standard web analytics (pages visited, general location by country/region, browser type, and referral source).