Find Coverage Gaps: Where Your Birding Counts Most

The Birds PWA now helps you discover under-surveyed areas where your observations can make the biggest conservation impact.

We've added a major new feature to birds.birdlife.tech — the ability to find eBird coverage gaps near you or in any region worldwide. Now you can not only see what birds are around, but also discover where birders are needed most.

What are coverage gaps?

eBird data is incredibly valuable for science and conservation, but it's not evenly distributed. Some areas have hundreds of checklists, while nearby grid cells have none. These "coverage gaps" represent opportunities — places where a single birding trip can provide new data that helps researchers understand bird populations.

How it works

  • Near Me — Use your GPS location to find gaps within 50km. Perfect for planning your next local birding trip.
  • By Region — Select any country (and subregion for larger countries) to explore gaps farther afield.
  • Priority ranking — Gaps are scored by priority. High-priority cells have no hotspots nearby and need coverage most urgently.
  • Map view — Toggle between list and map to visualize gap locations. Markers are color-coded by priority.
  • Get Directions — One tap opens Google Maps navigation to the gap center.

Built on open source

This feature is powered by two new birdlife-tools projects:

  • volunteer-hotspot-finder — A Python library that analyzes eBird hotspot data to identify under-surveyed grid cells. Available on PyPI.
  • Hotspots API — A hosted API at birdlife.tech/hotspots/api/v1/ that provides coverage gap data for any eBird region, with cascading country/subregion support.

Why this matters

Citizen science data is only as good as its coverage. When researchers use eBird data to study migration patterns, population trends, or habitat preferences, gaps in coverage can skew results or leave questions unanswered. By directing birders to under-surveyed areas, we can collectively build a more complete picture of bird populations.

Even a single checklist from a coverage gap provides valuable data. You don't need to be an expert — just record what you see, where you see it.

Gap priority levels:

High No eBird hotspots in this grid cell — most valuable for coverage
Medium Few observations, far from established hotspots
Low Some coverage exists but more data would help

Try it now

Open birds.birdlife.tech and tap the Hotspots tab at the bottom. Use "Near Me" to find gaps close by, or explore a region you're planning to visit.

When you find a gap that looks accessible, hit "Get Directions" and go birding! Submit your checklist to eBird as usual — you're now contributing to better coverage.

API access

Want to build your own tools? The Hotspots API is free to use:

  • GET /gaps/nearby — Find gaps near coordinates
  • GET /gaps/region/RS — Find gaps in an eBird region
  • GET /regions/countries — List available countries
  • GET /regions/US/subregions — Get subregions for large countries

Full documentation at birdlife.tech/services/hotspots.

Questions or feedback? Open an issue on GitHub or join us on Bluesky.