The eBird citizen science project is the largest biodiversity citizen science project, with over 1 billion bird observations. Despite a number of challenges with citizen science data, using appropriate analytical methods, we can extract useful ecological knowledge about avian systems. 

We use the data from eBird to estimate species ranges, relative abundance, weekly population movements, habitat associations, and population trends. This information is provided across broad geographic extents and at fine spatial scales, providing unprecedented insights into the avian community. This information can increase our understanding of migration patterns, seasonal bird dynamics, and seasonal changes in habitat use. Fine-scale information on relative bird abundance can also be used to inform precision real-time conservation, in addition to longer-term conservation strategies at broad spatial scales. 

I will present an overview of the different aspects of species patterns that we learn from eBird data, and some examples of how we can learn about ecology and inform conservation from these insights. These data products are all freely available in an R package.