# birds.place

> Log a bird you saw. The sighting lives in your own AT Protocol repository, not ours.

birds.place is a client-only web app. There is no backend and no database: it is
static files on Cloudflare, and every read and write goes directly to the
signed-in user's own Personal Data Server over atproto OAuth.

## the record

Sightings are written to the collection `place.birds.sighting`.

- `species` (required) — free text, exactly what the observer typed.
- `speciesCode` — the observer's asserted identification as a stable
  eBird/Clements taxon code (e.g. `norcar`). Present only when they picked from
  the list. May be a `spuh` ("hawk sp.") or `slash` ("Greater/Lesser Scaup")
  code when the identification is honestly partial.
- `count`, `notes` — optional.
- `media` — up to 4 blobs (image, audio, or video) on the observer's own PDS.
  Bird calls are first-class.
- `location` — optional latitude/longitude, stored as strings and deliberately
  rounded to 3 decimal places (~110m). These are public, permanent records; a
  sighting does not need a precise fix, and a precise one cannot be unpublished.
- `observedAt`, `createdAt` — separate, so a sighting can be logged later.

The NSID authority is `birds.place` itself.

## reading the data

Sightings are public atproto records. Enumerate them the way you would any
collection — no API key, no account here, and no permission needed from us.
There is no server-side index; this app queries only the signed-in user's repo.

## honor system

`species` is what someone believes they saw. It is not a verified determination
and nothing here reviews or ranks observers. This is a place to notice birds,
not a scoreboard.

## links

- [birds.place](https://birds.place/): the app itself — sign in with any atproto account.
- [source](https://tangled.org/zzstoatzz.io/birds.place): full source, including the lexicon at `lexicons/place/birds/sighting.json`.
- [OAuth client metadata](https://birds.place/oauth-client-metadata.json): the client document, scoped to `place.birds.sighting` plus blobs.
- [taxonomy.json](https://birds.place/taxonomy.json): the 12,924-taxon species bank the picker searches, from the eBird/Clements taxonomy, ranked by GBIF occurrence counts.
- [AT Protocol](https://atproto.com): the protocol the records live on.