Export a session to eBird

From the end of a walk to a checklist in your eBird account. The app hands the file to a page on birdscribe.com, and you import it yourself with eBird's own import tool.

BirdScribe is not affiliated with eBird. The export is a 19-column eBird Record Format CSV. You need an eBird account, and the import happens on eBird's website, not in the eBird app.

In BirdScribe

1. On the session summary, tap Export to eBird.

Review the session first if you want to merge duplicate sightings or fix a name. The export uses whatever the summary shows.

Screenshot: the session summary in the app, with the Export to eBird button

2. Your phone opens a page on birdscribe.com.

By the time the page appears, the export has already been saved. The link on that page lasts 15 minutes from the moment of export.

Screenshot: the handoff moment, the app opening the birdscribe.com page

On the handoff page

3. Check the expiry at the top.

The notice reads "This link expires at" a clock time, with the minutes left in brackets. Under it is your checklist line: species count, date and location. If the time runs out, export again from the app for a fresh link.

The Send this to eBird page on a phone. At the top a notice reads This link expires at 12:02 AM (in 12 minutes). Below it, Your checklist: 23 species, 4 September, Cattana Wetlands. Then an Email this link to myself form with a Send button, the word or, and two numbered buttons: 1 Download your checklist, 2 Open eBird Import. — The handoff page as it first opens on a phone: expiry notice, checklist line, then the two routes.

4. Pick a route.

On a phone the page offers "Email this link to myself" first, then, after "or", the two-step download route. Both do the same job. Download here if you want to finish on the phone. Email the link if you would rather import later on a computer.

Route A: download here

5. Tap Download your checklist (step 1).

The download opens in its own tab, so the handoff page stays put. Come back to it for step 2. The file is named birdscribe, the date, the time and the location, for example birdscribe-2026-09-04-1523-Cattana-Wetlands.csv.

6. Tap Open eBird Import (step 2).

Once you have tapped Download, the page promotes step 2. Open eBird Import takes you to eBird's import page in a new tab. Sign in to eBird if it asks.

The two numbered buttons after the download has been tapped. Button 1, Download your checklist, is faded. Button 2, Open eBird Import, is now solid dark green. Under them: Downloading opens in its own tab, so this page stays put. Come back to it for step 2. — After tapping Download your checklist, step 2 is promoted.

Route B: email the link to yourself

7. Type your address under Email this link to myself and tap Send.

The page confirms with "Sent. Check your inbox there." The emailed link expires at the same time as the page, so open it within the 15 minutes. On your computer, the link opens the same handoff page. Use Download your checklist and Open eBird Import from there.

The Email this link to myself form after sending. The address field is empty again, the gold Send button sits below it, and under the button the confirmation reads Sent. Check your inbox there. — The email route after Send: the confirmation line appears under the button.

If the link has expired

After 15 minutes the link stops working and the page says so. Nothing is lost: the session is still on your phone. Go back to the session summary and tap Export to eBird again for a fresh link.

The expired page: a small dark green kingfisher silhouette, the heading This link has expired, and the text Handoff links last 15 minutes from export. Re-export from BirdScribe to get a fresh one. — The expired page. Export again from the app.

On eBird

8. Choose the file.

On eBird's import page, pick the CSV you downloaded. It is the file whose name starts with birdscribe and the date of the walk.

Screenshot: eBird's import page with the file chosen and eBird Record Format selected

9. Select eBird Record Format.

eBird offers more than one file format. BirdScribe writes the eBird Record Format, so choose that one.

10. Upload the file.

11. Work through eBird's review step.

eBird checks every row before it creates the checklist. Where BirdScribe exported a group name rather than a species, such as "duck sp." or "raptor sp.", eBird asks you to confirm or narrow it. That prompt is normal, not an error. Choose the species if you know it, or keep the group name. When eBird is satisfied, the checklist appears in your account like any other.