eBird-IUCN Synthesizer

CLI tool and Python library that synthesizes eBird observation data with IUCN Red List conservation status.

Problem

Ecologists spend hours manually cross-referencing bird sighting data when preparing conservation reports. eBird provides observation data, IUCN Red List provides threat categories — but these databases don't communicate automatically.

Solution

Query eBird for a region or coordinates, automatically enrich with IUCN threat status, and export clean JSON/CSV/Avro reports ready for analysis.

Features

• Query by region code (e.g., RS, US-NY) or coordinates
• IUCN Red List enrichment with local caching (90-day TTL)
• Filter to threatened species only (VU/EN/CR)
• Multiple output formats: JSON, CSV, Avro
• Optional UUID resolution via BirdLife Resolution API
• Stale-while-revalidate caching strategy
• Cache backends: JSON files, SQLite, PostgreSQL

Installation

pip install birdlife-ebird-iucn

# With PostgreSQL support
pip install birdlife-ebird-iucn[postgres]

Quick Start

CLI

# Set up credentials
export EBIRD_API_KEY="your-key"      # https://ebird.org/api/keygen
export IUCN_API_TOKEN="your-token"   # https://api.iucnredlist.org/users/sign_up

# Query by region
python -m birdlife_ebird_iucn RS --format json

# Query by coordinates
python -m birdlife_ebird_iucn --lat 44.8 --lng 20.4 --days 7

# Threatened species only
python -m birdlife_ebird_iucn RS --threatened-only --format csv

Python API

import asyncio
from birdlife_ebird_iucn import Config, Synthesizer
from birdlife_ebird_iucn.serializers import JsonSerializer

async def main():
    config = Config()  # Reads from environment
    synth = Synthesizer.from_config(config)
    
    try:
        result = await synth.synthesize(
            region_code="RS",
            back_days=14,
            threatened_only=True,
        )
        
        # Access species via result.data, location via result.meta.location
        print(f"Found {len(result.data)} threatened species")
        for species in result.data:
            print(f"  {species.iucn_status.value}: {species.scientific_name}")
        
        # Export to JSON
        print(JsonSerializer().serialize(result))
    finally:
        await synth.close()

asyncio.run(main())

Configuration

All settings via environment variables or .env file:

Variable	Required	Description
EBIRD_API_KEY	Yes	eBird API key
IUCN_API_TOKEN	Yes	IUCN Red List API token
CACHE_TYPE	No	json (default), sqlite, or postgres
CACHE_DIR	No	Cache directory (default: ./.cache)
CACHE_TTL_DAYS	No	Cache TTL in days (default: 90)
POSTGRES_URL	If postgres	PostgreSQL connection URL
RESOLUTION_API_URL	No	BirdLife Resolution API for canonical UUIDs
RESOLUTION_API_TOKEN	No	Bearer token for Resolution API

Cache Backends

JSON (default)

CACHE_TYPE=json
CACHE_DIR=./.cache

SQLite

CACHE_TYPE=sqlite
CACHE_DIR=./.cache

PostgreSQL

CACHE_TYPE=postgres
POSTGRES_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/birdlife

Resolution API

By default, UUIDs are generated locally. To use canonical BirdLife IDs:

RESOLUTION_API_URL=https://birdlife.tech/api/v1

Output Formats

All outputs follow the API Response Convention with a {data, meta} envelope:

{
  "data": [...],   // Taxon[] - species found
  "meta": {
    "resultType": "species-search",
    "queryTimestamp": "2026-07-10T12:00:00Z",
    "filtersApplied": {"backDays": "14", "threatenedOnly": "true"},
    "location": {
      "locationID": "...",
      "name": "Serbia",
      "decimalLatitude": 44.0,
      "decimalLongitude": 21.0,
      ...
    }
  }
}

JSON

Schema-compliant JSON following birdlife-schema.

CSV

Flattened tabular format for spreadsheet analysis. Metadata fields extracted from meta.

Avro

Binary format for big data pipelines.

Examples

The examples/ directory contains ready-to-run examples:

CLI Example

cd examples
cp .env.example .env  # Add your API keys

# Query Serbia
python cli_example.py RS

# Query by coordinates (Belgrade)
python cli_example.py --lat 44.8 --lng 20.4 --days 7

# Threatened species only, CSV output
python cli_example.py RS --threatened-only --format csv

Jupyter Notebook

Interactive notebook with step-by-step examples:

cd examples
jupyter notebook notebook_example.ipynb

Region Codes

eBird uses hierarchical region codes:

• Country: RS (Serbia), US (USA), GB (UK)
• State/Province: US-NY (New York), CA-ON (Ontario)
• County: US-NY-061 (New York County)

Find codes at: https://ebird.org/region/world

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/birdlife-tools/ebird-iucn-synthesizer
cd ebird-iucn-synthesizer
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Type check
mypy src/

# Lint
ruff check src/

Architecture

synthesize() request
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  eBird API   │ ─── recent observations
└──────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  IUCN Cache  │ ─── threat status (stale-while-revalidate)
└──────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  Resolver    │ ─── canonical UUIDs (optional)
└──────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  Serializer  │ ─── JSON / CSV / Avro
└──────────────┘

Community

Join the discussion:

License

MIT — see LICENSE