This data set contains basic observation information on Western Grebes in California and is provided by the Avian Knowledge Network (AKN). AKN is a joint venture including sponsors National Biological Information Infrastructure and National Science Foundation, and collaborators Cornell Lab of Ornithology, PRBO Conservations Science, Redwood Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, and Bird Studies Canada. AKN collects, organizes, archives, and distributes avian data for various analytical purposes. This large (almost 20,000,000 observations to date) and comprehensive database provides a unified structure where data from multiple sources can be used together to produce more meaningful products. AKN also has developed applications to visualize temporal and spatial patterns of bird movements and numbers.

These bird observations were made by professional birding consultants, ornithologists, researchers, and knowledgeable volunteers over the last few years. Most of their observations came from point counts from job sites, back yards, or from sites established to assess bird populations in specific locations or habitats throughout California. Protocols for the three programs that produce the most observations are on the web at: eBird - http://www.ebird.org/content/ Great Backyard Bird Count - http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ Project FeederWatch - http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

The dataset is limited in that the there is no observer provided for each record, the location is only accurate to a circular area equivalent to about one-sixteenth of a square mile, and a number of fields have only code values and the code definitions are not known.