Retrieve recent nearby observations of a species

Usage

RecentNearbySpecies(
  key,
  species_code,
  lat = 32.241,
  lng = -110.938,
  dist = 50,
  back = 4,
  hotspot = TRUE,
  include_provisional = FALSE,
  max_tries = 5,
  timeout_sec = 30,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

key: Character eBird API key.
species_code: Species code for species of interest; usually a six-character string such as "purmar" or "batpig". See https://science.ebird.org/en/use-ebird-data/the-ebird-taxonomy/ for more information.
lat: Numeric decimal degree latitude; use negative values for southern latitudes (i.e. -46.86, not "46.86 S").
lng: Numeric decimal degree longitude; use negative values for western longitudes (i.e. -72.08, not "72.08 W").
dist: Numeric radius in kilometers of distance from geographic center point given by lat and lng from which to return recent observations of a species.
back: Integer number of days back to search for observations.
hotspot: Logical indicating whether or not to restrict results to hotspot locations.
include_provisional: Logical indicating whether or not to include observations which have not yet been reviewed.
max_tries: Integer maximum number of query attempts to try.
timeout_sec: Integer time to allow before query is aborted.
verbose: Logical determining whether or not to print messages during queries.

Value

An object of class "recent_obs" with the following elements:

query_type: The type of query performed.
query_parameters: List of query parameters passed in request, including the species code.
obs: Data frame of observations returned from query; if no observations are returned, obs is NULL. Columns include:

Details

The function uses the eBird API (see https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/664302/S1ENwy59/) to query recent sightings of a species. Queries to the eBird API require a user key; you can request an eBird API key by logging into your eBird account and navigating to https://ebird.org/api/keygen/. See examples and vignette for using your eBird API key.

Examples

if (FALSE) {
  # Read eBird key in from file
  key <- scan(file = "ebird-key.txt", what = "character")
  # Search for observations of Verdin within 5 km from lat/lng coordinates
  recent <- RecentNearbySpecies(key = key, species_code = "verdin",
                                lat = 32.28, lng = -111.02, dist = 5)
}