eBird MCP Server

Combine eBird with AI: Build Your Personal Bird Observation Assistant

This project integrates the eBird API with an MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server, enabling you to query bird observation data via natural language directly inside Claude's chat window.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• eBird API Key: Create an eBird account and request an API key.

• Claude Desktop App: Download and install the Claude Desktop application.

• Install Python (See this tutorial).

Installation

Clone the repository

Install dependencies

Configuration

Configure Claude Desktop

1. Open Claude Desktop.

2. Navigate to Settings > Developer > Edit Config > Edit claude_desktop_config.json File.

3. Replace the configuration with your paths and API key:

Important:

• command: Absolute path to your Python executable.

• args: Absolute path to server.py.

• EBIRD_API_KEY: Your eBird API key.

Restart Claude

After saving the configuration, restart the Claude Desktop app. It will automatically launch and manage the MCP server.

Usage

Open a chat in Claude and use any of the example prompts (or your own) to query eBird data.

Features

Here are example prompts you can use to query data. The AI will decide when to call the eBird MCP Server, or you can explicitly instruct it to do so.

Observations

Query recent observations in a location

Query recent observations of a species

Query notable (rare) observations

Checklists

Top contributors

All checklists on a date

Recent checklists

Summary statistics

Checklist details

Hotspots

List hotspots in a location

Nearby hotspots

Taxonomy

Official taxonomy

List subspecies

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.