About

A bird encyclopedia that shows its work.

KnowThePerch is built on one rule: if a fact can be looked up from a database, it was looked up — not generated by AI. Every number on this site traces back to eBird, IUCN, or Xeno-canto.

What KnowThePerch Is

A field atlas, not a content mill.

KnowThePerch is a bird encyclopedia covering North American species. It’s built as a programmatic site — meaning thousands of pages are generated from structured data rather than written one by one.

The site currently targets 10,000–25,000 pages across species profiles, bird families, state-level species lists, side-by-side comparisons, and practical birding guides.

What makes KTP different from other bird sites is the separation between data and prose. Measurements, taxonomy, range maps, frequency charts, and conservation status are never AI-generated — they come from APIs. Only the descriptive text explaining those facts is written with AI assistance, and it’s reviewed before publication.

  • 10,000+Programmatic pages
  • 5Content silos
  • 3Data sources
  • 0Invented numbers
How It Works

Data in, prose out, review before publish.

Stage 1 — Data collection

Taxonomy, measurements, range, and conservation status are pulled from eBird (Cornell Lab), IUCN Red List, and Xeno-canto. Observation frequency comes from eBird bar chart data — real checklists from real birders, not estimates.

Stage 2 — Prose generation

Descriptive text is generated by Qwen3, a locally-hosted language model. It receives structured data and writes explanations. It cannot invent numbers, manufacture sightings, or contradict the injected data. Generated text is cached in SQLite and reviewed before publication.

Stage 3 — Template rendering

Data and prose are assembled into PAGE_DATA objects and rendered by WordPress templates. The templates decide layout, navigation, and what appears on each page type — species profiles, comparisons, state pages, and guides each have their own template.

Data Sources

Where the numbers come from.

eBird
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Taxonomy, species codes, common and scientific names, plus observation frequency from bar-chart data — the share of checklists reporting a species by region and month.

Updated annually
IUCN Red List
Conservation status

Status categories from Least Concern (LC) through Critically Endangered (CR), attached to every species profile.

Updated on reassessment
Xeno-canto
Call & song recordings

CC-licensed audio from a community-contributed database, embedded directly on species profiles.

Community-sourced
SQLite
Local source of truth

Every number is stored locally first: the pipeline pulls APIs → writes SQLite → generates prose → publishes.

Single source of truth
AI Disclosure

What AI writes and what it doesn’t.

Species profiles, state guides, and comparison pages use AI-assisted prose. The descriptive text on those pages was generated by Qwen3 (a locally-hosted language model) based on verified data, then reviewed by a human editor before publication.

AI writes: descriptive paragraphs explaining bird behavior, habitat preferences, identification tips, and seasonal patterns.

AI never writes: measurements, species counts, conservation status, frequency percentages, hotspot names, taxonomy, or any numerical claim. Those come from APIs.

Editorial content (blog posts, birding guides) is written by human authors without AI generation.

Editorial Standards

Who writes and reviews these pages.

Every page carries a named editorial standard. A human editor owns the voice, the fact boundaries, and the corrections process; the data behind every claim is verified against its institutional source before publication.

Clara Whitcomb
Editorial Lead

Sets the KnowThePerch voice and fact boundaries, reviews each prose batch before it ships, and owns the corrections queue. Field-first, citation-first.

Data & Verification
Source Review

Checks every measurement, range, frequency, and status against its source feed before a page goes live, and holds prose to the data it describes.

Built on data from Cornell Lab of Ornithology (eBird), the IUCN Red List, and Xeno-canto — the same sources used by working ornithologists and conservation researchers.

Corrections

Found an error? Tell us.

If you find incorrect information on any page — a wrong measurement, outdated conservation status, or a prose claim that contradicts the data — contact us with the page URL and the specific error. We review correction requests within 5 business days.

Confirmed errors are corrected at the source (SQLite database or prose template), not patched in the page. The page is then regenerated and the updated date is revised.

Report an error →
Site Pages
Methodology How the data pipeline works in detail
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Editorial Policy Sourcing, AI disclosure, and corrections process
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Contact Report errors, ask questions, or give feedback
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Privacy Policy How we handle visitor data
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Terms of Use Legal terms for using KnowThePerch
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Affiliate Disclosure How affiliate links work on this site
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