[obol] Re: Lincoln Co birding 4/19 [& eBird]
- From: Range Bayer <range.bayer@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 11:26:21 -0700
Hi all,
There have been many emails about whether the April 19 report of the
Semipalmated Plover in Lincoln County was early; Dave Lauten's & Jamie
Simmon's are included below as item #3.
What has been overlooked in the OBOL conversation about the April 19
Semipalmated Plover is that eBird tagged this report as rare (see #1 &
#2 below), and this with other Oregon eBird rarities was posted to
OBOL as rare on April 21 (see #2 below).
As has been discussed before on OBOL, what is rare to eBird may not
actually be rare or unseasonal--more work needs to be done with eBird
filters. And this is the case with the April 19 Semipalmated Plover.
For Lincoln County records prior to 1993, there have been Semipalmated
Plover records each month of the year, with the fewest records in
summer and winter; they were most frequent in April-May and
July-September
(http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/8070/vol.%204%20pg.%20395-543.pdf).
To my knowledge, there have been no nesting records of Semi's in
Lincoln County; like Dave Lauten has pointed out, there have been
nesting records in Coos County (also see p. 206 of Birds of Oregon: a
General Reference)..
Semipalmated Plover records appear to have declined in recent years in
Lincoln County, but they are still not what I consider rare in Lincoln
County, and there have been additional reports here this April. I do
not consider April 19 to even be rare in Lincoln County for spring
migrants (see records prior to 1993).
eBird is a wonderful resource for which I am grateful, but for eBird
to be improved (which it has the capability of doing), problems with
eBird rarity filters need to be pointed out and acknowledged.
Cheers,
Range Bayer, Newport
1) ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <ebird-alert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 12:11 AM
Subject: [eBird Alert] Lincoln Rare Bird Alert <hourly>
To:
*** Species Summary:
- Semipalmated Plover (2 reports)
---------------------------------------------
Thank you for subscribing to the <hourly> Lincoln Rare Bird Alert. The
report below shows observations of rare birds in Lincoln. View this
alert on the web at http://ebird.org/ebird/alert/summary?sid=SN39373
NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) (1)
- Reported Apr 19, 2014 14:41 by Jamie Simmons
- Mark Hatfield Marine Science Center, Lincoln, Oregon
- Map:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.6231604,-124.0434766&ll=44.6231604,-124.0434766
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17989815
- Comments: "Not rare."
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) (1)
- Reported Apr 19, 2014 14:41 by Oscar Harper
- Mark Hatfield Marine Science Center, Lincoln, Oregon
- Map:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.6231604,-124.0434766&ll=44.6231604,-124.0434766
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17989763
- Comments: "Not rare."
***********
You received this message because you are subscribed to eBird's
Lincoln Rare Bird Alert
Manage your eBird alert subscriptions:
http://ebird.org/ebird/alerts
2) ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Treesa Hertzel <Autumn207@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 5:28 AM
Subject: [obol] [eBird Alert] Oregon Rare Bird Alert <daily>
To: Oregon Birders OnLine <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*** Species Summary:
Graylag Goose (1 Lane)
Chukar (1 Klamath)
White-faced Ibis (1 Washington)
Black-necked Stilt (1 Marion)
Snowy Plover (1 Deschutes)
Semipalmated Plover (4 Lincoln)
Whimbrel (1 Klamath)
Vaux's Swift (1 Klamath)
Northern Flicker (intergrade) (1 Crook)
Dusky Flycatcher (1 Klamath, 2 Multnomah)
Western Kingbird (1 Gilliam)
Cassin's Vireo (1 Klamath)
Warbling Vireo (1 Benton, 1 Josephine, 2 Multnomah)
Swainson's Thrush (1 Lane)
Nashville Warbler (1 Klamath)
MacGillivray's Warbler (1 Hood River)
Hermit Warbler (1 Jackson, 4 Lincoln)
Brewer's Sparrow (1 Washington)
Black-headed Grosbeak (1 Linn)
Lazuli Bunting (1 Josephine)
---------------------------------------------
View this alert on the web at http://ebird.org/ebird/alert/summary?sid=SN35555
NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated
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3) On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 3:55 PM, DJ Lauten and KACastelein
<deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Jamie and All,
>
> I'm not intending to argue either. :-)
>
> Ok, let's look at some facts.
>
>
> You wrote:
> Our sighting of a single Semipalmated Plover was the first reported anywhere
> in Lincoln County since September, 2013.
> Data sources were 3 robust sources: OBOL, Lincoln County field notes from
> The Sandpiper, and eBird.
> (I know some of us eBird users--and other birders--report EVERYTHING we
> see.)
>
> First, just because a bird has not been reported does not mean it is not
> there or has not been seen or has not passed thru. It means it hasn't been
> reported.
>
> Second, on 29 March 2014 in Pacific WA Semi Plover was reported (by Dave
> Irons). One might think that because no Semp P's were reported in Lincoln
> Co since Sept 2013 that might mean that there are none north of there, or
> even none within that area.
>
> Three, how can a bird that is reported quite a distance north of Lincoln Co
> be "early" in Lincoln Co nearly a month after the date in WA?
>
> We can certainly have a debate as to the definition of "early". Are these
> birds "early"? Well, maybe, but actually maybe they are right on time.
> And importantly I am not suggesting or saying it is not a worthy bird to
> report (all birds are worthy of reporting, especially shorebirds! ;-) ).
>
> Another fact, we have watched flocks of shorebirds migrating north within
> the past couple of weeks. Included in those flocks are Semi P's. Some one
> else asked: "have you been working on Lincoln County beaches" - No, I have
> not, but if you are suggesting that the flocks of shorebirds we see that
> are migrating north are somehow dropping all their Semi P's off before they
> get to Lincoln Co.....well, somehow I doubt that. While I have not been to
> Lincoln Co, I am willing to bet that some Semi P's have passed thru Lincoln
> Co over the past 3 weeks if not before that. If no observers witnessed it
> does not mean that it did not happen.
>
> I don't have the Coos Bay CBC data in front of me, but as I recall Semi P is
> not an unusual bird on that CBC (Tim???). Yes, I grant you maybe in
> Lincoln Co it is a rare winter bird, or even absent. I submit that is
> because of either a lack of habitat that they prefer, or a lack of observers
> looking in the places they like. I do not know whether they winter in
> Pacific Co WA, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did (there is good
> habitat, but whether anyone is looking is another story).
>
> And yes, I agree Lincoln Co is not Coos Co - and thus that might be the
> issue - we have better habitat for them. However, we are 2 hours away from
> Lincoln Co, and Lincoln is what - 4, 6 hours from Pacific Co WA, so I think
> Coos Co beaches are a bit more comparable to Lincoln Co beaches. Both Coos
> and Pacific Co have reported Semi P before the Lincoln Co report. Hence my
> statement that it is not really "early" for Semi P's, it is rather right on
> time.
>
> I would also suggest that if you walked a beach with good habitat for them
> on a daily basis in April in Lincoln Co (and maybe some months before that),
> you'd find some Semi P's. What I am fairly sure of, is few people walk the
> kind of beaches and the length of beaches we do on a daily basis starting in
> April thru Sept. When you hit a beach for a couple of hours one day a week
> (or even less than that), you are likely to miss a lot of what goes on out
> there.
>
> Again, I agree Coos Co is not Lincoln Co, but there is no doubt in my mind
> that the daily observations we have of Semi P's (and believe me, it is daily
> as they are rather a common bird) are not all individuals who either
> wintered in Coos or stopped in Coos and didn't keep going north. They are
> migrants and we see them come and go all the time. They are quite normal
> in April.
>
> PS - As a side note, there are actually breeding records of Semi P for Coos
> Bay! Not sure how many people are aware of that.
>
> Cheers
> Dave Lauten
>
> On 4/22/2014 10:47 AM, Jamie Simmons wrote:
>
> Dave and all,
>
> Not intending to argue, but rather to present facts:
> Our sighting of a single Semipalmated Plover was the first reported anywhere
> in Lincoln County since September, 2013.
> Data sources were 3 robust sources: OBOL, Lincoln County field notes from
> The Sandpiper, and eBird.
> (I know some of us eBird users--and other birders--report EVERYTHING we
> see.)
>
> Thus it seemed worthy of posting, albeit with a question mark.
> (Your beach ain't Lincoln County beaches...)
>
> Jamie Simmons
> Corvallis
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 5:53 AM, DJ Lauten and KACastelein
> <deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> On 4/21/2014 10:27 PM, Jamie S. (REDACTED: yahoo.com uses DMARC) wrote:
>>
>> HMSC trail:
>> Semipalmated Plover - 1 (early?)
>>
>> Jamie Simmons
>> Corvallis
>>
>>
>> Semipalmated Plover is not "early" at this time of year. They are rather
>> common on the beach and have been all month. I suppose if you work on the
>> beach like we do you get used to what is around and don't even really
>> realize what you folks who don't work on the beach every day don't see.
>> Just a little clarification (to tell you the truth, Semi P is a bird you
>> could seen just about any time, albeit they are a lot less common in
>> winter).
>>
>> Cheers
>> Dave Lauten
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