[orebird] Re: heads up on Oregon 2020 hotspots
- From: Matthew G Hunter <matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: orebird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 21:55:07 -0700
Very much appreciate the explanation Doug. Thanks.
Matt
On May 28, 2014 6:15 AM, "W. Douglas Robinson" <w.douglas.robinson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Hi Matt
>
> Good questions, and sorry for forgetting to address Vjera's question. The
> basic plan you state is fine. If you use personal locations, we will
> definitely extract them and put them in the hotspot square dataset during
> analyses. So it's fine to do it that way. In some ways it is even better
> because it cuts a step later in data analysis (we don't have to look in the
> comments for the GPS location). But there is a cost.
>
> As you mentioned, the data are not visible in the Hotspot Explorer unless
> they are entered into eBird under the Oregon 2020--Hotspot Square Name with
> the name exactly right (if you choose this from the pull down menus in
> eBird or BirdLog, it should be seamless). Inclusion there does not matter
> to many folks, because they don't yet use the Hotspot Explorer or care if
> their name and sightings are publicly displayed on the eBird page. However,
> it also means that our 2020 folks cannot see if a Hotspot Square has been
> visited either, unless we download the data from eBird and sort through it
> all. That's a big process.
>
> Probably what we need pretty soon is to see if we can find folks who would
> agree to be county coordinators. Those folks could keep tabs on what
> squares have been visited, who has been helping, whether there was interest
> in having the 2020 crew could come down for a helpful workshop, letting us
> know if some squares are totally inaccessible, etc. If we had county
> coordinators keeping an eye on square coverage a couple times per year, we
> would at least know which squares had data even if they were not visible in
> the Hotspot Explorer, and without going a through a big data extraction and
> mapping exercise. I know that there are lots of data from quite a number of
> hotspot squares that are from personal locations, especially in the
> Willamette Valley, so finding ways to keep tabs on square "completion" is
> an important issue.
>
> Regarding Vjera's concern about possible overlap, I'd say that it would be
> nice to keep those data separate (so add observations seen outside of the
> existing EWEB hotspot but still inside the square as another checklist for
> the Hotspot Square), but I understand the extra workload is unappealing.
> So, in the end, there will be a small percentage of squares that overlap
> existing hotspots and it's ok to just be sure the data get into eBird
> somehow. It will be our 2020 crew's job to sort through which data get used
> in what way. We don't want this to be an extra burden on folks, too much
> anyway...
>
> This also relates to Dawn's concern about the confusion about the Lincoln
> City issue. One of the challenges I see with the regular Hotspots and their
> use in eBird is that the limits of the areas of typical Hotspots are not
> defined clearly for users. For example, there is a Finely refuge Hotspot,
> which is a huge area. No telling exactly where in the refuge people have
> birded when they submit under that hotspot. So, long story short is that it
> is our 2020 crew's job to 1) help find ways to educate folks about what the
> Oregon 2020--hotspots mean, and 2) be careful about how we interpret and
> use the data loaded into any and all of the hotspots. We have a long series
> of steps we will use to make the final selections, but it is involved and
> will take time.
>
> So, in summary, load in data in whatever way is convenient for you, help
> folks you know understand that Oregon 2020--hotspots are 1 square mile in
> area, and let us know which squares have been covered and which have not.
>
> All the best!
> Doug
>
>
>
>
> On May 27, 2014, at 9:32 PM, Matthew G Hunter wrote:
>
> Hi Doug,
> I must have missed the answer to this question. Would you mind cutting
> and pasting the answer again, or letting me know where to find the info.
> I have read everything I can find on the Oregon 2020 website and OBOL
> and don't find a direct answer, but you can ask my wife, most everything I
> look for is hidden directly under my nose. ha ha ... anyway, ...
>
> And to ask the question my own way, .... To contribute data to a hotspot
> square, do we have to select that hotspot identifier for the square and
> input data there (and your instructions say to include lat/long in the
> checklist comments for stationary surveys). It seems to me (since I've
> taken a whole 5 minutes to think about this) that it would be simpler
> if---for stationary counts---we can just plot our actual locations for the
> stationary counts, and whenever you want you can just "scoop them up" with
> some standard GIS programming/functions. Yes, this method would mean that
> my species would not be visible in eBird's hotspot explorer (unless someone
> did some additional programming on the eBird end), but that doesn't matter
> to me personally. I personally would prefer to plot my point exactly where
> my point was. Will you scoop up any checklists from within the square at
> the point you do your analysis for the square? This would also solve
> Vjera's question above.
>
> Thanks for your reply, and sorry if I missed the explanation of this
> somewhere...
>
> Matt
>
>
> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Vjera Thompson <
> dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Doug,
>>
>> I live near the Anna's Hummingbird square in Eugene. There is a hotspot
>> inside the square (EWEB wetlands). How will situations like this be
>> handled? Should I double-post if I'm birding the EWEB wetlands? Or only
>> use the Anna's Hummingbird spot outside of the EWEB location?
>>
>> Vjera
>> On Monday, April 21, 2014 3:52 PM, W. Douglas Robinson <
>> w.douglas.robinson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi gang,
>>
>> Just a heads-up that there will be a bunch of new Oregon hotspots added
>> to the state in the next few days. We've been working with eBird and Brian
>> Sullivan to get a grid-like sampling scheme established for Oregon 2020.
>> Through lots of discussions and planning we realized that to meet the main
>> goal of 2020, to establish benchmark measurements of Oregon bird
>> distributions and abundances, we need more structure to how we sample birds
>> across the state. This resulted in a type of sampling grid that is
>> stratified across townships, but preserves an element of randomization (a
>> necessary assumption of statistical approaches that will let us estimate
>> statewide population sizes). The sites, what we call hotspot squares, are
>> one mile square sections selected randomly from each 36-square mile
>> township in the state. That totals about 2800 of these sample sites.
>>
>> You can see the sites here:
>>
>>
>> http://tools.oregonexplorer.info/oe_map_viewer_2_0/Viewer.html?Viewer=Oregon2020
>>
>> We will be announcing all these updates with more explanation of why we
>> picked areas of this size, etc, on the 2020 web page, OBOL and the upcoming
>> eBird Northwest portal very soon, especially since breeding season is upon
>> us.
>>
>> All of the hotspot squares are named "Oregon 2020--hotspot square name".
>> So, all begin with Oregon 2020--
>>
>> They have unique names, associated with a geographical feature, road,
>> etc, within each one-square mile hotspot square. However, a subset of about
>> 300 of these (11% of the total) are named after birds; e.g., Oregon
>> 2020--Evening Grosbeak. These are called the Hot 300 and we will be
>> developing some challenges associated with counting birds in as many of the
>> Hot 300 as possible. We aim to have prizes from sponsors for those who
>> contribute the most from the Hot 300, all the hotspot squares in each
>> county, and all the hotspot squares statewide. It should be really fun.
>>
>> Anyway, this email is just to alert you that this is happening, that you
>> will be able to use the Explorer Tools on eBird to see who has visited each
>> hotspot square and what they saw, and to easily locate each hotspot square
>> if you use BirdLog to enter data. All the names will appear in the lists of
>> hotspots nearby.
>>
>> Let me know if you have questions.
>>
>> All the best,
>> Doug
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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