Thanks for the detective work, Joel. I, too, ran my Summit Prairie Survey
which I have done since 1984 so I wasn’t going to let a pandemic get in the way
of running the route. I’m glad I did as I found Crook County’s first Least
Flycatcher that day and had an enjoyable day in the middle of nowhere.
Tom
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Joel Geier
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2020 8:28 AM
To: Oregon Birders OnLine <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data entry possibility for 2020
routes
Back in early spring, field activities for the 2020 North American Breeding
Bird Survey (BBS) were officially cancelled, due to concerns about the covid-19
pandemic. This was a sensible decision considering that there are many routes
-- especially in the East -- that would be difficult to run without interacting
with local communities, and/or would require overnight travel bringing
volunteers into contact with more distant communities.
However, there was some discussion among long-time volunteers in the Western
states and provinces about running at least some key routes, in situations
where this could be done with minimal risk of social contact. The idea was
that, even if the normal BBS data portal were unavailable, it should be
possible to enter the stop data in eBird, and then -- hopefully -- at some
point in the future there could be an effort to bring those data over into the
main BBS database.
During June I ran two relatively nearby routes with this idea in mind, skipping
three other routes that require longer travel and/or visiting a land company
office to check out and return gate keys.
Afterwards, while poking around on the BBS website just out of curiosity, I
discovered that they've left open a door for 2020 route data. So I submitted my
data directly.
Once you find the doorway in, the data-entry system works just like in prior
years. I was able to enter all of my stop data, and produce summary reports to
cross-check for errors against my home-made field data sheets. After I reviewed
everything and clicked on the button to submit my data, I even got the standard
automatic e-mail from Patuxent, to say that my data was being processed.
So, if you're a BBS veteran and you ran any of your normal BBS routes this
year, you should be able to do this too. Here's how:
(1) Once you're logged into the data entry portal, look for the link labeled
"ROUTE LIST" at the top of the page, and click on that.
(2) This brings up your 2019 routes, but there's a link "Click here to see all
years." Click on that and you'll see your full list of routes including 2020,
right at the top.
(3) Use the 2020 route links to do your data entry as you usually would.
All very simple ... happy data-entry!
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
