I have always thought the confirmed/unconfirmed status should be in regard
to the accuracy of the observation. It is confusing/confounding to mix in
the meaning of countable or not. Countable or not is a local database/query
issue and should be dealt with separately.
Matt
On Sun, Feb 7, 2021, 09:09 Jen Sanford <jjsanford@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
There are two different issues here for me. One being birds marked as
(domestic type) and other birds that are reported the same way whether
they're domestic escapees or wild, like Mandarin Duck.
For the situation Tim brought up the bird reported is Swan Goose (domestic
type). I had perhaps misinterpreted eBird's take on reporting (domestic
type) birds as being fine since they don't count towards any lists. I use
Mallard (domestic type) regularly even at places where I have no reason to
believe there's a sustaining population.
I agree with Shawneen on unconfirming birds like Mandarin Duck though I
see some accepted records in eBird in Oregon including some in Lincoln
County. For some reason our filter is set at 3 year round which we
obviously need to fix.
I'm very interested to hear how others handle these birds.
Jen Sanford
On Sun, Feb 7, 2021 at 8:47 AM Shawneen Finnegan <
shawneenfinnegan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am definitely in the camp of marking unconfirmed for exotics. If and
when the OBRC want to look at species like Mandarin Ducks should they
spread enough then they can get that information from eBird.
As it says in the guidelines it gives a false impression that these are
countable. But It isn’t to discourage people from reporting them.
Shawneen
ART & PET PORTRAITS: shawneenfinnegan.com
On Feb 7, 2021, at 8:30 AM, Tim Shelmerdine <tim.spanish.guide@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hello, all.
I beg your pardon if this issue has already been addressed by this group,
but I have a question. I was reading the eBird Best Practice information in
the attempt to find out how to deal with two observations of Swan Goose in
Lincoln County. The best practices state: "*Introduced species *- you
may report domestic or exotic species if they are known to have *established,
self-sustaining populations* in that area."
The eBird FAQs state: You may report any unrestrained bird you observe
in the wild. However, please indicate suspected domestic or escaped birds
whenever possible. Note that domestic, exotic, and escaped birds may be
marked
"Rare" and/or unconfirmed
<https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000795278-the-ebird-review-process>
by
our reviewers so these birds do not get confused for wild, naturally
occurring species in our public database. For more information, see our eBird
Rules and Best Practices
<https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000795623-ebird-rules-and-best-practices>
.
So I marked these observations unconfirmed. When Jen, Hendrik and I
discussed this, I discovered that we had different approaches.
So I am asking the group if we have a standard for dealing with
introduced species. Are we all on the same page as a group? I again
apologize if this has been resolved earlier.
Thank you,
Tim
