[texbirds] An eBird issue that every birder should be aware of
- From: Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, leasbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, David Sarkozi <david@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 10:07:23 -0600
Greetings All:
Due to recent changes implemented by eBird I can no longer acquire, in a
timely fashion, monthly summaries of my region for inclusion of records in
either the Llano Estacado Audubon Society newsletter or American Birds.
This move on the part of e-birds was necessary as requests for such data
summaries were, evidently, crashing their system.
Quarterly summaries can, apparently, be acquired but with a lag period of
sufficient duration that the information would not be timely enough for
inclusion in the newsletter or would simply miss two of the four ABA
deadlines.
It is possible that eBird will either change the policy or will grant some
kind of exception to regional compilers to acquire this kind of data but,
at this point, signs are not hopeful.
What this means is that if folk see interesting birds in my region (Bailey,
Lamb, Hale, Floyd, Motley, Cochran, Hockley, Lubbock, Crosby, Dickens,
Yoakum, Terry, Lynn, Garza, and Kent Counties) and they post their
sightings only to eBird said sightings will not make it into the LEAS
newsletter or any ABA publications.
For example: the Common Cranes (based on exhaustive and exhausting daily
searches of eBird data on my part) was/were seen by 64 people in November
Based on direct submissions to texbirds or leasbirds it/they was/were seen
by 47. Taking both sources together, the crane(s) was(were) seen by 96
folk - not everybody posts to eBird, not everybody posts to texbirds.
On-site personnel feel that the number of observers that saw the bird(s) in
November was closer to 650 but the VAST majority of folk, evidently, didn't
share this sighting at all!
If folk see interesting birds in the Panhandle north of my region and they
post their sighting only to eBird said sightings will not make it into any
ABA publications.
For example, according to eBird flags for those counties, there were eleven
sightings of birds that would make the ABA quarterly report in the
Panhandle north of my region during November. Exactly zero of these
sightings were posted to texbirds.
It should be fairly obvious, given my examples, that regional compilers are
not going to be able (unless we can hire full time assistants to weed
through eBird data on a daily basis) of keeping track of noteworthy
sighting in our respective regions.
eBird has, in essence, supplanted regional compilers at the local or ABA
level. Given that the quality of eBird compilers is very high, this may be
a good thing - and folk could argue that eBird will eventually eliminate
the demand for compilation of sightings at all levels.
This post is not about that - AND I AM NOT TRYING TO START ANY ARGUMENTS
ONE WAY OR THE OTHER ABOUT ANYTHING.
It is about the current demand for sightings in local newsletters and ABA
publications and the need, on the part of the relevant compilers, for
data.
I CANNOT DO A GOOD JOB AS A COMPILER UNLESS I GET THE BASIS DATA AND
NEITHER CAN ANY OTHER LOCAL OR REGIONAL COMPILER.
Two simple solutions exist.
The first solution: take the time to post your sightings to both eBird and
texbirds (or, if you are are on a local listserv, to that local listserv).
That way, eBird gets your data and your regional compiler can pull the data
off the listserv.
The second solution: forward any eBird reports you get from the region to
either texbirds or directly to your regional compiler - their e-mails are
provided to you, on a monthly basis, by Mark Lockwood. It is easy to set
this up on eBird, I am told, and David Sarkozi might weigh in on which
option would be preferable from a texbirds perspective.
For my part, I am requesting that folk who see interesting birds in my
region (the fifteen counties listed above) post their sightings directly to
me at fatttonybirds@xxxxxxxxx or forward their e-bird lists to me at
fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx. It is the only way that I will be able to continue
to do a good job as a regional compiler for my Audubon chapter and for the
ABA.
Whole lists are preferable as it is not always rarities that are of
interest. Compilers also like to track abnormally large numbers of common
species or abnormally low numbers of generally common species. eBird data
is fantastic for that - and the monthly summaries, no longer attainable in
a timely fashion, were a goldmine.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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