[texbirds] Re: eBird records - Magnificent Frigatebird this month
- From: David Sarkozi <david@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: MBB22222@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:41:01 -0500
Mark, I'm the person that reviews Galveston County. I'll confess I've
not had a chance to review your record yet. This is the second
earliest record of Magnificent Frigatebird (there is a March 9th
record). It does raise some questions. First, other than "seen well"
how do you know it was a frigatebird? How without some notes does a
reviewer know you didn't see a cormorant at an odd angle, or a
swallow-tailed kite, or a gannet? Notes like "seen directly over head"
or "500 yards off shore chasing gulls" help the reviewer come to a
conclusion on how well is well.
If it was a frigatebird, how do you know it was a Magnificent?
Oklahoma has a Greater Frigatebird record, there is a pretty good
chance that bird would have crossed the Texas coast to get there.
And finally, speaking as "Mr. Amazon Kingfisher in Chambers County"
one can't discount a record is entered by mistake. I've had dozens
I've reviewed come back as "I didn't realize I entered that!" People
do enter records they never meant too, and the review process does
catch those.
"Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast" lists the
three early dates of Magnificent Frigatebird as 9 March, 7-8, 12
April. While not unprecedented, this record is significant enough to
warrant a few notes to establish its validity.
As for reviewing Galveston and Chambers Counties, I'm going to start
trying to do that daily now through the end of May. There has been a
lot of work on the filters and you shouldn't see nearly as many
records flags as in the past for Chambers and Galveston Counties.
David Sarkozi
Houston, TX
On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 12:30 PM, <MBB22222@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> studies. Recently, I entered MAFR record from Galveston seen on March 22 as
> I do not plan to keep it in my notes. This record does not show on the map
> when searching. eBird is accepting some weird sightings that are shown
> without even reviewing but in case like MAFR it almost seems like an insult
> to
> question its ID. What it can be confused with? Spoonbill? Swallow taking
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
Other related posts:
