[texbirds] ebird maps are incorrect in Galveston Bay near Harris County (local Century Club interest only)

From: "Berner Family" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "jcazberner@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC)
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 21:04:08 -0800
Texbirders who are Harris/Chambers/Galveston County ebirders and county listers.

Be aware that the ebird maps (and probably the source google maps) have 
incorrect county boundaries in Galveston Bay near Morgan's Point, La Porte, 
Shoreacres, Seabrook etc.

I first reported this problem to Cornell as far back as 2009 but have not been 
able to get anything changed thus far.  

I contacted Cornell again tonight. I am hoping they will send me the Lat/Long 
points being currently used in the ebird program to define the various counties 
in Galveston Bay  in a spreadsheet so I can fix them--but we'll see if they can 
help me help them get it fixed. This was a potential solution discussed with 
them in the past.

In the mean time--I am reviewing photos and detailed notes for local rarities 
near harris County such as the white-winged scoter off McHale park for 
ebird--even though the approved observations will show up incorrectly in Harris 
County (until this long-running map error is fixed).

For those who care about such things (probably 5% of those of you reading this 
unfortunately) --you may want to accurately remember where you see local 
rarities near McHale Park. Also remember if you saw a bird on/over land or 
in/over the water for the rest of the Harris County coastline

In general all the water off of the Harris County coast from Morgan's Point all 
the way to just N. of McHale Park is actually in Chambers County (but ebird 
calls it Harris County).

However near McHale Park (end of 10th street in Seabrook) things are 
complicated. 
The very close to shore water  (first 50-100 ft of water or about 200 feet from 
Toddville rd) is in Harris County, middle distance water(100 to 1000 feet from 
end of 10th street/McHale Park) is in Galveston County and all water about 1000 
feet or further is in Chambers County.

Mapquest is the only map program that shows accurate county 
boundaries--including this area, but most of the world including ebird uses 
Google.

In the past I have seen similar google/ebird map boundary problems with the 
US-Mexico border near Salineno.

If I can finally get the problem fixed in 2015, I will post to Texbirds. 

In the mean time for those who care, I will add 2 new subhotspots for McHale 
Park in the correct locations so if the counties ever do get fixed sightings 
will automatically move from Harris County to the right county.

thanks
John Berner
ebird Harris County admin/County Line nerd
W. Houston


[texbirds] White-winged Scoter at Seabrook - McHale Park - Galveston County 
waters
From: Chuck Davis <chuck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: TEXBIRDS Mailing List <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 21:23:23 -0600

 
About 1:30 this afternoon, I observed the previously reported White-winged
Scoter from McHale Park in Seabrook. The Scoter was about 300 yards out
into the bay.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8579/15586230804_0b07c30a9f_o.png

Of interest to county listers: Although McHale Park itself is in Harris
County, and most of Galveston Bay near Seabrook is in Chambers County, Ron
Weeks alerted me to the fact that a small loop of Galveston County extends
north of the mouth of Clear Creek such that the near shore waters off
McHale Park are in Galveston County. See Mapquest to view the county lines.

Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21209802

Chuck Davis
La Porte, TX


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The Berners
John, Cathy, Abby and Zach
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[texbirds] ebird maps are incorrect in Galveston Bay near Harris County (local Century Club interest only)

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