[TN-Bird] Entering CBC data in eBird -- some notes

  • From: Bill Pulliam <littlezz@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: TN-birds Listserv <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:20:27 -0600

Many of you will be putting data from your Christmas Bird Count parties into eBird. There are some things to keep in mind when you do this:


MILEAGE: Number one issue. CBC and eBird want mileage tracked differently. For the CBC you report the total number of miles you travelled, including multiple traverses of the same road or trail. But eBird wants to know the number of miles or trails you covered, NOT double counting backtracking. So if you drive the same mile of road twice, that is 2 CBC party-miles, but only 1 eBird mile. Likewise, it you walk out a half mile from your vehicle and then back, the CBC counts that as 1 party mile, eBird would count that as 0.5 mile.

I know nobody wants to keep track of these mileages separately. What I do is look at my territory map, and estimate what fraction of the miles got covered twice. Then I decrement my CBC miles by this amount for eBird reporting. For example, my Big Sandy territory is essentially a bunch of spokes like a badly-mangled bicycle tire. Every road leads to a dead end, all branching off the same main route. So it is simple. Every road got driven out and back, so I cut my CBC miles in half for eBird. In fact, some of these roads got driven out and back twice, so I subtract that extra distance yet again. In comparison, my Buffalo River territory is a typical rural road "spaghetti bowl." Most roads only got covered once, only about 10-15% were driven twice. So I'll reduce those CBC miles by only a small amount for eBird.

OWLING: New this year, eBird offer a "Nocturnal birding" protocol. You get it by looking under "other" on the list of protocols. Note there is also "Nocturnal flight call count;" that is a different beast for a different purpose. The "Nocturnal birding" protocol pretty much matches the "Owling" definition of the CBC -- more than about a half hour before sunrise or after sunset. Also eBird requests (but does not require) that you include in your checklist comments whether or not you used playback or imitations as attractants, and for which species. If you hear cardinals, whitethroats, loons, etc. during your owling, you can include these too. If you went owling and found nothing at all, you can submit a zero species nocturnal birding list (negative data are as valuable as positive).

DISTANCE COVERED PER LISTS: Of course eBird takes all checklists, whether they covered you backyard or a 300 mile Big Day. However, many of the projects that use eBird data statistically prefer shorter checklists covering smaller areas. Many CBC territories are pretty large. Their data can be more useful for these projects if they are subdivided. The ideal is to have checklists covering 5 miles or fewer; this can be pretty difficult in many CBC territories. On these marathon runs, if you can get them below 25 miles per checklist it is better, below 10 miles is great, and below 5 miles is superb. Of course if all you have is the day's tally, please enter it as is, it is welcome and highly useful even if it does not meet the criteria for some specific statistical analyses. One of the biggest values of the CBC is getting birders out and looking at every bird, not just the "fancy" ones, at a time of year when otherwise there would be pretty sparse coverage.

Thanks!

Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
     To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                   tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
_____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
       endorse the views or opinions expressed
       by the members of this discussion group.

        Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
               ------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                        Cleveland, OH
               -------------------------------
              Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                         Rosedale, VA
              --------------------------------
              Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
                       Clemson, SC
__________________________________________________________
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
             web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                         ARCHIVES
TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                      MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________


Other related posts:

  • » [TN-Bird] Entering CBC data in eBird -- some notes - Bill Pulliam