Hi all - I wanted to make sure that people know that eBird has a pretty
solid method of dealing with self-reporting (or non-reporting) of sensitive
species like roosting Long-eared Owls. This can (and should) be done
whether you are viewing known birds like the ones Victor is discussing - or
you find them yourselves. You can also do this if you find a rare bird on
your property which you want to count, but you don't want other birders to
come see it. You simply submit your list, and then immediately view/edit
the list in a web browser, and select "hide from eBird output" from the
drop-down menu. (Attached screenshot). It is a little clunky in that you
cannot select this before you submit the list, and you can't yet do it
directly with the phone app. But you can submit it on the app, open the
checklist you just submitted, click the "eBird.org" button to open it in a
browser, and then hide it. As long as you have a data connection or WiFi
when you submit the checklist, it only takes a few seconds. It must be done
right away, to prevent any hourly "needs" or rare bird alerts from going
out.
This way, if you absolutely must have the species on your life/state/etc.
lists, it will still count as such in eBird, but the data will not be in
the public record - and won't show up in searches, etc. As much as we might
say "don't eBird it," some people are going to anyway, so this is a way to
do it privately.
For those tn-bird readers who may not be listers, or otherwise may be
confused by this conversation, Long-eared Owls are a hard to find species -
which makes them of high value to birders - and they are, of course,
beautiful birds of prey, which make them highly subject to harassment by
photographers more concerned with their image or their Instagram than the
safety of the animal. They are also known to be easily scared away from
roost sites, which makes that stress particularly harmful to them when it
happens over and over again. By reporting the location of a roost to eBird
(or Facebook, Tn-bird, or elsewhere), you put a big digital sign on
something the owls themselves have taken great care to keep secret. The
next thing you know, dozens of people are stomping the area trying to find
them, and they're gone. This is only one of several examples of why one
might want to hide a checklist. For some species, particularly endangered
ones, eBird automatically hides the output.
The owl roost Daniel found provides an opportunity for viewing from a
distance with a scope without disturbing the birds, but you have to have
someone who knows where to look. They would be next to impossible to find
otherwise without intentionally flushing them, which is what everyone will
go out and do. It's generous for Ruben and Victor to offer to lead folks
out to see them - so please don't report the birds and defeat that purpose.
Graham Gerdeman
Nashville
On Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 4:29 AM Victor Stoll <
victorjaystollnineteen80@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There will be another trip to see the Long-Eared Owls on Saturday the
22’nd. Contact me at 931-219-7497. Unfortunately Ruben dropped his phone in
the flooded Duck River so he will be out of touch for a while. Also, PLEASE
PLEASE PLEASE don’t report them on Ebird! At least 3 people have reported
them after being told not to, one even went back and reported them a
second time after being asked not to again! These birds were found by
Daniel Redwine and we are all very lucky to get to see them, he asked us to
keep them off Ebird per advice from high up. If people can’t obey such a
simple request this kind of viewing opportunity won’t happen again. (We
were advised not to let anyone find out but decided to trust people)
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