Hello birders,
I saw the following in a post from Kimball Garrett, ornithologist and eBird
reviewer in Los Angeles. I think his advice here applies well for all of us.
-Steve Johnson
Fairfax, Virginia
The nature and extent of documentation required in eBird is something of a
sliding scale, depending on how unusual the record is. In a few cases (e.g.
reports of 20+ Soras at Piute Ponds, or a sighting of California Gnatcatchers
at Ocean Trails in Palos Verdes) little or no documentation is needed - such
entries are flagged because these sightings would be very unusual away from a
few very specific sites.
But in most cases, when your eBird entries are flagged, we really do hope and
expect you will provide documentation - and for rarities this is absolutely
essential. And I would like to take the opportunity here to explain what is
meant by documentation.
I can't tell you how many times the "documentation" we read in eBird is
something along the lines of: "Seen in the tall green trees near the edge of
the park. Very well seen, and some calls were heard. This was a life bird for
my friend Joe. We were using good binoculars, and the bird looked like the one
shown in our iPhone app, which we checked right after seeing it. Eventually the
wind came up and the bird moved to the other part of the park. There we had
another quick view, and then I decided to eat my sandwich. The last time I saw
this species was Detroit in '69. It was great to see one again."
And there you have it -- 100 words of "documentation" without a single bit of
information that tells you anything about what kind of bird it was, what it
looked like, what it sounded like, and how similar species were ruled out. (And
in this case, no photo and no audio recording.)
So, please - when providing documentation for an unusual bird, it's great (and
important) to recount the circumstances of observation, but it is also
essential to address these items:
What did the bird look like (i.e., plumage color and pattern, size, shape,
structure, etc.)
What did the bird sound like?
How did the bird behave?
And precisely what did you see/hear that distinguished the bird from similar
species?
Even when you obtain and attach photos or audio recordings, it's always helpful
to amplify these with written descriptions addressing the subjects above.
