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Zoroark

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Posts posted by Zoroark

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    16 hours ago, chipperatl said:

    Anyone reported a pic on a checklist for a bird not on said checklist?

    I've seen folks leave background species off a media item all the time, but I've never reported them for the reasons @DLecy mentioned.

    However, it actually can cause problems when doing the photo quiz if the background species happens to be one of the choices, and you aren't sure which bird it was filed under. (I believe eBird specifically removes background species from the choices if you've filled them in.)

    • Like 1

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    @DLecy Very good advice. In fact, at the end of 2021, I looked at the county's top birders for the year, and it was clear that folks were separated into "tiers" due to significant gaps. You could easily see who was competitively twitching: following every rare bird/needs alert for the county as well as other groups and mailing lists and actually had the ability to go out on any day of the week, any hour of the day, in any weather, just to catch a glimpse of something unique. Below them, you could see the folks who were competitive but did not have the ability to go out on a whim, those who were noncompetitive and treated birdwatching as their biggest hobby, and those who preferred photography. Most of the folks I've met are enjoyable to engage with; very few bad apples, thankfully.

    • Like 4

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    1 hour ago, chipperatl said:

    I checked and I have about 17 records of zero species, but when I look at say all my Common Gallinule sightings, the two I have for zero don't show up.  

    That hummingbird nest I reported is unconfirmed. If you look at either of the photos, they show up like that. I wonder if that's their way of hiding the data for zeroes from various outputs?

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    Ah, this page says you may enter zero if you have observed the presence of a bird via a current nest (with or without eggs) but have not observed the bird itself. However, it is discouraged.

    The mention of "feathers" on that page brings up another question: what if you witness the death of a bird, e.g. capture by a raptor? How does the individual of the predated species count? I assume it is dead and should not be included in the count of that species, but if it's the only one, perhaps 0 should be entered, especially if you have a photograph of the bird alive at some point? Is it Schrödinger's bird?

    • Like 1
    • Haha 2

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, Aaron said:

    If they just said ‘incomplete’ their ranking and etc would still go up, but that checklist wouldn’t be included in any scientific study… But most bad checklists I’ve seen are always noted as complete. 

    That's another good point. I've seen people submit "complete" lists of just the highlights of a trip while leaving off the really common birds. It'd be nice if you could report a checklist and describe the issue (should be incomplete, life list building checklist, day list, etc.) to the reviewer.

    • Like 1

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, IKLland said:

    I think @Zoroarkmeant people pretend they went on a trip. For example, that’s like somebody in Alaska pretending to go to the spot where the Limpkin is right now in Missouri, and reporting it even though they didn’t see it. 
     

    If that is true, that’s awful!!

     

    20 minutes ago, Kevin said:

    I understand what he is saying, and sadly, I believe it happening. The thought had just never came to my mind, it was shocking to my brain. 

    Yeah, I've seen a few "funny" lists in the year and a half since I joined eBird. On some occasions, I feel like they just entered the wrong date and haven't invented some teleportation technology. On others, I feel they are pumping up their stats. A handful of times, I've seen non-count lists where they enter 1 for everything instead of X.

    Heck, on one occasion, I submitted a list to the wrong hotspot and only realized my mistake the next day. They were only a few miles apart, so nothing was flagged as rare.

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    8 minutes ago, Peromyscus said:

    I see 224 species right now.

    Then it definitely sounds like unconfirmed/extraordinary sightings do show up in the rankings.

    I actually do wonder how many unscrupulous folks on eBird fudge their reports a bit. If others have reported a species, even if they haven't seen it themselves, they'll add it just to increase their numbers. Or fake vacations to see rarities.

    • Like 1

    Unconfirmed reports and ebirder status

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    Look up the top birders all time in Clark, Nevada. How many species have I seen on that list, from your perspective? I have two review species (AFCD and MUSW) on there right now, both with photos. If you see 223, then my two review ones aren't counted. If you see 225, then they are counted.

    Edit: Actually, I see 224 because it doesn't have my FRGU from today, but it does count the other two. I'm #65 right now.

    • Like 2
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