Inquiry About eBird Sightings

[Trevor L.]

We saw a bird a few days ago in Costa Rica. I saw it, but couldn’t tell what it was. The guides both said it was a Great Green Macaw. That counts for the life list even if I didn’t get a great look, but still know what it is, right?

[Charlie Spencer]

I don't know why not.  I've ID'ed plenty of birds that I didn't get a great look at.  Birders competing in Big Days, etc. are listing mostly birds they only hear and never see at all.

[Trevor L.]

Awesome! That makes the trip list 101.

[Melierax]

14 hours ago, Trevor L. said:

Awesome! That makes the trip list 101.

Congrats!

[Melierax]

Yeah I might count it. It's more of a personal thing. Technically it counts, but a lot of seeing a bird is actually properly seeing it. A lot of the time I'll count a bird but later I'll see it again and want to count it as a lifer because of how lame the view was previously. 

[Charlie Spencer]

I passed on marking a lifer White-Eyed Vireo this weekend.  Several other people in the party got good looks at it.  All I got was a blur of motion and maybe a bit of a wing.  That wasn't good enough for me.  Sometimes it's a question of whether you can justify it to the guy on the other side of the mirror.

I did have a yard lifer Yellow-Throated Warbler waiting at the suet feeder when I got home.  Karma.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Charlie Spencer

[HamRHead]

26 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said:

I passed on marking a lifer White-Eyed Vireo this weekend.  Several other people in the party got good looks at it.  All I got was a blur of motion and maybe a bit of a wing.  That wasn't good enough for me.  Sometimes it's a question of whether you can justify it to the guy on the other side of the mirror.

I did have a yard lifer Yellow-Throated Warbler waiting at the suet feeder when I got home.  Karma.

Yeah I deleted a lifer Blackburnian Warbler after a year or more. I "knew" what it was in one brief look. I saw it in my binocs, promptly gasped and reached for my camera, and it was gone. I may have moved too quickly. Regardless, the passage of time has eroded any confidence I had in what I think I saw. So I will wait for a better look and hopefully a decent photo.

[Charlie Spencer]

I have a sighting I've change at least twice over the last several years.  In the early days when I was beginning to take birding seriously, I spotted a small heron a foot or so inside a loose bed of marsh grass, clinging about a foot up a stalk.  I initially called it a Least Bittern.  I never saw one at that location again, but I've seen Green Herons there regularly.  When I was entering my historical data into eBird a few years later, I convinced myself it must have a Greenie I saw that day.  As more years have past and I've seen more of each bird, I've gone back to my original ID.  A Greenie is just too big for that grass to support.