Posted by Rock Jetty on January 01, 1970 at 00:00:00
Okay Vince, You know, part of me wished you stayed away from eBird, because nothing really pleases you. No offense, that's just the way you are :) Now, given the millions of eBird records, how you use them for, say biological resource management, depends on the question you are asking. For Everglades National Park, for example, eBird has allowed us to add species and re-categorize them (I'm not going into specifics but trust me, it has helped A LOT). If you want first appearance records, high counts, last appearance, etc. - you can pull that out for any particular species. In other words, you are not going to use ALL the data, just what you need. Some of the birds you mentioned have actually appeared here and there in natural areas - Ringed Teal in Cutler Wetlands is a perfect example. I wondered what they said about Egyptian Geese when they first appeared - now look at how their population has exploded and could potentially create issues. That said, if it is someone's private pond, one just has to do a little research and dismiss it. If, as a reviewer, you start removing species on the account that someone thinks they are worthless, where does it end? Hmmm, that sounds familiar. You are trying to use eBird to target rarities for your personal ABA list. That's fine, but that's not what eBird was invented for, and certainly not to replace Rare Bird listserves. I believe those are still needed. eBird was not designed to cater to serious ABA listers' needs. They have tried their best to bring in a larger audience and have done so successfully. Let me give you an example of how I used eBird recently. I was going to bird in south Texas. I ran a "target species" query for any life birds I needed in that region and that would be present in the month of July, based on my life list. Viola! A got a list with a probability of encounter based on frequency of observations and I would reference the "Hotspot" map to decide where I was going to go. It payed off. My advice: don't worry about the waterfowl, just target the birds you need and move on. If anybody is new to eBird and needs help, I would be glad to offer a workshop. -RJ