Only 200 birds were found dead in Arkansas this New Year’s as opposed to the thousands found last year.
Really cool snowy owl video from Cornell:
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Birdchick Podcast #87: Minor Aflockalypse, Snowy Owls, ResolutionsOnly 200 birds were found dead in Arkansas this New Year’s as opposed to the thousands found last year. Really cool snowy owl video from Cornell:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download 4 comments to Birdchick Podcast #87: Minor Aflockalypse, Snowy Owls, Resolutions |
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So Birders’ life lists are a “saw it” checklist? No date/time/location of sighting?
Also–I was curious about e-bird. The application uploads observations to the e-bird database at Cornell, right, and other people can read those observations, and they’re treated as genuine (although presumably not “verified”). But does it do any sanity checking or verification? If I reported that I went on a hike and saw a dozen Ivory-billed woodpeckers, is it actually going to log that?
The paranoid assume-the-worst-of-everyone part of me worries that these reports could be manipulated, either by carelessness or possibly even malicious intent.
There are knowledgeable birders who monitor eBird — in one of my earlier contributions, I reported seeing a bird that does not normally occur in the area I was birding. I was/am a beginner, and probably wasn’t looking at the right field markings. It took them a while to catch up with me, but they did ask if I could verify the identifiers and/or if I had a photo. I believe it was someone who works at one of the Harvard biology departments. Not sure how heavily the reports are monitored, or if the people doing the footwork just look for out-of-place sightings.
I reported a yellow bellied flycatcher this summer and within a day was contacted by someone local who monitors submissions to ebird. He questioned if this bird would be seen here that time of year. He ended up being right and I changed my submission.
Ebird is awesome and you are missing out if you don’t use it. Ebird rocks.
FYI, Airport Police have now made it clear that birders are not welcome on cargo road and they will evict anyone they see trying to view the Snowy or any other bird.
We’ve been warned.