The answer to Diana's question is a bit complicated. The MOU offered MOU data to eBird a few years ago, but the data we collected was not easily used by them. Similarly, eBird data was not complete enough to work for the MOU at that time.
Since then, both the MOU and eBird have increased the data fields collected. In December 2009 Dave Cahlander and I revisited the possibility of importing eBird data into the MOU database -- eliminating the need for double entry. (The data flow would only go eBird to MOU, not vice versa, as eBird is not able to make the other direction work.) While in some ways this could be a "simple" process today, there are a number of questions and issues we need to sort out. For example, data submitted to eBird would not get into the MOU database until about 3 wks after the end of the season. Currrently, a lot of people use the database to see what others are reporting right now. We'd lose that ability for any data coming in through ebird. In the other extreme, we would never get eBird sightings that were submitted more than 2 wks after a season's end. While we currently encourage birders to submit their data that quickly, a fair number of records come in later. Once we clarify these and all the other issues, we'll report back with what we can and can't do to make this process smoother for all. If you have any comments, please send them to me or Dave Cahlander. Paul Minneapolis pbu...@earthlink.net (da...@cahlander.com) Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: Minnesota Birds <MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU> To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU <MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU> Sent: Sat Feb 13 19:46:44 2010 Subject: [mou-net] ebird versus MOU Submit Sightings? The recent arrival of The Loon in my mailbox reminded me of a quandary: Log my Minnesota bird sightings using ebird or MOU Submit Sightings? I'd be interested to hear others' opinions and knowledge about how the databases intersect and are (or are not) shared. For example, does MOU integrate the ebird records, implying that submitting sightings to ebird is "enough"? If not, are there plans to integrate them in the future? Part of me thinks it is important to log local sightings with our local organization. But ebird is a pretty slick way to record and share sightings. Obviously one quick-fix is to say "record observations into both databases" --- but I barely have time to log them at all! So far I've been logging MN sightings through the MOU website and using ebird to record my out-of-state birding. Any suggestions, thoughts, or ideas? Thanks, Diana Doyle S. Minneapolis ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
