Posted with permission from the Ontbirds moderator Dear Ontbirds subscribers,
For those of you who are eBird users, you'll want to take note of the following as we supposedly enter into spring migration (still waiting on proof of this!) and submissions to eBird peak: **Use of eBird hotspots** eBird users are reminded to report bird lists from hotspots (or any location for that matter) only if your entire birding was completed at the site. For example, don't report birds you saw at Hillman Marsh on your Point Pelee checklist or vice versa - instead, create separate checklists for each location you visit, or else use the "Select an entire county or province" option to ensure all of your sightings are attached to the correct geographic level. Related link about eBird hotspots: http://help.ebird. org/customer/portal/articles/1006824-what-is-an-ebird-hotspot- Related link about what data are appropriate: http://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/articles/973921-what-data-are-appropriate- **Changes to subspecies reporting** eBird users will notice some significant changes recently implemented or which will be implemented shortly when it comes to the list of non-species taxa available when you go to enter your species list. These changes are being made for a number of reasons including simplifying the list of options for users, particularly as more people are using the eBird app, and standardizing the list within Ontario and North America more generally. The changes fall into these categories: 1) Only one subspecies/subspecies group occurs in all of North America: for these (e.g. Great Egret (American); Ardea alba egretta, Mourning Dove (Mainland); Zenaida macroura [carolinensis Group]) all North American records of the species will be this subspecies so there is not much to be gained by reporting at this level. If the subspecies is ever split, all North American records will be automatically split with them. Taxa such as this no longer appear on Ontario eBird lists. You can still add them by using the "add species" option but are encouraged to just use the species option. This helps to reduce the number of options available on a given checklist. 2) Subspecies/subspecies groups that are very hard to identify: for these (e.g. Sandhill Crane, Green Heron, Canada Goose) the consensus is that identification to the subspecies level is probably beyond the abilities of most birders so these options have been removed from eBird checklists in Ontario. If you are confident on the subspecies involved you can still report to this level but be prepared to include details to justify the identification. 3) More than one subspecies/subspecies group in North America: in this situation, where the subspecies/subspecies groups are field identifiable, we have left these options on the eBird checklists in Ontario and encourage Ontario eBirders to report to this level when they are confident in the ID. The most familiar of these to Ontario birders are probably the subspecies groups of Dark-eyed Junco and Yellow-rumped Warbler but there are many others. 4) "spuhs", "slashes", and hybrids: These are options to use when one isn't sure of the exact ID or it is a hybrid (e.g. grackle sp., Bullock's/Baltimore Oriole, Snow x Canada Goose). We tried to clean these options up so there are not so many unnecessary (e.g. grackle sp. when only one species is expected in Ontario) or very rarely used (e.g. Snow x Canada Goose which is very rare). If you need one that no longer appears, use the "add species" option. Related link about eBird taxonomy: http://help.ebird. org/customer/portal/articles/1006825-the-ebird-taxonomy Thanks from the entire Ontario eBird review team! -- *Mike Burrell* *Ontario eBird coordinator* *Please support my Birdathon for bird conservation!* <https://www.canadahelps.org/me/6AfneQv> [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
