Using Chris Wood's excellent discussion about the complexities of eBird data (on the NYSBirds list) as a segue...........
Long-time Regional Editor Bill Purcell (Region 5) is passing the torch and Matt Perry and I have agreed to take over. eBird records for a season number between 20,000 to 200,000 depending on the number of observers in the Region. To help in analyzing this data I have written a program in VISUAL Basic to perform various sorting and logical functions, including evaluating records in the split counties where the Regional boundary does not follow county lines. The program also generates maximum and average counts, first-of-season, last-of-season, contributor lists, species category evaluation, validity, and much more. With a full month left before the end of the Fall reporting period, I'm going to send an e-mail to Regional Editors outlining the program, what it needs as input, what it generates as output, and all the other Frequently Asked Questions. Those that wish to use the output data will have time to become familiar with the format and look for errors (none known as of version 1.11), idiosyncrasies, shortcomings, etc. There are many capabilities planned, and I hope it well help in reducing the large number of records to a managable summary. The program is parametrically-driven and functions both to generate Kingbird-specific data, but can equally well be a general-purpose data-evaluation tool. Regional Editors I know about will receive an e-mail in the next few days. If you do not receive it, or have an interest in the subject generally, please e-mail me below and I will add you to the list. David Wheeler North Syracuse, NY tigge...@aol.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
