Jim- I use ebird mostly because I think they are collecting valuable info;
especially for OUS sightings.
I've never had too much trouble posting sightings but I haven't used it to
see what has been seen by others in places where I might go. Maybe most of
the OUS places I go have not been reported. I will spend some time checking
this week.
I can tell you that I've received more than one email from ebird requesting
verification of a sighting. At least one that I remember was my error. The
other 2 or 3 I could verify by checking with another birder who was with me
(North Dakota) or with photos (OUS).
One of my questioners from ebird got more than he bargained for. I had some
unknowns from Mexico so I sent them to him for help. He ID'd them for me so
I was impressed - because the pix were not that good.
The latest version of ebird allows linking a bird observation to either
Picasa or Flickr website pix - really neat.
By the way if you want to do some research on birds OUS, Flickr
(www.flickr.com) has the best quality pix that I've found.
I also put sightings on MOU - usually new county sightings or unusual
sightings - like a meadowlark in early March.
OK - for what it's worth, that's my experience. I know there is more - Ebird
has some phone apps for instant notification. Not familiar with that since I
don't have a smart phone.
Larry S
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Ryan
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 1:38 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [mou-net] Inquiry (no sightings)
I tried to use ebird years ago (circa 2004) and it was horrible. I gave up.
I heard now it's better so I went back late last year. After farting around
on it for about half an hour, I still think it sucks.
I use computers everyday for work and have done so since 1995 (back in the
day of Windows 3.1) but I still can't figure out how to pull up anything
I'd consider useful from ebird. Maybe it's my left-handed but logical brain
but I must need to be led by the hand through the wonderland that is ebird
'cuz I ain't finding it on my own.
Reliability is a whole 'nother factor - If I have no clue who a birder is,
or what their ID skill level is, I ain't going chasing after their
mis-identification. Does ebird have any sort of verification process for
the validity of their "scientific database" ??? There, I said it.
I already get good info from the MOUMN.org website and mostly reliable info
from the MOU and MNBird list servs. And oddly, sometimes it's just fun to
try your luck on your own.
I know I must be a luddite, as my cell phone is still dumb and I'm not a
twit (don't tweet). My Face is not in a book that's not made of paper
either and I email far more than I text (OMG, LOL). But apparently society
marches on to it's cyber drummer with me in it's virtual dust.
--
Sincerely,
Jim Ryan
Saint Paul's Westside
----
One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and
Nature shall not be broken. -* Leo Tolstoy*
A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty. - *Lucius Annaeus
Seneca*
----
On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Chris Fagyal
<[email protected]>wrote:
I'd actually be inclined to believe most Mou members don't use ebird. For
example, I haven't lived in Minnesota since Oct of 2009, but I'm still
number three for lifetime ebird list in Minnesota with only 311. If one
looks at the moumn listing page there are well over 150 people on the 300
club. It pains me to see so many people not utilizing such an awesome
resource. It makes things easier for the listers (especially county
listers) and it helps to grow the understanding of Minnesota's birds.
With
the various cool new iOS and android apps, submitting checklists can even
be done in the field while birding!
Ebird provides excellent tools for looking at distribution bar graphs by
state, county or even location so one can see which birds are most likely
at a given time of year. A great tool for looking at species arrivals
during migration to know what is expected to be showing up. I use them
all
the time to try to understand arrival dates in Kansas as I continue to
learn here in my new home.
It's also very easy to import sightings from things like avisys or birders
diary. If anyone would like help doing so I'd gladly offer some
assistance. It only took me a few days to take sightings from five
countries and ten years worth of data when I did so last year when Ebird
went global. I haven't even used my listing software since because ebird
does what I want so well.
Cheers,
Chris Fagyal
Jonathon Jongsma <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Mon, 2012-04-02 at 09:17 -0500, linda whyte wrote:
>> too. Finally, I suspect that many MOU folks are e-bird users and figure
>> that's all they need do to share.
>
>This is certainly possible (I admit that I feel this way sometimes), but
>it doesn't really explain the difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota
>mailing lists. Wisconsin birders submit *far* more ebird reports than
>Minnesota birders do, and yet apparently their mailing list is also more
>active.
>
>And since I'm writing anyway, I saw a Vesper Sparrow and 2 Yellow-rumped
>Warblers at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis this morning.
>
>Jonathon
>
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>
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