Hi all, I'd like to chime in on this timely post as well. Thank you, Laurent, for the initial question, and thank you, Rob, for continuing the discussion. By way of introduction, for those that do not know or that recently joined the list, I work for the Lab of Ornithology as the BirdCast project leader and work closely with the eBird team. I helped to draft the NFC Protocol.
eBird definitely welcomes all of the acoustic data that we can provide. The protocol is clear on the real-time listening methods, for those that do and do not use amplification ( http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/nfc-count-protocol). Yes, you can enter calls you hear by the NFC Protocol if you hear them in *real-time*, whether by your ear or via a speaker-microphone-recording station. If you happen to be recording, spectrograms and audio files make ideal documentation to embed or link in the checklist. Here's a nice diurnal example: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12046094. As Rob suggests, correctly, one can also enter other flight call data as well, such as data recorded by an automated recording station. However, if you do this, please be clear that you should do all of the following: - Create a *separate*, *non-personal* account (n.b. the recorded/non real time data violate listing rules in that you cannot count what you didn't witness). - Enter these data as *incidental sightings.* - Include as detailed a description as you can in the comments about how the recorded data were collected (e.g. specifics on recording gear, sound analysis package used, algorithm used, etc.) A few additional comments: For eBird, having some rules for listing is an important incentive, since eBird does have some competitive outputs. We hope to have a better way to address these in the future (e.g. a way to "not count" certain submissions, if you choose), but for now, it is important to respect these so flight call counters are not seen as "cheating." Treating your flight call recording station as a separate observer is, in some ways, appropriate. Obviously, for scientific use, we want to know that you recorded the bird at that site, so submission is OK. However, we do hope to develop a way to add "remote listening" protocol in the future, which is part of the reason that the current protocol discourages submission of remote listening data. So, if you record an important yard bird, or local record, by non-real-time methods, enter it accordingly. The eBird team is planning to post some additional information on this topic on the eBird site later this year. I will make sure to cross-post that information here as soon as the story goes live. Good (nocturnal) birding! Andrew ---------- BirdCast Project Leader Information Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology [email protected] -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
