I find most people reporting to eBird are pretty good about including context (location etc) in the comments field - not least because when it's a genuine rarity eBird mandates some kind of commentary. In fact, I'd say once a rarity has had its initial few ebird reports, further comments tend to revert away from repeated descriptions of plumage and start to become a running track of where the bird is, or behaviour notes etc. Obviously the ability to look at / manipulate other facets of the eBird Big Data-set is totally invaluable.
The GroupMe system we use in Northern New Jersey is very good for sharing rarity info. And tends to not suffer from reports of common birds, and is invite only so is kind of self-policing. But as others have pointed out, it's another app people gotta download and install on their phones.... Personally i think nobody should be dissuaded from reporting. As David B pointed out, it's not hard to set email filters, and someone somewhere might just get themselves a lifer that otherwise would have gone un-shared if people hold back. Just my 3 cents Good birding. Dom www.antbirds.com www.aventuraargentina.com + 1 646 429 2667 <(646)%20429-2667> On 30 November 2016 at 17:19, Phil Jeffrey <phil.jeff...@gmail.com> wrote: > The current intent of the list as given on the list's website is not what > Kevin McGowan indicated may or may not be the original intent - and I've > pointed this out recently - its even linked at the end of every message. > Certainly this has not been a purely RBA list for quite some time - > although that's more difficult to demonstrate given that there weren't any > list archives (!) for quite some time either. > > eBird is only one tiny notch up from just a basic list of species. The > eBird reports - and I use them for trip research - are frequently without > context so they read as: > > an interesting bird was seen somewhere in tens of acres of habitat > > and the lack of narrative is hopeless if you want to go find anything > that's of interest to you that might drop below the anointed level of > rarity. I believe that eBird has damaged local birding lists by the > removal of context from sightings. IMHO, that context is extremely > valuable to all level of birders and why I run my own list as I do. I've > mostly stopped reporting sightings to eBird for this reason. > > So no, eBird is not the solution. > > Phil Jeffrey > Princeton > > On Wed, Nov 30, 2016 at 4:50 PM, Paul R Sweet <sw...@amnh.org> wrote: > >> Daily lists are great and as I mentioned previously E-bird is an >> excellent place to record such data. If everyone posted their Central Park >> lists to NYSBIRDS-L it would certainly dilute the power of the list. See >> Kevin McGowan's post here https://www.mail-archive.com/n >> ysbird...@cornell.edu/msg20105.html regarding the original intent of the >> list. >> >> >> -- > *NYSbirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > *Please submit your observations to **eBird* > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>*!* > -- > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
