There is a simple solution that will satisfy the "report everything" contingent and still keep your eBird list free of canaries: create another free eBird account for this (and perhaps other) purposes.
Have this account opt out of the Top Birders list and possibly also out of Rare Bird Alert reporting. You can easily move the small number of observations of exotics from your regular account (that do not have domestic versions to which you can switch) to this other one if you already have them -- just enter them on the new account and delete them from the old one. There might be some debate as to how the European Goldfinch should be treated. It has been in the United States (and New York State) since the 19th century, though not continuously. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4078260?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents It has been observed to be nesting in the midwest since 2006: http://ebird.org/content/atlaswi/news/species-survey-strategy-recently-introduced-european-songbirds/ I have raised the issue of having eBird use the state ABA list for managing what is eligible for county and state eBird lists, but this is not a short-term priority so do not expect the policy to change any time soon. You need to manage your eBird list yourself. David Barrett Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
