While essentially a tool for building up databases
on local and regional avifaunas for conservation
purposes, the proprietors at Cornell mask those ends
by making the system very birder friendly. Their efforts
along those lines are ongoing and far too many to list here
... please see the Annual Report for a run down on the
many new features ...

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/the-state-of-ebird-2008-read-this


On Christmas Day that effort took on a whole new level of
birder assistance in the form of allowing one to track EVERY
single data entry in eBird in real time (or as close to
real time as sightings are entered). As mentioned
in a December post regarding White-winged Crossbills,
up until recently, only rarities could be tracked using one of
two means. For example, those familiar with the use
of the eBird Google gadget (see above link) already
 know about the
Lark Sparrow in Crawford County seen by Josh Muchow.
You also have at your disposal a Google map giving the
precise location of the bird, and would know that I have
reviewed and accepted this observation as valid (based on
notes and a fine photograph supplied by Josh today). Those
accessing Jack Siler's eBird map

http://birdingonthe.net/gmaps/eBirdMap.html#

also have access to this information.

Of course, some additional info would be helpful for the January
Century efforts out there. Namely the bird is coming to the
feeders at the location pinpointed in eBird ... at Josh's parents
... and they welcome birders to view the feeders.

I have no further update on the bird than the initial sighting.

Now while that system has been in place for rarities for
almost a year, species not flagged by the 16 checklist filters
presently covering Ohio, were not trackable. That has
changed
 dramatically, and I invite the reader to investigate
this capability by visiting

http://ebird.org/

and selecting the link to Ohio off the main page (lower right).

Presently, the link still brings up 2008 so if you wish to examine
something more recent you will need to select the CHANGE
DATE button at the top of the page.

Otherwise choose a species of interest. For this
exercise, I suggest revisiting White-winged Crossbill.

You will now automatically be taken to the MAP of the
species, the system will do so
in a 10th of the time that it took to do so before* (actually
practical now using dial up connections), and each data
point is interactive. Selecting the data point will bring up
the observer, date(s) of the observation, number of birds,
and location. If no observer is listed this record was
submitted by an archivist.

*This still depends on the size of the data set you are calling
up. Expect a year's worth of Northern Cardinals to take a
minute so targeting your search by a season or a month (just a
quick tap of the month heading) will enhance the experience.

I would like to believe this can be transformational with
regard to online birding. However, there are some notable
caveats. With greater transparency there now comes

greater responsibility on the part of the eBird contributor.

I do what I can to scour non-flagged records for data
entry errors ... wrong dates, wrong locations ... the latter
all too common. That said, with access to all records
by the birding public, it is my hope that anyone
suspicious of such discrepancies will bring these to my
attention thereby assuring a robust data set. Some
of these I have immediate control over and can correct quickly,
some I do not and can only bring them to the attention
of Cornell.

It also begs the question whether to list that Black-headed
Gull you saw at East 72nd within the long list of other gulls,
or pull it out and pinpoint the bird on the dock of the marina
for the benefit of birders. Personally, wherever possible, I
map precisely those birds I deem of interest based on the
listserver discussion surrounding them (with the SAME
CAVEAT that applies to providing precise written directions
regarding sensitive species especially where the bird is in
a vulnerable position that allows close approach at a diurnal
resting site).

cheers

Vic Fazio
State Reviewer - OH, Project eBird
http://ebird.org/
Regional Editor, OH-WV-PA, North American Birds
http://www.aba.org/nab/archives.html
PI: Black-capped Vireo monitoring project, Fort Sill M.R., OK 2007-2011
Lawton, OK
PS> While on the ebird home page, you may wish to check out the
Yellow-billed Loon pics on the right side of the page.






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