> How much trouble would it be to report age classes of raptors?

As Blakeman suggests, noting age classes of wintering Red-tails is one
of many easy ways for the birding community to contribute to avian
science and conservation.  But please don't just send this info to the
listserv.  From a data perspective, posting bird sightings to this
listserv is almost completely useless.

On the other hand, by taking 2 or 3 minutes at the end of each birding
stop to record species, numbers, effort data, and other easy info like
raptor age classes, we as birdwatchers can make a lasting contribution
to avian science.  By far the best way to do this is with eBird
(which, by the way, provides a handy and quantitative way to record
age and sex numbers during data entry).  Some Ohio-birds subscribers
are already submitting their sightings to eBird, but far too many
listserv posters are posting fairly detailed birding notes (sometimes
even with numbers!) that will just be lost in cyberspace.  What a
waste!

When you enter sightings into eBird, they become automatically
available for your personal record-keeping.  They also go through a
data quality review process and become available to Seasonal editors
of the Ohio Cardinal and North American Birds.  Once your checklist
has been submitted to eBird, there is an easy way to email yourself a
copy of your species list and forward it to Ohio-birds.  Do everyone
(and the birds) a favor--if you're taking the time to record your
everyday bird sightings anyway, eBird it first.  Then forward it to
Ohio-birds.

www.ebird.org

Dave Slager
Columbus, OH

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