Project eBird offers several incentives for birders to interact with the database. A recent tool in beta (provisional) release is a "gadget" one adds to your iGoogle homepage. Don't have a iGoogle homepage ... a simple click on the link provided within the URL listed below creates the gadget automatically. http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/Google_Gadget.html The result is a listing of the "rarities" flagged by eBird filters for a given state. The default example is New York, but once you have the gadget on an iGoogle page, you can switch to Ohio where it will remain until you change it again. This is a provisional iteration of the tool ... meaning there are a few caveats. The "rarities" are based on checklist filters that themselves are in beta. And although I have constructed 18 filters for the state of Ohio (4 more planned), these are not fully implemented by Project eBird. This will occasionally manifest as a "rarity" slipping through in the form of something only of local interest e.g. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Dec. Also as the checklists were created last year guided by biological parameters and not with birders strictly in mind, some 'rarities' of interest to birders presenlt may not be flagged ... I will be revisiting all of the filters over the course of the winter. Also, confirmation of a rarity requires my review which is sporadic at best. Typically, I review records 3-5 times a week ... pretty much any day I may be online. This does not preclude a rarity appearing within the gadget, and ultimately, it is up to the reader to judge the veracity of a record in terms of whether one chases after it. Also, as a rarity alert, the gadget is not about to replace listservs or phone trees which get the word out very quickly. Where the gadget shines is in its ability to pinpoint the location of a rarity down to a few meters depending upon how precise the observer chose to be. A click on the Google map for that obsrvation brings up a level of detail to aid in finding the bird that remains lacking in most posts online. Although written directions will always be helpful, I have found this mapping tool far easier to interpret. TRY IT NOW Follow the instructions at the above URL to load the gadget to an iGoogle page. Change to Ohio. You will find a 29 Dec 07 entry for a Ross's Goose in Cuyahoga county. You learn that the observer is David Lewis. Although the site is listed as a "personal location", clicking on the map will reveal the exact location, complete with a printable road map. You can follow this to The Links Golf Course off John Rd. a mile west of Colombia Rd. in Olmsted Falls, Cuyahoga County. Of course, how well the gadget performs will ultimately be a matter how precise observers choose to be in mapping their observation. And on the national stage ... The iGoogle gadget is being explored by others suck as Jack Siler with regard to bringing national rarities to light. Please checkout his own provisional effort at http://birdingonthe.net/gmaps/eBirdMap.html where not only one can find rarities across the country quickly, but they are color coded by degree of rarity (I believe following the ABA designations). cheers Vic Fazio Shaker Heights, OH ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]