Paul Gardner thoroughly answered the question of status, but I am curious where you are seeing this report. I have yet to see a report of Graylag Goose for Ohio within eBird, although "Graylag Goose (domestic type)" is not an uncommon entry. The Notable Bird Gadget", as eBird calls it, is associated with Google. This presently shows only a Pine Warbler at Greenlawn Cemetery as reported by Laura Keene and John Hull. To those unfamiliar with this feature, it will post for the most recent 7 days, any item flagged by the checklist filters for a given state ... you can toggle between states with a couple of mouse clicks. More about it can be found here ... http://ebird.org/content/ebird/home/birding-news-and-features/news/Google_Gadget.html The posting is immediate, whereas that same record often takes 12-18 hrs to appear within my review page. This means records appear here before they can be vetted. It is intended as an alert system and like any other can be prone to erroneous reports. Watch for the green check mark which appears after my validation. If I leave it invalid, I believe the observation is dropped from the list but I'm not sure how quickly this happens. Of course, if I am out of town, or otherwise cannot review that record, it may spend the entire week on the list without being checked and still be a valid observation ... use your own best judgment. I also checked Jack Siler's map and found only Lesser Black-backed Gull, Iceland Gull, and Long-eared Owl. Jack's map differs as all reports, not just flagged items, are scanned for birds that possess an American Birding Association code of 2-5 ... a subjective system of relative difficulty to observe ... for example Lesser Black-backed Gull is a 2, as is Yellow-billed Loon (which for some of us is more like a 5 :-) You can find the map here ... http://birdingonthe.net/gmaps/eBirdMap.html I also cannot see this entry within the eBird database. Here is the 2010 Ohio checklist of 136 species as of yesterday. http://tinyurl.com/yboaqk5 And as of a few minutes ago, nothing of this report had appeared within my review page. Were it to do so, having been flagged by the checklist filter, I would, for the reasons given by Paul Gardner, approve the default status of invalid. And for everyone reading this, please keep in mind that I have absolutely no say over what one may enter within one's personal records. My treatment of these records only affects the public portion of the database. One's records are your own ... and only yourself may manipulate them. cheers Vic Fazio Shaker Heights, OH ________________________________ From: Paul Dubuc <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 5:58:43 PM Subject: [Ohio-birds] Graylag Geese in Preble County? Hello All: eBird is showing a Jan. 23 report of two Graylag Geese on Acton Lake, Hueston Woods State Park. Since there doesn't seem to be any hubbub on this list over an ABA Category 5 species, I assume these are known to be domesticated escapes? -- Paul Dubuc, Pearl River, NY for the moment Dayton, OH for the duration at sign beween pauldubuc and gmail dot com ______________________________________________________________________ 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]