I am forwarding this opportunity to assist with a research project. Perhaps some Colorado birders familiar with birds in Canada might be interested in helping. I just took the quiz and there are several birds in the quiz that are found in Colorado.
Hello Fellow Birders!
For those of you who don't know me, I am a research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and am program lead for the Spatial Ecology Program at the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research in Thunder Bay. I am requesting your participation in an online research "quiz" to provide information on misidentification of species arising from interpretation of audio recordings, in support of forest management guide effectiveness monitoring.
The quiz is completely anonymous, and your comfort and experience with identifying birds based on vocalization is assessed through the first three questions. The quiz is set to expire on February 8th. If you can't do the quiz right now, perhaps set a time now in your calendar that is more convenient!
This is the link to the quiz: http://www.cnfer.on.ca/SEP/quiz/quiz.html , and clicking on the link will load the flash (.swf) based quiz, with the vocalizations embedded. It may take a moment to load. Also, you may need to click on your browser security bar to activate embedded (flash) ActiveX content. If you stop the quiz by closing the web page, you can restart the quiz where you left off by simply opening the link again, and navigating to your last question with the Next button.
If you know of others that might do very well on this quiz, I would appreciate you forwarding this email to them.
Additional info:
The quiz is intentionally short with only 20 identification questions, and with only 30 seconds to complete each question. This simulates some of the actual working conditions of interpreting a large block of recordings within a limited time frame (and where a vocalization may be heard only once) but also makes the quiz more convenient for busy professionals because only 15-20 minutes is required to complete the quiz. The list of possible answers is based on our research (and other published material) of which species sound most similar, so the quiz is relatively difficult. The quiz includes relatively common species from Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) 8 and 12, but most should be familiar to birders across Canada. The full list of bird name codes used in this quiz is provided below. We ask that you DO NOT take the quiz more than once, as this will invalidate results.
This request to participate was sent to experienced birders across Canada based on my network of birding professionals, and includes those who have their own networks. The intent is to span a range of skill levels including people who are highly skilled and with lots of current experience identifying birds by vocalization, to those who have less experience, and are perhaps (currently) a bit rusty.
List of species (codes) used in the quiz. Full names are provided in the quiz:
AMKE, AMRE, AMRO, ATTW, BAWW, BBWA, BCCH, BHVI, BLBW, BRCR, BTBW, BTNW, CAWA, CERW, CHSP, CMWA, COYE, CSWA, DEJU, GCKI, HETH, LEFL, MAWA, MERL, NAWA, NOFL, NOPA, NOWA, OCWA, PIWA, PIWO, RBGR, RBNU, RCKI, REVI, SCTA, SWSP, TEWA, WBNU, WIWA, WOTH, YBFL, YBSA, YRWA, YTVI, YWAR.
Your participation is very much appreciated!!
Sincerely,
Rob Rempel, PhD
Research Scientist
Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Spatial Ecology Program
Jason Beason
Paonia - Delta County --
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