A quick way to check for "currently reported" birds in your area is to click on the website home pages of DFO http://dfobirds.org/ or CFO http://cobirds.org/ and look at BirdTrax, the "Recent eBird Sightings" app that is constantly updating. Scroll down in BirdTrax and you will see the Great-crested Flycatcher reported by a couple birders, where and when.
Kay
Kayleen A. Niyo, Ph.D.
Niyo Scientific Communications
5651 Garnet St.
Golden, CO 80403
303.679.6646
Kay@KayNiyo.com; www.KayNiyo.com
From: cobirds@googlegroups.com [mailto:cobirds@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Joey Kellner
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2015 2:36 PM
To: Colorado Birds
Subject: [cobirds] Re: Cobirds vs Ebird Reporting
The trend will continue (and may even expand) as new and easier ways of reporting and tracking bird sightings. With phone apps now available to easily document our sightings conveniently in the field there is less urgency to race home and type up a message on COBIRDS. This is just my opinion as to why this is happening. I too am guilty of spending a day in the field, coming home exhausted and then failing to report my sightings in a second forum.
Birding is a great hobby and it leaves much to the observer as far as the desire to be involved 1) by themselves, 2) join up with other individuals, 3) join a local club or group, or 4) join a national organization (ABA). It is up to the individual to decide what level of birding THEY want (feeder watching, local patch watching, Big Day attempts, annual "year" list tracking or continent (or worldwide) birding). Like I said, a great hobby for all levels of interest or involvement.
With that decision also comes another decision (wow, so complicated). How to document or track what you see? Some just get out and watch and don't track any of their sightings...they just enjoy getting out in the fresh air and seeing nature. Others track to the minute level of what bird was on what specific power pole! Once you determine what level of record keeping you want, you must decide (yeah, another decision) what method to use to track your sightings (paper, computer spreadsheet, software package designed for birders, or something like eBird).
Here it comes....another decision...do you feel comfortable with and want to report your sightings to others? How? 1) A phone call and leave a message on the local Rare Bird Alert (easy and convenient with just a phone call)? 2) Use a computer at home (or a laptop in your hotel) to post your sightings online (e.g. COBIRDS)? 3) Send a "tweet" to all your close birding buddies, 4) Post to your Facebook page so that anyone "following" you can see what you've found, 5) Submit your sightings via a smart-phone app to eBird? Wow! What options we have! Now for convenience, one stop "shopping" (birding) allows me to track my sightings on a checklist AND at the same time provides me with a method to notify others! Wow, what convenience!
What I'm really getting at here is that technology is developing and changing fast and unless there is a way to synthesize all the electronic (and other) data out there, there will always be a disconnect in reporting.
Now I'm not suggesting that this REALLY happen, but what if eBird posted their alerts to COBIRDS automatically every few hours? I would get a lot of email that I really don't want AND it might just "clutter up" COBIRDS.
So, until all the observation data can be gathered together in a single location (and selectively "mined" for the good stuff...and the bad stuff ruled out) we will be in a world of multiple forums for gathering sighting data.
Isn't America great?! Our enjoyment and hobby are not dictated to us. All these choices we have! With great choice comes great responsibility?
My three thoughts (small as they may be).
Joey Kellner
Littleton, Colorado
On Friday, October 30, 2015 at 12:53:16 PM UTC-6, Mark wrote:
Recently, I have noticed a trend of good to great chaseable birds not being reported to CObirds but instead just added to the eBird checklist. The reason for the email is that yesterday, a Great-crested Flycatcher was reported from the Denver Botanical Gardens at Chatfield around 8:40 a.m. After looking at the photos attached to the checklist, I'm struggling to rule out a Brown-crested Flycatcher. The problem with this kind of reporting is that you're not hearing about the bird until the next day. A few weeks ago, a Tri-colored Heron was reported to CObirds and many people were able to see the bird before it disappeared the following day. I'm not trying to criticize a person's decision of reporting, because it is ultimately their choice. I'm trying to get a better understanding of why this trend is increasing so rapidly?
Mark Chavez
Lakewood-Green Mtn
http://jaeger29.smugmug.com/
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