[cobirds] Re: South Platte Rez county line and eBird

On Sunday, January 14, 2018 at 8:31:17 AM UTC-7, Scott Somershoe wrote:
> All,
> As there's been a lot of birding at S Platte Res over the last couple weeks, I thought I'd make a couple comments about where the county line is and how to properly report birds in eBird. 
>
> See link below and zoom in on S Platte Res to see that the county line crosses the reservoir such that only the SW arm of the reservoir is in Jefferson Co. The majority of the reservoir is in Arapahoe Co. The county line does not run down the middle of the reservoir. 
> http://maps.jeffco.us/
>
>
> eBird: There is a hot spot for the SW Bay for reporting birds that occur on the Jeff Co side. And there's a hot spot for the Arapahoe side of the reservoir. Thanks Joe!
>
>
>
> ABA and reporting rules: In terms of the recent rarities, especially the Yellow-billed Loon, this bird has apparently only been on the east side of the reservoir and thus only in Arapahoe. As far as I can tell it hasn't ventured into the southwest corner. Thus reporting the bird in Jefferson Co is inappropriate, if it was not physically in that southwest corner. 
>
>
> ABA rule:
> (1)The bird must have been within the prescribed area when encountered, and the encounter must have occurred within the prescribed time period. 
>
>
> So standing in Jeff Co, seeing the loon in Arapahoe and reporting it in Jeff Co and/or reporting in both counties is inappropriate. Only reporting in Arapahoe is the way to go!
>
> If you reported the loon in Jeff Co, I'd encourage you to remove that report. 
>
>
> Thanks!
> Scott Somershoe 
> Jefferson, Arapahoe and Douglas Co eBird reviewer 
>
>
>
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> Sent from my iPhone

Just thought you might like to know, my ebird report of Jan. 6 at 12:05pm includes an observation of the yellow-billed loon in the southwest bay of South Platte Res. That is not a fake report in any way. I observed the bird in Arapahoe County for about 15 minutes. I then began walking back to the southwest corner of the reservoir as I had parked at that end. During the 15 or so minutes it took me to walk back to that corner, I stopped several times in order to keep track of where the loon was. I very quickly lost sight of it. Once I got well into Jefferson County, I stopped and set up my scope. I continued to look for the bird out in the main body of the reservoir for several minutes without any luck. After awhile, a photographer (with a very very large lens on his camera) who had been walking with me said there it is. I turned away from the main body of the reservoir and saw the yellow-billed loon over in the far southwest corner of the reservoir (and I mean way over in the corner) not more than 20 ft. from the shore. No scope needed to see this beautiful bird up close in Jeffco. Don't know about anybody else, but my report stands as posted in ebird!!!
Phil Lyon
Lakewood, CO

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