tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post1827326484706891811..comments2024-02-05T09:24:00.251-05:00Comments on The Birdist: All The Times My eBird Observations Have Been Questioned by ReviewersNickLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15505861510483807050noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-11666669505054247622023-08-06T18:41:32.995-04:002023-08-06T18:41:32.995-04:00eBird reviewers aren't "bird police"...eBird reviewers aren't "bird police", they are "data police". You are submitting data to their database. Reviewers are there to ensure the quality of the data being entered, that is all. You are free to claim to have seen and heard any bizarre and ridiculous bird in the world at any time. Not even eBird can take that away from you. BUT, eBird can make sure that your claim doesn't contaminate their database. That is entirely within their right to do so. Too many eBird users seem not to understand this important point.<br /><br />I was an eBird user for many years, and certainly received a number of ID-questioning or -correcting emails from reviewers. Did that annoy me? Yes it did. Were these reviewers right to question me? Yes they were. What got damaged more than anything by being corrected or by simply having reports unconfirmed? My ego, and that's pretty much it. I got over it though, and gradually learned that it's about learning, it's not about judging character or anything like that.<br /><br />Now I'm a reviewer, and I can see what eBird looks like from the review side of things. Now I understand why it can take a long time to review some records, and I can also see why sometimes there's no point to sending an email to an observer who claims to have seen or heard something that they don't provide sufficient evidence for. Some people are still stuck in their egos, and won't listen to a sensible voice telling them that they're wrong or that they jumped the gun with their optimistic ID. Plenty others are totally open to getting advice and counsel, and those people I'm happy to correspond with and help out. Because I'm happy to learn more about birds, I gravitate to others who feel the same way. And that's why I don't waste my time with people who want the trophy more than they want to have actually earned it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-70345764023995667592023-05-17T09:38:41.143-04:002023-05-17T09:38:41.143-04:00I am lucky to have a friend who has cosched me pat...I am lucky to have a friend who has cosched me patiently about posting on eBird. She is a former college professor and I feel like I'm sitting in a cramped student desk. I think we tend to forget that we are contributing to a worldwide data base. Accuracy becomes important. But, there should be a reminder like wearing shoes jn the house...please leave your egos outside. All levels of birders should try as hard as they can to ID on their own as there are many tools and resources to use. Merlin, Macauley,'s library, bird guides, Cornell. Struggling to ID helps me learn. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-55629309064316424612020-05-16T04:38:11.252-04:002020-05-16T04:38:11.252-04:00If ebird is really a tool for professional ornitho...If ebird is really a tool for professional ornithologists Or ifs for amateurs who love birds, why have reviewers at all? Why not simply have an app, let people download what they want - professionals may doubt it - so what? As the above shows, sometimes reviewers are right, sometimes wrong. Like the commentor above, I grew to hate ebird. Not the app itself - I loved my lists and uploading my photos, but the whole bird police thing. Completely unecessary - and I think under European data protection laws - somewhat illegal. Where does a list app get off with thinking it can nominate complete strangers to access your email and bombard you with comments? Nah! Ebird is not professional and its certainly not fun. As for whether it provides any actual useful service. Of all the birders I’ve met - those who happily get up at dawn and spend hours stalking out their local pond, none (except one) uses ebird And the one who uses it is US - Europeans have clearly better things to do - like bird watching for instance,Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-16223897542017574622020-04-05T06:20:06.509-04:002020-04-05T06:20:06.509-04:00I really like these posts and comments on ebird. I...I really like these posts and comments on ebird. I joined ebird recently and then left. Hated it. Just HATED it. I was with a professional birder and made a list - then I got bombarded with emails from ebird - worse than the present stasi situation with the corvid-19 - telling me that I'd got it wrong - I should have chosen a hotspot option instead of the non-hotspot option (well blow me down if that's important!) then telling me that species are rare that are actually quite common where I live. I read that people complain of birders falsifying records or making mistakes (as someone commented above) but what of ebird reviewers themselves?<br /><br />The biggest irony of course is that ebird relies on its App which relies on online data, which relies of electromagnetic radio waves being used in the field - the same EMRs that are interfering with the migratory patterns of birds causing species decline (if you believe what was written about some time ago in Nature) so it's not environmentally friendly either. <br /><br />I'd like to make lists of the birds I've seen and upload photos to a non-confrontational and non-competitive site. If anyone knows of any (NOT ebird) do tell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-25913026237454261102018-12-12T13:53:05.846-05:002018-12-12T13:53:05.846-05:00I think its safe to say that the process of report...I think its safe to say that the process of reporting bird sightings will never be perfect. All humans err, and anomalies in the bird world will increase as our planet increases to be out of whack.<br /><br />eBird is pushing people hard to be as competitive as possible in order to get as much free data as possible. Naturally, this leads to some of the problems related to inaccurate bird sightings or validations.<br /><br />eBird reviewers are human beings, and as such as biased as everyone else in life. I know that my local reviewer favors and disfavors people and along with it, their sightings. I don't like it but I have to accept it as human nature.<br /><br />I do know that some birders make up things wildly (and interestingly, their sightings are often validated) while others provide photographic evidence and are their sightings are still rejected.<br /><br />There is no doubt that eBird has their own agenda of what they want to see on lists and what not. Especially escaped birds are sacrilegious for them. Why? Only they know. <br /><br />Almost humorously, I notice that poor photos are practically always accepted on eBird whereas excellent photos tend to be doubted by reviewers. <br /><br />I also noticed that national lists are edited and re-edited at will by reviewers, without giving any explanations of why certain records that had been in the system for a long time, were all of a sudden taken out. <br /><br />So, yes, there is a lot of abuse by birders as well as eBird reviewers. Solution? I think that there are no perfect solutions, but there is a lot of room for improvement. There is no need for eBird reviewers to be impersonal, act like dictators or be plain hostile toward some birders. As far as questionable reports go: some have a pattern (easy for anyone to detect who has a knack for statistics and who knows his local birding spots well) and some don't. The ones with a pattern (e.g. constant sightings of very rare species outside their range or habitat)and some don't - either because the birder is too smart or experienced to continuously report bs.<br /><br />I am convinced that better communications between birders and reviewers would be very helpful. I also think that there should be more help for new birders who often misidentify species unintentionally. There are over 10k birds around the world, and to become familiar with even just a few hundred is very challenging. <br /><br />One thing I think that is overlooked by many who report to eBird is that most birders are not environmentally conscious or active at all. If I take out the top 100 birders of the place where I live, maybe 5 have environmental concerns and practically do something about it. Most go birding because they like the adventure, pass their time, impress the world with the photo trophies or because they want some sort of recognition. But rarely is someone really working on protecting bird habitats or fighting against the systematic destruction of the planet. If we continue to poison and destroy the planet, there will soon be no more birds. As of now, the global bird population is declining heavily across the board. This is at least the bigger picture that concerns me a lot more than eBirds agenda or problems. <br /><br /><br /><br />Sadhu Govardhannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-33196074982994859242015-03-13T13:39:49.409-04:002015-03-13T13:39:49.409-04:00The Aspen Fox Sparrow getting questioned seems wei...The Aspen Fox Sparrow getting questioned seems weird to me. There's reports of June-July Fox Sparrows all over the place there, all without comment.<br /><br />Maybe your REVI sighting a week earlier gave you a questionable reputation? :) Josh Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13907913346778280006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4465049201581386171.post-30959593979323695042015-03-12T12:08:19.507-04:002015-03-12T12:08:19.507-04:00What bugs me about the review process isn't so...What bugs me about the review process isn't so much having sightings questioned (rare birds need documentation, after all) but lack of communication about whether sightings are confirmed or rejected and why (or whether anyone has even looked at sightings that triggered eBird filters).John B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00163297234733313179noreply@blogger.com