Date:         Mon, 5 Oct 2009 20:00:57 -0700
Reply-To:     Charlie <cmmbirds@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Charlie <cmmbirds@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Crestlawn cemetery birds
Comments: To: Liz Horsey <erhorsey@COMCAST.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <792508082.9365151254667153319.JavaMail.root@sz0045a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Hi Liz, and all,

If the common birds are what put you off EBird, maybe it's because you mistakenly believe they expect you to count every single bird?  They don't.  Estimating is perfectly ok.

If you see a "couple dozen" of something, just put down 25.  Maybe it was 23 or 27, but that is fine.

Afterall, NONE of us sees every bird, right?  So with the possible exception of rare or very big, or feeder birds, everything we do is an estimate, anyway.

The folks at EBird take these points into account.  Part of the value of listing all the common birds is that we can watch their trends *now* before they get to be scarce. Maybe you're estimating  30 - 50 of some species on most outings now.  But in 5 years you're reporting 10-20 of them.  Even though they'd still be common, the regular use of a database such as EBird could help us to become aware of this sooner.

I'd love to answer any questions any one may have about EBird.

Cheers,
Charlie Muise
Georgia IBA Coordinator
http://www.atlantaaudubon.org/iba/

> the common stuff included (and here's what puts me off
> ebird):
>
> dozens and dozens of house finches, could have been as many
> as a hundred
>
> amazingly, no goldfinches
>
> coupla dozen brown thrashers, all very noisy
>
> coupla dozen crows
>
> coupla dozen cardinals
>
> dozens and dozens of blue jays
>
> half a dozen white-breasted nuthatches
>
> one brown-headed nuthatch
>
> dozens and dozens of mourning doves
>
> a few pine warblers singing
>
>
>
> As I was leaving, there was a large post oak that contained
> a dozen or more peewees.
>
> Liz Horsey
> erhorsey@comcast.net
>
> NW Atlanta, Fulton Co.
>
>
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