birding-aus

Rare bird sitings along Moonee Ponds Ck [what aboutMerri Ck? - both Melb

To: <>
Subject: Rare bird sitings along Moonee Ponds Ck [what aboutMerri Ck? - both Melbourne area]
From: "Richard and Margaret Alcorn" <>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:11:11 -0000
Re: Completeness and reliability of surveys entered into Eremaea Birds.

Anyone registered with Eremaea Birds can enter surveys. The database checks 
each survey for unusual records. (An unusual record is defined as one where the 
species has not been observed in the one degree block concerned within 12 
months of the survey.) If an unusual record is detected, the survey is marked 
for review by a moderator, otherwise the survey is automatically included in 
the Eremaea Birds atlas (which forms the basis for all public reports). The 
task of the moderator is to accept or query the unusual records. The main 
purpose of this whole exercise is to prevent data entry errors. The general 
policy is to accept observations where the observer is confident of what they 
have seen, although the moderator can choose to exclude the survey from the 
atlas if they still have serious reservations (a rare occurrence).

Surveys are also sourced from the Eremaea Birds Birdline reports. These are 
generally accepted without query since they have already been moderated.

With regard to completeness, an Eremaea Birds survey can be anything from an 
incidental sighting to a 24 hour survey. (Surveys can be of longer duration, 
but only single-day surveys are included in the atlas). Birdline surveys, of 
course, only list highlights. As noted by others, the inclusion of incidental 
and "birdline" surveys increases the reporting rates for scarce species and 
decreases it for common species. In the end, the reporting rate is the 
reporting rate, and it is published in order to give some idea of the liklihood 
of occurrence of a species, even though it is heavily distorted by what people 
actually care to report.

I hope this helps. Suggestions are always welcome.

Richard Alcorn
Eremaea Birds
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
=============================
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU