In the past I suggested to either the COG committee, or a person on the
committee, that someone should be appointed, and possibly paid a modest
"honorarium", to enter these sorts of records as we were losing too much
potentially valuable information. My suggestion was met with, at best, a very
luke warm reception and I have heard nothing further on the subject since then!
I have suggested to Julian that he sends in a COG "Incidental Report Form",
available on the COG website.
I also know from personal experience that data entered to eBird does not always
make it to the COG database. My point in question was last year when a visiting
Canadian birder was out with me and he entered his day's list into eBird. One
species was queried (a Restless Flycatcher) where the local moderator wanted a
description of the bird as it was considered "Rare" - (I do agree with that
definition) - locally. Despite the fact that the observer said that I was with
him the record was rejected with a comment somewhat similar to "it is what you
saw, we don't take other people into account, it doen't matter who they are".
We went back several days later and we (I) found the birds nest building. The
only way this record will get in to the COG system is because I put the records
in via the COG "incidental report form".
On a recent trip to PNG there was an American couple putting in all their daily
records via eBird. When talking to the lady doing the eBird data entry I
discovered that at least 50% of what was about to go in to eBird was wrong. If
I hadn't corrected the lady doing the entry there would have been a lot of very
interesting birds recorded for that part of PNG.
Similarly I checked with a colleague at CSIRO, who has had quite a bit to do
with the Atlas of Living Australia, prior to visiting the Iron Range National
Park several years ago using data from the Birdlife Australia's Birdata to
check on the location of Northern Scrub-robin, we found that virtually all
records were way out in the Coral Sea!!
I know the local eBird moderators do a very good job of vetting records but do
we really need all these recording programs? There is nothing wrong with using
the COG system and it is where I will continue to put any data that I collect.
I suggest that this is how COG and its members should be recording data.
No doubt I will receive numerous complaints and abuse from those who use the
other systems. Such is life!
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: David McDonald (personal)
Sent: Saturday, 5 November 2016 1:42 PM
To:
Subject: Capturing our list's reports (was Re: [canberrabirds] Spotless Crake
Chick)
Thanks for passing this on, Julian.
It highlights the fact that information such as this, posted to the list, does
not get into any databases unless the subscriber also enters it into COG's data
management system, eBird Australia or Birdlife Australia's Birdata. So far as I
know, reports submitted directly to the Canberra Nature Map or to the Atlas of
Living Australia are not, at present, incorporated into other databases.
I wonder if, among our approx 350 subscribers, there might be someone willing
to volunteer to get this type of report into COG's database? It may entail a
commitment of a couple of hours, or fewer, a week.
Thanks - David
On 5/11/2016 12:52 PM, Julian Teh wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> In the last couple of days I’ve been in contact with an American birder
> Carlos Sanchez who was visiting Canberra - I told him I saw a Spotless Crake
> at Jerrabomberra Wetlands on Sunday, and on chasing it up yesterday he found
> that it has a chick.
>
> Thought someone might be interested in the breeding record!
>
> Cheers,
> Julian Teh
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'Unsubscribe', as applicable, in the email's subject line.
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Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 200 kB in size, including attachments,
will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a
condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being
archived.
When subscribing or unsubscribing, please insert the word 'Subscribe' or
'Unsubscribe', as applicable, in the email's subject line.
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