Sorry folks just one more about this subject
I am almost 100% sure that most people will not
check sightings at Worldtwitcher if they plan to
go to Sweden, Thailand or maybe Australia. In
that case you try to find a more accurate source
(=trip report archives). In Sweden we do have an
excellent thing called Svalan
http://www.artportalen.se/birds/todays.asp partly
run by the government (Yes this page in English)
which can used for checking out localities &
species as you suggested. All rare bird reports
will be checked by the local rarities committees
so it is a rather scientific system.
No the Worldtwitcher.se is for keeping records of
your lists. If you only have birding lists (or
mammal lists) from one country it might be easy
to remember. But after a while you will not
remember what you saw in Spain 2003 or Singapore
1999 or WA 1987 and then it is great to have a
place to keep all lists. And the site can provide
you with a family list or an Oceanian list or
...... And of course a checklist for your next
trip so you can go twitching big time. ;-)
David, I am not offended personally but want to
try to explain. I do not have any personal
interest, it is just a great site and I thought
that more people ought to find out more about it.
Over and out
Katarina
At 22:20 2007-01-15, you wrote:
I agree that such systems are not primarily a
scientific tool - although they can provide some
information. One issue is that rarities tend to
be over-reported - for example at my local site
I see that a great rarity that turned up last
year is reported on 3% of all reports, whereas
birds I see every time I visit are reported only around 50% of the time.
But for those who want to try and form a picture
as to what is in an area so they can plan a
birding trip these systems are very useful. As
to not finding much data - Eremaea has around
270,000 observations in Australia and Birdata
over 5 MILLION. I am not sure about Birdpedia.
So there is a wealth of data there.
Of course - as I said - we are all free to
record (or not record) our observations in
whatever way we choose, but I think in general
it is more useful if Australian sightings are
recorded in an Australian system - and Swedish
birds in a Swedish system (I note Eremaea has
218 observations made in Sweden!). I doubt
whether anyone visiting Sweden would look to
Eremaea for information on what they are likely
to see in Sweden - and I doubt if anyone
visiting Australia would rely on Worldtwitch to plan their Australian trip.
Please do not take it personally - I have no
direct interest in any of the three systems I
mentioned and I have used all three - although
most of my observations remain (I regret) on my own PC!
On 16/01/07, Katarina Stenman
<<>> wrote:
Hi again all out there
Just to clarify a few things about the
<http://Worldtwitcher.se>Worldtwitcher.se site. It does not try to become
a scientific atlas tool or a trip report archive.
For me and many others it is a way to keep
records about what I have seen and where I saw
them. It can be used just for you personal
fun!!! ;-) I doubt that any serious scientist
would put too much trust in a mishmash of
sightings published on the web without any
rarities committee check-up. However I did check
out the ones you listed (Eremaea, Birdpedia and
Birdata) and I doubt that they can be of any use
at the moment. Not many reports or maybe I failed
while searching. For example the mapping tool is
great but not useful if someone want to keep a record of their lifer lists.
Taxonomy and spelling of names is always a
problem. However as long as the scientific names
are following a published list - who really needs
the common names? And I am not trying to be
snobbish but it is true. Always thought that
botanists can do it so why not birders?
Keep on twitching despite the fact that the
discussed site not is proudly Australian
made..................................
Katarina
At 00:53 2007-01-15, you wrote:
>Just had a look at the site - I am all in favour of people publishing their
>lists online so that other birders can build up a picture of what is really
>being seen in various places. But we already have three online services in
>Australia (Eremaea, Birdpedia and Birdata) which is probably two too many,
>so adding another one seems to only make matters worse. Of course all
>birders are free to do what they like and use what they like and I don't
>want to knock any service, but I would certainly hope that anyone seeking to
>publish their sightings would do it in one of the three Aussie services,
>which are more likely to be referred to by anyone doing research.
>
>I checked the site out and it had some fairly strange names - such as
>Spotted Emu.
>
>On 12/01/07, Katarina Stenman <
<>> wrote:
>>
>>Hi all
>>
>>This is a short promotional email for all of you
>>out there that like to keep track of your birding
>>adventures. Worldtwitcher
>><http://www.worldtwitcher.se/2/main.asp>http:/
/www.worldtwitcher.se/2/main.asp is a new
>>web site that gives you FREE access to bird and
>>mammal lists for almost all countries in the
>>world. Even subspecies are in most cases listed.
>>You can also add personal lists for the backyard,
>>latest Tassie holiday or year 2006. Pictures can
>>be added too. There are also features that can
>>give you the list of your "unseen" birds in a
>>country or the combined Asian list if you have
>>been to several countries and would like to know
>>the total. Of course you see a lifer list when
>>you have added all your sightings. Printouts are
>>possible. Ranking lists of totals and countries
>>are available to compare with your friends. Of
>>course you can choose to hide all your lists and just keep it privately.
>>
>>Worldtwitcher is run by a Swedish guy, Nicklas
>>Strömberg with some support from the Swedish
>>Club300 and the Ornithological Society. When
>>talking about bird lists there are always
>>problems about what to put on the lists as there
>>are always new splits and lumps and different
>>opinions about names. This web site follows
>>"Clements" and to some this might be strange but
>>that is the authority that most European birders
>>follow. No other options are available. It is
>>still under construction (version 2 just
>>released) and of course there are errors and
>>bugs. But if you find anything faulty just send
>>Nicklas an email and he will try to sort it out.
>>
>>Hope that you join this great system and start
>>twitching. See you on the Aussie list........
>>
>>Regards
>>Katarina Stenman
>>Sweden
>>
>><http://www.birding-aus.org>www.birding-aus.org
>><http://birding-aus.blogspot.com>birding-aus.blogspot.com
<http://www.birding-aus.org>www.birding-aus.org
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