Hi Peter,
I agree the entry system could be massively improved if it respected local
rarity - even using a State-level list if a regional list could not be achieved
(they rarely rare unfortunately) would be a great asset to the accuracy of the
data.
In my experience some non-birdos do not use/know 'recognised' common names, so
a 'Blue-breasted Fairy Wren' is the same thing as a Superb Fairy Wren. In
this case they may recognise the bird well, but fail to properly identify it -
so it is more a knowledge gap hurdle rather than an actual entry error. In a
local bird ID course we've run here several times we get people to do homework,
carefully instructing them to use 'Field Guide' names for their lists. Despite
clear instruction this, some still resist - with crows, Topnot Pigeons and
Grey Herons popping up relatively frequently. Not sure how to address this
except at the data vetting stage and through ongoing education/awareness
activities.
And even then... hope someone has some serious time to vet! There could be
opportunities with local groups to ease the burden here by vetting records for
their area - an example is where all Indian Myna records for Dubbo are probably
false, and of great interest to us who'll be keen to visit to check each
record, with a bird book in one hand (most are Noisy or Yellow-throated Miners)
and a Myna trap in the other just in case!
Cheers Tim
Tim Hosking | President, Dubbo Field Naturalist and Conservation Society Inc.|
PO Box 1171, Dubbo NSW 2830 | Mob: 0438 600 837 |
www.dubbofieldnats.org.au
www.facebook.com/dubbofieldnats
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Morgan
Sent: Friday, 24 October 2014 11:00 AM
To: birding-aus (E-mail)
Cc: Gary and Barbara Whale
Subject: Birds in Backyards
There has been some comment about glaring errors in lists submitted. Having
just done one, I can understand that these were most probably unintentional.
For example, we almost submitted the Forty-spotted Pardalote because that got
tapped when entering the Spotted Pardalote. Trying to keep up with the caller,
there were a couple of other mistakes that I had to correct.
I checked the postcode 2463 (lower Clarence area, NSW) and found the
Black-backed Butcherbird and Blue-breasted Fairy Wren. I would suggest these
were entry errors rather than misidentification or lack of experience (and
certainly not mischievous!).
Just as a matter of interest, a pair of Pacific Baza were observed in our
twenty minutes. A few years ago, we had a pair nesting on our block, which
brought three eggs to formed chicks before the nest was blown down in a severe
storm. This was reported in Australian Field Ornithology, Vol 23, number 3,
Sep 2010. The behaviour this morning was suspicious. Having only arrived back
yesterday after some months away, we can't suggest anything more on this at the
moment.
Peter and Bev Morgan
The conservation battle is never finally won; the development battle is.
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