birding-aus

BirdData: some problems?

To: Carl Clifford <>
Subject: BirdData: some problems?
From: "James O'Connor" <>
Date: Thu, 7 May 2015 22:22:25 +0000
Hi all, thanks for raising this. Turns out it's a technical problem with the 
postcodes function, rather than spurious sightings. It wouldn't show up on a 
data extraction so the researchers are safe. We're looking into it, and might 
need to take this function down for a while.

All the best,
James


James O'Connor
Head of Research
BirdLife Australia

> On 8 May 2015, at 7:16 am, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
> 
> Not really. Even by taking in of the whole 111Km x 111Km square, there is no 
> way that some of the species could be sighted there. Obviously, there are 
> well meaning, but ornithologically deficient people out there who post to 
> BirdData, sightings that are furphys. Pity, because the database is used for 
> researchers, and junk data gives junk results, as we know from the first law 
> of computing, GIGO.
> 
> Carl Clifford
> 
> 
>> On 7 May 2015, at 5:58 pm, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>> 
>> According to http://birdata.com.au/help_lists.vm, it's displaying data for 
>> the entire 1 degree x 1 degree grid cell that postcode falls within. How far 
>> is that where you live? Does that explain the anomalies?
>> 
>> Peter Shute
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On 7 May 2015, at 4:56 pm, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Out of idle curiosity, I typed my postcode (2263, on NSW Central Coast) 
>>> into BirData, just to see what it would throw up. I am going to have to 
>>> start looking a bit harder around my patch, as I have obviously been 
>>> missing a few cracking birds. Some I have missed are; Red Junglefowl, 
>>> Cotton Pygmy Goose, Baudin's Black Cockatoo, and Common Greenfinch, to name 
>>> a few. Has anyone else on the list looked up their postcode in BirdData to 
>>> see if there are any "ghost" species lurking?
>>> 
>>> Carl Clifford
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
> 
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