birding-aus

EBird

To: Roger Giller <>
Subject: EBird
From: Carl Clifford <>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 07:06:16 +0000
Hi Roger,

Yes, the app is for recording and submitting sightings & no, it does not claim 
to be a field guide. My bone with it, is that it claims to be able to give 
checklists for "hotspots", which I presume are based on atlas and ebird 
records, but the list that it throws up are somewhat curates eggs, being ok in 
parts, but with some interesting records. I have looked at several locations 
within a 20 Km radius of home, and each one is somewhat different, so the lists 
can't be state or region lists.

Looking at the 3 tabs, there did not seem to be any difference in the species 
listed.

The matter, for me, is now academic, as I have deleted the app. I will stick 
with my notebook and pencil, recording the sightings on the program I use on my 
lap/desk tops and continue squirting my sightings to ebird via CSV file. Much 
simpler.

Carl Clifford


> On 17 Jun 2015, at 4:04 pm, Roger Giller <> wrote:
>
> Hi Carl,
>
> First let me say that I have not looked at the App - I am not able to use it
> at present because my iPod Touch 4 is not compatible with iOS7 (or 6 for
> that matter). However from use of an earlier version of BirdLog (1.6.1) I
> have some experience of how it operates.
>
> I assume that this App is for data entry, recording and submission, Does it
> also claim to be a field guide or species distribution guide?
>
> The list is not for the hotspot, it is for the region. Which region I guess
> may depend on your settings.
> From my reading of the details in the App Store:-
>
> - Full global taxonomy based on The Clements Checklist of Birds of the
> World.
> "- Checklists customized for your location and time of year, showing most
> likely species based on eBird data."
>
> There are 3 tabs above the species entry box, marked All, Likely and
> Checked. Have you examined these to see what lists are presented?
>
> It would be very restrictive to have a species selection list that had only
> the 12 species previously reported to eBird from Mataram Ridge Park,
> Woongarrah. I would expect that when the App recognises your location it
> selects the appropriate checklist. That could be Australia, or SE Australia
> or just NSW.
>
> When I take my Morcombe or Pizzey & Knight field guides anywhere they have
> lots of birds that could not possibly be present. That applies to the Apps,
> or old fashioned paper versions.
>
> In any case having a large list to choose from should not be a problem
> because it accepts four letter entry, as does my much earlier BirdLog 1.6.1
>
> Regards
> Roger,
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Clifford 
> Sent: Wednesday, 17 June 2015 3:04 PM
> To: Peter Shute
> Cc: Roger Giller; Sonja Ross; Paul Coddington; 
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] EBird
>
> Peter,
>
> When you find some nearby hotspots, you might get some interesting results.
> I have just pulled up Mataram Ridge Park, Woongarrah, on the NSW Central
> Coast and found an interesting list. Among other interesting species, were
> Little Penguin, Cape Barren Goose, Brown Booby, Emu, just about every
> species of robin in Aus, and something called Peep Sp. I would happily give
> $1000 per species to any one who can verify the presence of any of those
> species in Mataram.
>
> I don't think I will bother using this app, if, when I go somewhere and pull
> up a list for a nearby hotspot and be presented with a list of birds that
> could not possibly be present.
>
> Still needs a bit of work.
>
> Carl Clifford
>
>
>> On 17 Jun 2015, at 8:57 am, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>
>> The eBird app has just been released for iOS. Looks very similar to
> BirdLog, but now one can search for hotspots by town names rather than
> having to use postcodes. I haven't tried entering any data yet.
>>
>> Oddly, when I searched for Wandiligong, the only results it returned were
> local businesses rather than the town itself. Selecting one of those
> resulted in a list of nearby hotspots, so the end result is the same.
>>
>> Peter Shute
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Roger Giller 
>>> Sent: Monday, 8 June 2015 11:00 AM
>>> To: Peter Shute; Sonja Ross
>>> Cc: Paul Coddington; 
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] EBird
>>>
>>> Peter et al,
>>>
>>> eBird have brought the Birdlog App "in-house" and modified it to iron out
>>> these problems. It will look and feel more like the on-line data entry,
>>> and
>>> is already being beta tested by reviewers.
>>>
>>> Roger.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Peter Shute
>>> Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2015 8:28 PM
>>> To: Sonja Ross
>>> Cc: Paul Coddington ; 
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Ebird
>>>
>>> I've just sent them all my complaints. Do they act on suggestions they
>>> receive?
>>>
>>> Peter Shute
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>
>>>> On 7 Jun 2015, at 7:19 pm, Sonja Ross <> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi Peter,
>>>>
>>>> It is annoying!   Have you tried to contact them about it?
>>>>
>>>> Sonja
>>>>> On 7 Jun 2015, at 6:00 pm, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> The only way I've found to select a location not near me in Birdlog is
>>> to
>>>>> select the Search Hotspots By City option, then enter the postcode of
>>>>> that area. Then it lists all the hotspots in that area, which you can
>>>>> search by entering a few letters. I don't know what you can do if you
>>>>> need to enter data where there's no existing hotspot. Or if you don't
>>>>> know the postcode.
>>>>>
>>>>> Seems like a strange shortcoming of the app.
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 6 Jun 2015, at 6:09 pm, Paul Coddington
>>>>>> <> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I usually just use the standard search function on the computer to
>>> jump
>>>>>> to the species I want in the web interface, using the keyboard
>>> shortcuts
>>>>>> so it's faster (i.e. command F to search on my Mac), type in a few
>>>>>> letters of the name (e.g "whist"), and then command G if it doesn't go
>>>>>> to the species I want (Whistling Kite instead of Golden Whistler) and
>>> I
>>>>>> need to jump to the next one that matches what I typed in. It's a bit
>>>>>> slow but not too bad.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Using the Birdlog app is really quick for entering data since you just
>>>>>> type in a few letters and it autocompletes and then you just pick the
>>>>>> species from the matches it presents. But I can't figure out how to
>>>>>> select locations that aren't near you when you're using the app, so
>>> you'd
>>>>>> need to pick a bogus location (e.g. a personal location for your
>>> house)
>>>>>> and then change the location to the actual place through the web
>>>>>> interface once the list is uploaded from BirdLog.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 6 Jun 2015, at 4:57 pm, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't mind entering lists for new trips as I do them, but I wish
>>>>>>> there was a faster way to enter the backlog. Does anyone have any
>>> tips
>>>>>>> for doing it quicker?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The main trouble is that my notes list species as I encountered them,
>>>>>>> which means trawling up and down the web page to find them to mark
>>> them
>>>>>>> off. It would help if I knew the species list order off by heart, but
>>>>>>> I've only got a rough idea where any species is in the list, so I
>>> have
>>>>>>> to search for a lot of them. I've tried going through my notes doing
>>>>>>> all the pigeons, then the parrots, etc, but that means I've got to go
>>>>>>> through them multiple times, so it wastes as much time as it saves.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 6 Jun 2015, at 2:53 pm, Paul Coddington
>>>>>>>> <> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I did the same as Mona, and agree that it's rather mindless and
>>>>>>>> laborious but very satisfying, and a good way to trigger nostalgic
>>>>>>>> memories by reviewing all those old trips. I started with Australian
>>>>>>>> trips where I saw lifers, and it only took me a couple of months or
>>>>>>>> working on it now and then to get the Australian life list sorted,
>>>>>>>> then I worked on trips that built my state list, then overseas
>>> trips,
>>>>>>>> then everything else. Overall it took about a year but now it's all
>>>>>>>> done and it's easy to enter new lists.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> eBird is a great resource, and the the more people use it, and the
>>>>>>>> more information is added to it, the more useful it becomes.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 22:31:37 +1000
>>>>>>>>> From: Mona Loofs Samorzewski <>
>>>>>>>>> To: Adam Bruins <>
>>>>>>>>> Cc: "" <>
>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Ebird
>>>>>>>>> Message-ID:
>>>>>>>>> <>
>>>>>>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Hi Adam
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> eBird does specifically cater to this very issue, check out the
>>> ?How
>>>>>>>>> to Upload Your Lifelist? help topic at
>>>>>>>>> http://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/articles/973912
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If you have the time and the inclination, all those lists in your
>>>>>>>>> 20-odd notebooks would add fabulous data to eBird. I?ve spent about
>>> a
>>>>>>>>> year uploading all of mine - kind of satisfying in a mindless,
>>>>>>>>> laborious sort of way.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Good luck with it.
>>>>>>>>> Mona
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On 4 Jun 2015, at 2:54 pm, Adam Bruins <>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Hey everyone
>>>>>>>>>> Are there any savvy ebird users out there that could help me out?
>>> My
>>>>>>>>>> son and I have would like to upload our life list to ebird but
>>> can't
>>>>>>>>>> seem to find a way to do it without entering the exact date and
>>>>>>>>>> other details. All we have is a all time list and about twenty
>>>>>>>>>> little notebooks that would take years to sort through and upload.
>>>>>>>>>> Any shortcuts please!
>>>>>>>>>> Respectfully,
>>>>>>>>>> Adam Bruins
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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