I always use a small notebook (writing things down engraves things in my memory
better than typing with two fingers). And then transfer observations to eBird,
which I have been using since 2012 and find very useful. There is a small army
of regional eBird moderators who keep an eye on odd/erroneous observations.
They have picked up my penchant for writing down House when I mean Tree sparrow
and vice versa etc. And they queried my records of Guam rail (now extinct in
the wild) so I wrote and pointed out the dates of the records, as I was lucky
enough to live there before the tree-snake got them all.
Hotspots are an ongoing mess, with an example being a local (Mission Beach)
rainforest walk, which apparently includes waders from Cairns Esplanade. Some
of the data may get entered as a day's outing, which might cover 100 km and
many habitats, as different people are differently picky about what they
record. So hotspots for me are rarely used. But you can select any site from a
map and it will bring you recent records. And if the hotspot errors really
annoy you, you just write to eBird and point them out.
I have just installed the new eBird app, tested it yesterday after my beach
walk. It sat there fixing my location at home then brought me flags of about
20 sites nearby that I had logged over time. Picked the beach, entered the
birds quickly and far more easily than the clunky Birdlog app I hardly used
(now deleted).
That said, it is still easier to scribble in a notebook walking along a trail
than typing on a small screen, trying not to trip over rocks or tree roots.
But in a car, I used the Birdlog app while we were driving in the middle of
nowhere and saw good birds en route - the app got its lat and long fix quickly,
very useful, and you tidy it all up on eBird and notebook later. The new eBird
app will make that even easier, but will never replace my little notebook.
Helen
<')/////==<
> From:
> Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 17:16:07 +1000
> To:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] EBird
> CC: ; ;
>
>
> My writing is pretty ordinary too ( I have the arthritis in the knuckles from
> regular canings about it), but at least I can read it, mostly. I will just
> stick to the system that works for me.
>
> Carl Cliffor
>
>
> > On 17 Jun 2015, at 3:57 pm, Sonja Ross <> wrote:
> >
> > Maybe they are based on e-Bird lists i.e what has been reported by birders
> > from sightings in the area. I just find that I’m more accurate with
> > numbers using my iPad mini as my writing is untidy and my numbers end up
> > being wrong if I’m walking for a while! It might be worthwhile putting
> > your comment/query on the Facebook version to see if any of the testers
> > respond, or maybe Margaret or Richard Alcorn.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> On 17 Jun 2015, at 3:50 pm, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Sonja,
> >>
> >> They don't seem to be state lists, but if they are there are big holes in
> >> them. Each location was slightly different. I would like them to be
> >> accurate, as there were several species, such as Eastern Ground Parrot,
> >> that I thought I would have to travel a couple of hundred Km or so to see.
> >>
> >> Meanwhile, I think I will stick to the good old Mk I notepad and pencil
> >>
> >> Carl
> >
>
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR>
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
