Greetings everyone,
I am asking this question both in the best interest of science and also in the
simple but quite fun pursuit of Life Lists for States, Counties, etc.
Last week I posted a report on eBird of one Broad-winged Hawk in DC. Problem
is, it was merely flying over the National Mall - it never landed. In terms of
Cornell's use of this information (as well as other scientists using eBird data
for studies), is it proper to file this eBird report? Wouldn't this signify
that the Hawk actually used the city for feeding/breeding/whatever? This seems
like a false positive from a strictly scientific point of view as there is no
way to signify that it was merely a flyover - well, you can in notes, but any
disclaimer you put in there doesn't show up when you do a data search with
mapping results. If it could be clicked as a flyover then I could see how that
would help with migration routes. I just want to be proper - eBird is a
fantastic way to keep track of my own life lists, but I want to be sure the
data is useful and correct for the intended scientific use of eBird.
Now in terms of Life Lists, is a flyover a proper way to gain a species? I
guess it depends on each person's definition of their life list - I base mine
on the location of the bird when I see it. If I am standing in DC but I see an
eagle fly over Arlington, I record it as Arlington. But then if it is merely
flying over Arlington is it a proper Arlington life bird?
Am I way overthinking this or what? LOL...
Cheers all,
Steve Hersey
Washington, DC
