I have to say, that I think it's great that you are acknowledging that you were
not working with ebird data in the way they wish you to. But I also have to say
that I can barely use eBird. I find it so huge and unwieldy that it's, to me,
like Photoshop. Which is fine. I mean Photoshop is great! I don't mind that in
Photoshop I know how to do, say, five things. and if I do them frequently
enough, I remember how to do those five things and I don't get rusty. And the
rest of the giant program is for graphic designers and other people. And ebird
perhaps is is similar. Even though what with updating on both programs I do
find it hard to keep track of how to do certain things that aren't already
permanently ingrained in me. So I think it's wonderful that you are skilled
enough to even use ebird to do what you were doing. I can barely look up at
anything on it. Let alone download reams of data and make any kind of great
scientific sense of it.
I commend you for even being able to manage all of these different aspects of
the program. And I find it odd that a program run by the Cornell lab of
ornithology, that is so dedicated to science, and learning about trends, and
where birds are singing, etc, and using that data to figure out migration
patterns and other things would object to the things that you were doing!
I mean you weren't taking naked pictures of birds and posting them on weirdo
pornsites! ??You were taking their data to do various analyses of where birds
can be found and that sort of thing. Which seems to me to be a perfect use of
eBird data. I just don't understand the reason for their objection.
Is it that once you realize there are multiple other uses for the data that you
are downloading, that you need to tell them what you're using it for, so they
can keep track of all the interesting studies you're doing? I assume if you
found anything interesting they would be the first people you'd want to tell!
Is it because they think you're going to publish a scientific paper and not
give them credit? Is it because they think you're going to publish a paid
article in some bird magazine and they want the money? Not that articles pay
that much. Do they think you're going to write a book, and they want their cut
from that?
I just would love to know if there is a reason for these restrictions. I should
think that the Cornell lab of ornithology would be happy for any citizen
scientist(or scientist for that matter) to be doing anything useful whatsoever
with the data they collect. When birds are falling out of the sky dead, in the
hundreds of thousands, or possibly even millions, as they are currently in New
Mexico, the situation for bird seems to be rather dire. As well as for all
other animals. My friend in Chicago has found a dead gray cheeked thrush in
her yard this year as well as a dying chickadee and a couple of other dead
birds when she has never found a dead bird once in the 35 years she's lived in
that house. That obviously is not the same as New Mexico, but it's not exactly
great news. I should think eBird would be happy that anyone was using their
data to learn anything useful. Obviously I'm incorrect but I would love to know
why, should anyone know.
Thanks a lot, and I commend you on your honesty, as well as on your interest in
doing the things that you were doing with Ashley and Kurt. And frankly unless
they have a good reason I hope ebird gets over itself.
Mb from nova
sent from my phone so please excuse all typos, gibberish, and horrifying
misspellings
________________________________
From: FreeLists Mailing List Manager <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2020 1:11:01 AM
To: va-bird digest users <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: va-bird Digest V7 #181
va-bird Digest Thu, 17 Sep 2020 Volume: 07 Issue: 181
In This Issue:
[va-bird] 12 warblers and 4 vireos
[va-bird] 8 warblers species and 3 thrush species
[va-bird] Snickers Gap (17 Sep 2020) 168 Raptors
[va-bird] proper use of eBird data (was: Late Breeders in Vi
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Marshall Faintich" <marshall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [va-bird] 12 warblers and 4 vireos
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2020 12:06:19 -0400
One of my best photo days this fall up on Route 610, VA; 9/15/2020. 12
warbler species and 4 vireo species including Philadelphia. Report and
photos:
<http://www.faintich.net/Blog2020/2020_09_15.htm>
http://www.faintich.net/Blog2020/2020_09_15.htm
______________________________________
Marshall Faintich
Crozet, VA
marshall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.faintich.net<http://www.faintich.net> <http://www.faintich.net/>
In real life, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight
line, so you might as well enjoy the journey !!
____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
------------------------------
From: "Marshall Faintich" <marshall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [va-bird] 8 warblers species and 3 thrush species
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:13:36 -0400
Route 610, VA; 9/16/2020; 8 warblers species and 3 thrush species: Wood,
Swainson's, and Gray-cheeked. Report and photos:
http://www.faintich.net/Blog2020/2020_09_16.htm
______________________________________
Marshall Faintich
Crozet, VA
marshall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.faintich.net<http://www.faintich.net> <http://www.faintich.net/>
In real life, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight
line, so you might as well enjoy the journey !!
____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2020 13:26:50 -0800
From: reports@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-bird] Snickers Gap (17 Sep 2020) 168 Raptors
Snickers Gap
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2020
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 28 30
Bald Eagle 0 53 66
Northern Harrier 0 8 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 32 32
Cooper's Hawk 0 10 10
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 5 7
Broad-winged Hawk 155 2367 2420
Red-tailed Hawk 0 26 34
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 1 24 24
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 168 2554 2633
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Joan Boudreau and Bob Abrams
Observers: The Littles
Visitors:
Very few hikers today, not a weekend day. A few interested watchers
including Glen Gerada, Philip Mitchell, McNamara & Mike. Thank you for
helping!
Weather:
High clouds and haze.
Raptor Observations:
A few kettles but mostly less than ten and otherwise singles migrating.
Non-raptor Observations:
From the broader view: Northern Flicker, Chimney Swift, Red-headed
Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwings, Blue Jay (in a few streams), Eastern Bluebirds,
along with more regular species, and a Nighthawk.
Back in or up against the woods: Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Black
and White Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, White-eyed Vireo, and
Cape May Warbler.
Monarch Butterflies 45.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Joan and Bob (icepeep@xxxxxxx)
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsiteI4
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:27:58 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Steve Johnson" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender
Subject: [va-bird] proper use of eBird data (was: Late Breeders in Virginia)
Hello Virginia Birders,******Â ******
This might be off-topic. But I think this information needs to be shared with
Virginia birders, especially in light of Kurt's email below. The topic is
downloaded eBird data, and how to use it correctly, and (in my case)
incorrectly. First the bottom line, then the details.****** ******
******Â Bottom line: ******
I learned recently (the hard way) that I was mis-using eBird data in two
different ways. When you download data from eBird, there are specific
restrictions on what you are permitted to do with the data. It is very
important to read ALL of those restrictions. I also wish I had periodically
re-reviewed them.******Â ******
If you decide to download eBird data, make sure you read and follow those
rules.******Â ******
******Â Details:Â ******
I had downloaded the data for Virginia, planning to do a study of winter
visitors, looking for trends and correlations, etc. That was my stated
purpose when I requested permission to access the data.******Â ******
When the Breeding Bird Atlas wrapped up, I realized that we could sort through
the data, to identify pairs of "S" (Singing) codes in identical locations,
which could potentially be upgraded (by the original observers of course) to S7
(Singing for 7+ days). I did that analysis, consulting with Ashley Peele.Â
So that effort was coordinated with the Breeding Bird Atlas leadership.Â
However, that was *NOT* my original stated purpose, for downloading the data.Â
That was Rule violation #1.******Â ******
I discussed this analysis with Kurt, and he thought (see below) of some other
clever things to do with the data. So I shared an extract with him (just the
Atlas portal entries). Rule violation #2 - sharing the data with another
party.
******Â ******
******Â Conclusion:Â ******
******Â ******My purpose here is not to defend what I did, nor to offend
anyone. I just want people to be aware that the example described below is
*NOT* how eBird wants people to work with their downloaded data. I screwed
up, and I don't want others to follow that example too.
******Â ******
Steve Johnson
Fairfax, Virginia
******Â ******(Ridiculous asterisks and run-on paragraphs here brought to you
courtesy of our new list server which removes all paragraph separations from my
emails.)******Â ******
-----Original Message-----
From: dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Fri, Sep 11, 2020 8:55 pm
Subject: [va-bird] What are the Late Breeders in Virginia?
VA BIRDers,
Sunday, Sept 6, David Ledwith and I were birding Leesylvania SP (Pr Wm Co).
We heard and glimpsed a Summer Tanager on the hillside with the house ruins.
And Ana Argules and Jeff Wneck saw the bird as well as another Summer
Tanager - the view that David and I had was obstructed. One of Ana's birds
begged by fluttering its wings and the second (in female plumage) came over
and fed it. This indicates a late breeding confirmation: I entered it into
the Breeding Bird Atlas as a proxy for Ana and Jeff (who are not Ebird
connected). But this event got me wondering: what other species have been
confirmed as late breeders?
Of course, all the information is contained in the VA BB Atlas portal (the
importance of this Ebird data is probably not fully appreciated!). One
could spend lots of time digging out late breeding data from the various
state-wide species maps. Fortunately, there is a solution provided by Steve
Johnson. You can download the Ebird data and then search through with your
favorite software (of course, one must be careful handling spreadsheets with
a million or more lines!). Fortunately, Steve had a recent download of
Virginia data thru June 30 which he obtained to learn more about bird
species distribution in Virginia. He sent it my way and with the help of my
resident database expert, i.e., Cheryl Gaskill, we did a quick analysis.
Since this is Ebird data, an acknowledgement must made and this is what
Ebird provided:Â eBird Basic Dataset. Version: EBD_relJun-2020. Cornell Lab
of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Jun 2020.
Also, the data set used should be treated as preliminary. Although it has
gone through a first pass editing process, it may still require a more
in-depth examination. This means what we extracted should be considered
preliminary. Moreover, we only looked at the first 4 years of Atlas data
for late breeders.
The first question we had: how many species were confirmed in the last half
of August over the prior 4 years of Atlas data? The results were quite
significant: 99 species are listed as confirmed. Using the number of
instances of confirmation (which may contain duplications for the same Atlas
blocks) I list the top 10 species:
No. Cardinal - 91
Chipping Sparrow - 75
American Goldfinch - 73
E. Bluebird - 65
No. Mockingbird - 41
Blue Grosbeak - 34
Carolina Wren - 30
Indigo Bunting - 29
House Finch - 25
American Robin & Song Sparrow - 22
Given this late date, I note that these confirmations are not representative
for all blocks but are indications of the more unusual late breeding
confirmations. For example, remember there are over 4000 blocks in Virginia
- sure, not all are being visited in late August, but a large number have
lists (I could figure this number out later). Also, I found that Red-eyed
Vireo, a very common species in Virginia, was close to the top but just a
few places below the top 10.
For the month of September, the number of confirmed species drops - only 51
were recorded. The top 10 are:
American Goldfinch - 83 (September is the top month for AMGO confirmations)
Northern Cardinal - 63
Chipping Sparrow - 26
E. Bluebird - 24
Northern Mockingbird - 17
Carolina Wren - 16
American Robin - 16
Wild Turkey, Cedar Waxwing and House Finch - 12
For the month of October only 24 species were confirmed. Looking at the
results there were some species that were claimed to be confirmed which
seemed suspicious to me due to the date (I have not looked into details, but
these species were: Killdeer, Osprey, Northern Harrier, and Bald Eagle) and
I do not include into the below listing:
American Goldfinch - 9
Northern Cardinal - 7
House Sparrow - 3
Eastern Wood Pewee, E. Starling, E. Bluebird, and Cedar Waxing - 2
The other species had just one confirmation (Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed
Cuckoo, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Blue-headed Vireo, American Crow, Tufted
Titmouse, Carolina Wren, House Finch, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow,
and Song Sparrow)
Circling back to my comments in the beginning, Summer Tanager has not been
listed as confirmed from the latter half of August through December, which
may mean that Ana and Jeff's confirmation is the latest date of
confirmation.
This has been an interesting exploration!Â
Kurt Gaskill
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-
bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. You
can also
unsubscribe, change your mail delivery settings to digest mode, or temporarily
disable
emails with vacation mode by going to https://www.freelists.org/list/va-bird, ;
entering
your email and selecting the desired option from the drop down.
------------------------------
End of va-bird Digest V7 #181
*****************************
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-
bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. You can
also
unsubscribe, change your mail delivery settings to digest mode, or temporarily
disable
emails with vacation mode by going to https://www.freelists.org/list/va-bird, ;
entering
your email and selecting the desired option from the drop down.
