[Tweeters] eBird Hotspot Boosting

[J Christian Kessler]

there was a suggestion about putting more effort into observing at
established hotspot, and a different proposal, advocated by Doug Santoni
below, about trying new spots.  if the intention is to collect new
information for science, Doug's proposal is a good one, especially if many
of the new observation points (maybe new hotspots, maybe not, time will
tell) are in areas with relatively fewer eBird postings, like substantial
areas east of the Cascades, and particularly east of the Columbia.  We tend
to bird where we know the birds are, as opposed to going out to a different
place to see what's there (or not).

Chris Kessler
Seattle

On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 2:13 PM Doug Santoni <dougsantoni at gmail.com> wrote:


> As a non-scientist, I just wanted to speak out on behalf of the sentiment

> expressed by the original poster, and say that the intention of broadening

> our knowledge and trying new birding spots is a worthy endeavor.  I think

> all of us in this forum share a love for birds and our natural world!

>

> Doug Santoni

> Ph 305-962-4226

> DougSantoni at gmail.com

>

> On May 20, 2021, at 1:41 PM, J Christian Kessler <1northraven at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

> 

> this is to misunderstand the role of hotspots and their use in science.

> scientists are looking at species over much wider areas than just one or a

> few hotspots.  in this context hotspots are non-random sampling points.

> any scientific statement about a species population (occurrence; density)

> for an area would have to take into account the density of hotspots in that

> area, the frequency of reports on each hotspot, along with other habitat &

> and such variables.

>

> hotspots are themselves highly non-random and hence non-scientific.  some

> hotspots cover definable areas (like the UBNA) that may include multiple

> discrete habitats, while others are simply geographic coordinates for a

> place birders have found productive.  there is from a scientific

> perspective no rhyme or reason to the identification of hotspots as

> individual locations, but as a collective set of data points covering a

> separately identified (by a scientist researching a specific question)

> area, they provide a time-series and wide-area picture of great value.

>

> and a key element of that value is the occurrence of a species by season.

> eBird bar charts are organized for occurrence by week of the year.  in the

> end, "flooding" a hotspot only makes inherently non-random data even less

> non-random, which is to say statistically biased in hard to determine

> ways.  starting a new hotspot in an area with few of them could, on the

> other hand, be beneficial to the comprehensive data set.

>

> Chris Kessler,

> Seattle

>

> On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 11:29 AM Joey McCracken <joemccracken3 at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> Hi everyone, I've got an idea for those on eBird. What if we were to find

>> an eBird Hotspot in the area with not too many checklists or species and

>> then for the next week we try and get as many species as possible for that

>> location and we will change the location every week. We could really fill

>> in some missing data and maybe find some rarities in places that are not

>> well birded. It's just an idea for now but if you all want to do it maybe

>> we can start at Brierwood Park <https://ebird.org/hotspot/L7009887> just

>> south of Alderwood. Happy birding!

>> -Joey McCracken

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>

>

> --

> "moderation in everything, including moderation"

> Rustin Thompson

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-- 
"moderation in everything, including moderation"
Rustin Thompson
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