[Tweeters] Bad use of eBird

[Rachel Lawson]

I don't want to be too negative, because ANY effort by eBird to protect sensitive species is a very good thing.  Blurring the location is a good idea, but in this case, it is probably not enough.  We are not talking about a couple of birders in a 4X4 trying to find the bird from ground level.  Once a falconer gets to the general area mentioned in the report, a falcon will find the bustard with little trouble.  It's a bit of a special case.  Besides, this species is not on eBird's sensitive list and the location from this report is not blurred.

Someone suggested that I bring up the problem of this species directly with eBird.  I might try that, but I don't know how much good it will do when I have no real data to show, only what my guide said.

Rachel
rwlawson5593 at outlook.com

________________________________
From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Steve Hampton <stevechampton at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 9:45 PM
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Bad use of eBird

A little bit more on this-- sensitive species are hidden in eBird in that the data is "blurred" and the exact location is not revealed. In North America, you'll see this is for Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Northern Hawk-Owl, Great Gray Owl, and Gyrfalcon (and maybe a few others). You can report them, but others cannot zoom in and see the details. eBird's list of "sensitive species" is here:
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000803210-sensitive-species-in-ebird#Sensitive-Species-List<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.ebird.org%2Fen%2Fsupport%2Fsolutions%2Farticles%2F48000803210-sensitive-species-in-ebird%23Sensitive-Species-List&data=05%7C01%7C%7C022fc8fc2db148e2459508da3ed2b893%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637891372002627725%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oYqX4zyYp5y0skV0LWz%2FwAYlwPiTUn0bTm%2Bw7bsvsDY%3D&reserved=0>

eBird is continually updating and revising this list.

On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 7:55 PM Dave Slager <dave.slager at gmail.com<mailto:dave.slager at gmail.com>> wrote:
Rachel,

Depending on the species and location, this fortunately might not be true anymore.

https://ebird.org/news/sensitive-species-in-ebird<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Fnews%2Fsensitive-species-in-ebird&data=05%7C01%7C%7C022fc8fc2db148e2459508da3ed2b893%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637891372002627725%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=XuqPPEMY1usHmzX6zrqVivIIWM8pibRc%2F%2F4NCVmYAis%3D&reserved=0>

Dave

On Wed, May 25, 2022, 19:15 Rachel Lawson <rwlawson5593 at outlook.com<mailto:rwlawson5593 at outlook.com>> wrote:
I just got back from a tour during which we saw a single bustard of a species that is vulnerable to extinction.  Our guide told us not to report this individual on eBird because Saudi Arabian falconers read the reports and, within days, will arrive and kill it.  What a terrible use of an otherwise excellent resource.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
rwlawson5593 at outlook.com<mailto:rwlawson5593 at outlook.com>
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--
​Steve Hampton​
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)


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