EBird traveling, incidental, and/or stationary?

[Karen Caruso]

I maintain two separate EBird accounts: one is my own personal account, the other is an account for the Jug Bay Wetlands Center ongoing Winter Waterbird Survey (going back to 1978).

The survey consists of 4 stations, 30 minutes at each, approximately 2 weeks apart, November to March.
The count is limited to waterbirds/shorebirds (and a couple of sparrow species).

In my own account I report those birds plus any other species we have observed in the course of the morning. I post that list to this Google group and to the JBWS home page.

So in EBird, what's 'incidental' and 'traveling' - or maybe 'stationary'? If 'stationary', would I have to create a separate location for each of 4 stations (not possible for early data)? I think the list I post to my account would be 'traveling' and 'yes' (although the land birds listed are just a species list, not a census).
I think the Jug Bay account should be 'no' since I'm only reporting surveyed species - but what methodology is appropriate?

(Sorry to get down in the weeds, but I've been working on retrospective data entry and would like to get
it right...)

[Ron Gutberlet]

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the great questions.  I'll give eBird's definitions for the 3 main observation types and background for the "Yes" or "No" response (for completeness and for those who haven't looked into eBird yet) and will then provide some thoughts on your situation.  But first: thank you for using eBird and for your interest in following best practices!

WARNING: Some may find the following both long and a bit boring.  If so, you know what to do...  :)

A few other specialized observation types can be selected when entering eBird data, but the 3 main types are:

"Traveling--You traveled a specific distance — walking a trail, driving a refuge loop, field birding. 

"Stationary--You stayed at a fixed location — watching from a window, hawkwatching, seawatching. 

"Incidental--Birding was not your primary purpose or you lack required effort information — noting a bird while driving or gardening, historic records that lack effort info."

Before submitting a checklist, eBird requires that you answer this question:

"Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you were able to identify?"

If you click on the small "?" next to the "Yes" and "No" options, you will see:

"We want to find out whether you are reporting all the birds you were able to identify to the best of your ability.

"Answer "Yes" to this question when you record every species present that you found; not just the highlights.

"We realize that all birds are not identifiable and user abilities vary.

"You should always answer 'Yes' to this question unless you are purposefully excluding some species (e.g., European Starlings) from your checklist.

"You do not need to count all the individuals present to answer 'Yes' to this question (you can enter 'x' for species you observed but did not count). Please do try to report all species; it improves our ability to analyze your data."

For your particular situation, Karen, I can think of 2 good approaches going forward, but others may have additional thoughts and might join the discussion (additional notes below about your historic data and also eBird's "Share" feature):

1. As you suggest, you could create individual personal locations for each of your sample points and then do each one as a stationary, 30 minute count.  eBird gains the most value from "Complete" checklists, those collected in a way consistent with the "Yes" response.  So if you would be interested and willing, you could keep track of and enter every species identified during the waterbird surveys (not just the waterbirds).  Each day you'd end up with 4 "complete" (="Yes") checklists for your efforts.  This would still capture all of your waterbird information but would also make the checklists more useful for eBird analyses.  While walking between points, you could also keep a traveling count but then answer "No" for the complete checklist question for that list, since I don't believe you'd want to enter the same birds from the same time period on multiple lists (see info on sharing checklists below).  If you really wanted to go above and beyond--most of us would not, I suspect, haha--you could create personal locations for the 3 stretches in between sample points; each stretch could be run as a complete ("Yes") traveling count.

2. A simpler approach that would still be consistent with eBird best practices would be to do one traveling checklist for the entire survey (all 4 sample points and all birds [land and water, between and at the points] included).  You would answer "Yes" for this checklist.

***An important eBird "rule of thumb" for traveling counts is to try to keep them to 5 miles or less.***  I suspect that your survey route covers less than 5 miles.

***Also important for eBird traveling counts: distance should be recorded as one-way.  If you walk 2 miles down a trail and then return by the same route, the distance for the count should be entered as 2 miles (not 4).***

The "Share" feature in eBird should be used when different birders (or entities, like Jug Bay Wetlands Center) have overlapping bird checklists.  Best practice for eBird would have you entering complete data into EITHER your personal account OR the Jug Bay account and then "sharing" the list with the other.  We do something similar at the Ward Museum in Salisbury.  Several of us share our checklists with the Ward Museum eBird account when we bird there.

Your historic data certainly have value to eBird, no matter how they were recorded.  The trick is just to choose the correct observation type and the correct answer to the complete checklist question.  I think you have it right as described in your post.  If only waterbirds are recorded, the answer is "No," and if you keep track of distance and time spent birding, you can enter a checklist as traveling.  If you don't have effort data (time, distance), you can enter the list as incidental.

I like to use the checklist comment box to record relevant information (if you have specific methods for your waterbird survey, you could paste those into the comment box).  Someone may find that information useful one day.

Hope that helps a bit.  Thanks again for asking!  I'd be happy to discuss further offline if that would be useful.

Happy birding!

Ron Gutberlet

Salisbury, MD

rlgut...@salisbury.edu

               

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[Jls...@aol.com]

Good questions!

 

The Jug Bay data can go one of two ways, depending on how you enter them. If you enter each 30-minute stop by itself, then it should be Stationary for 30 minutes. If you  do all four stops as a  single entry, then it should be at least 2 hours and travelling with the distance listed as that between the two farthest apart.

 

eBird accepts travelling counts of any distance; however, for most data analysis, travelling counts greater than 5 miles are not used to compute abundance charts or density maps. The computer programs ignore reports where the mileage exceeds 5.

 

I have recently done some major editing of eBird data in Maryland. Here are some kinds of counts that have been invalidated because they have no real value for data analysis:

 

    (1) A County List: A list of birds, with or without numbers, with or without mileage, with or without time spent, but listed for the County only. [i.e. location = Calvert County]. In some other states with counties that are rarely birded, these lists are okay, but not in Maryland because the coverage in all seasons is good. 

 

    (2) Travelling lists where it is obvious that there are no stops:  Time = 60 minutes, Distance = 55 miles. In most cases, the location plotted was incorrect.

 

    (3) Lists that cross county lines.

 

    (4)  Lists that are multiple days or even years!

 

    (5) Lists that are placed at a Hot Spot, but obviously have birds that were seen elsewhere. For example, several Kelp Gull reports were listed as Pt. Lookout SP because birds from Sandgates and Pt. Lookout were placed on one list and one list placed at Blackwater NWR had birds that were seen at Ocean City Inlet!

 

My review invalidated more than 50,000 records, but you will probably not notice any change to the bar charts or the maps. Please note: Invalidated means that the data is not used for the standard data analysis computer programs, used in bar charts, or visible in maps. All of them will still be in you personal State Lists, County Lists, Location Lists, etc.

 

Some kinds of valid Travelling lists have some value, but are not used by the computer programs if they exceed 5 miles. These include lists like "Sector 6 of the _____ Christmas Count" or Fall Count or May Count, where the list has numbers, time and mileage and is not plotted at the County level but has a locator near the center of the area covered.

 

Lists with just X and no number have little value for data analysis. Sesame Street got it right  ;-)

 

The best lists are Stationary or short-distance travelling. For Christmas Counts in my area I do travelling [walking] counts for the Fishing Creek Marsh boardwalk and trails and the North Beach Marsh and the Herrrington Harbor Marina, with stationary counts at various stops between Chesapeake Beach and Rosehaven and keep a side list of birds that I see but not at any location that I will eBird. The total gets submitted for the Christmas Count.

 

I have started setting up Hot Spots for short roads. Harry James Road, where Ross's Geese were recently found, is about 2 miles long. It is mostly cornfield, but has some hedgerows and woods. I entered a Stationary count there, but a travelling count would work also. In Garrett County I like Good Hope Road: it is less than 2 miles long and I do a travelling count by combining three to five 10-minute stops. The only Travelling count I submit is the Assateague NS--OSV where I add all of the birds into the 12 miles on the beach and over or on the ocean  [but no birds in the dunes].

 

For birds at sensitive locations, like roosting owls or on very private property, I map them in the general area [with specific notes in the comments section that only eBird Reviewers can see] and wait at least a week before I enter them into eBird. If you wait a week, the report will not show up in the Google Gadget and will not be sent out to anyone who uses the Alert function.

 

With the New Year getting close, make a resolution to submit better data to eBird. On January 1, when you start on your Year County List, keep separate lists for places where you walk or so stationary counts. Take notes on unusual birds. Add photos if you can. If you are at a Hot Spot, enter the data there!

 

Have fun eBirding!

 

Jim

 

Jim Stasz

North Beach MD

jls...@aol.com