Waxwings

[sternrichard]

Hi,

There are currently large flocks of waxwings roaming around Kings Co and probably elsewhere in NS. Usually they are mixed, but often there are at least as many Cedars as Bohemians. But when I report larger numbers of Cedars it asks me to comment and tick a Rare box. What's the filter for that and should it be changed?

Thanks,. Richard

[Paolo Matteucci]

In general I agree with tight filters because some reports are not always accurate and at least this forces to think about what one is entering. It is just one extra step for a regular user, but this might prevent approximate or wrong data

[David Bell]

Hey Richard,

You bring up a point that may be of interest to others. There is actually a difference between a 'rare' tick box and a 'high count' tick box. The first requires more details as to how you arrived at the identification (eliminating similar species along the way), while the second generally accepts that you are (probably) identifying the birds correctly, but need to enter a few details as to how you arrived at the count, as it is above expected. In a normal year, Cedar Waxwing numbers rarely exceed 50-80 birds in a flock (according to past eBird data, with this and last winter being exceptional). The filter for Kings is currently set to 50, to (hopefully) catch potential misidentifications (e.g. with Bohemian Waxwings or European Starlings),  over-estimations of flocks, or even data entry errors (how easy is it to hit an extra 0 while on your phone in the cold and not notice?). These types of errors are much more difficult to catch once they've made it into the system, so we typically set the filters a bit conservatively to catch them at the front end.

Entering some details as to how you estimated flock size, or if it was an exact count, are generally all that is required - the reviewers will contact you if there are any other issues which may need attending to! The reviewers are typically aware of 'events' such as waxwing or finch irruptions though and we're typically more lenient with requiring details during these times.

David

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David Bell

Bird Studies Canada - Motus Atlantic Coordinator

M.Sc. candidate, Acadia University

[Dominic Cormier]

All,

In response to Richard's prompt about how the filter limit is set for Cedar Waxwing, I want to talk about county filters in general.

Every county has a separate filter. Some counties have been done very precisely (Shelburne, Yarmouth, Cumberland), others somewhere in the middle (Digby, Halifax, Lunenberg, Kings, Pictou, all Cape Breton), and othersnot so much (Annapolis, Queens, Hants). 

With a species like Cedar Waxwing, who's numbers seem to fluctuate winter to winter, the limits are probably not well set. I would err on the side of setting it low so that inexperienced folks, beginners etc. don't just default to Cedar Waxwing. 

In Richard's case, the Kings county filter is set at 50 for the winter.

Cheers,

Dominic

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 5:27 PM, Paolo Matteucci <baeg...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[sternrichard]

Good info. Thanks.