[Birdtalk] GBYBC and Red-wings

[Colby Neuman]

Hi all,

As a part of ebird, we revamped the filters for Utah this past fall, and
created a monthly filter for six different regions in the state.  I'd
imagine the GBBC filter is a statewide one, but I can't really say for
sure.  Because I do not know who created it, I don't have a definitive
explanation  of their reasoning, but I'd imagine their logic could be
somewhere along the following lines...

Red-winged Blackbirds are found throughout much of Utah during the winter.
As someone who sets the filter, two good questions to ask are what is the
likely high count, and maybe most importantly, what are the majority of
people going to observe?  So the person controlling the filter may set the
high count at 100 so someone entering in "20" doesn't accidentally enter in
"200" even though a count of 200 is completely possible.  Because the
observer would have to confirm the "200" reported, a quick quality control
is performed on the data.  I have this to some degree with quite a few birds
in the ebird filter database.

Currently, I have the Bohemian Waxwing set at 100 in the appropriate Utah
ebird sections, and I'm definitely thinking of setting the number higher in
a number of regions.  Ryan O'Donnell and others keep reporting flocks of
100-400 in the Cache Valley.  While I could certainly change the filter so
none of these records are flagged, I think it's useful in the sense that the
person confirms the 'high' number entered is indeed the number he/she wished
to report (and that it is not a typo).  And certainly in many years, a flock
of more than 100 Bohemian Waxwings is pretty hard to come by in this state.
Now admittedly, if dozens of people are reporting numbers that are flagged
by the filter, I as a filter controller should certainly consider changing
the maximum number so it's not too much of a pain for the user.

Please email me at any point in the future if you believe I should consider
changing the filter system when it flags your report in ebird.  Hopefully
this helps for the GBBC users.

Colby

On Feb 13, 2008 1:54 PM, Dave Hanscom <hanscom at cs.utah.edu> wrote:

> There were 20 or so at Beus Pond this morning, and at least 100 in the
> trees by the houses at the entrance to the Farmington Bay refuge just
> an hour ago.
>
> Dave Hanscom
>
> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008, Jim & Beanie wrote:
>
> > The last couple of years for the GBYBC I have reported 100 plus
> > Red-winged Blackbirds.
> >
> > These reports have been rejected on the grounds that it is highly
> > unlikely or some such nonsense.
> >
> > So what should show up today just in time for the GBYBC?  149 male
> Red-winged Blackbirds, and one female.
> >
> > Doesn't anyone else report balckbirds?
> > Have my eyes gone bad?
> > Can't I count?
> > Is this a mirage?
> >
> > Weird.  As long as I can remember large numbers of Red-wings have been
> singing their song by the middle of February and sometimes even in January.
>  A few may be seen here in Cache Valley any month of the year.  Have you got
> RW Blackbirds?
> >
> > Jim
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