I looked at ebird but it's getting a bunch of bad reviews for messing with people's info.I use eBird as my official list. You can get county, state, country, or world lists. Any of these can also be for either a specific year, or for all time. You can also look at every sighting that you have ever had of a specific species with the same sorting capabilities. Using eBird to track your sightings also gives you the ability to add notes and pictures to your sighting. And it is all backed up by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, so you don't need to worry about losing your information.
I'm curious about what you mean by "messing with people's info." Can you share the reviews that you are looking at?I looked at ebird but it's getting a bunch of bad reviews for messing with people's info.
Here's an example: it'll tell me I've only got one species in this photo, when there's actually two (Anas crecca left, Anas carolinensis right)
various recent reviews said that the new update prevented the app from opening, which means they can't get to their lists. Now that I am typing this, let me check again and see if anything has changed. Search function won't work. won't open, refuses to update, won't let lists be updated. I guess this could be a temporary issue, but it worries me a bit.I'm curious about what you mean by "messing with people's info." Can you share the reviews that you are looking at?
So you are talking about the eBird mobile app. There was a major upgrade about two years ago that caused me to have to reinstall the app. Other than that I really have not any problems with it. Nearly every birder that I know uses the mobile app, and I have not heard any complaints since that major upgrade. With a mobile app you need to remember that you have people using multiple versions of the app on multiple versions of multiple mobile operating systems. These are a lot of variables to account for.various recent reviews said that the new update prevented the app from opening, which means they can't get to their lists. Now that I am typing this, let me check again and see if anything has changed. Search function won't work. won't open, refuses to update, won't let lists be updated. I guess this could be a temporary issue, but it worries me a bit.
About ebird. It treats European Anas crecca as a subspecies of North American Anas carolinensis, instead of as two separate species as I (and everyone else in UK) do.Are you talking about eBird, or the Merlin bird identification extension? I am not aware of anything automated within eBird that would dispute what you have on your checklist. What eBird has is a staff of volunteer (human) reviewers that may email you with requests for more information to help substantiate your sightings, but nothing automatic, as far as I know.
About ebird. It treats European Anas crecca as a subspecies of North American Anas carolinensis, instead of as two separate species as I (and everyone else in UK) do.
I don't think I've seen any serious or at least semi-serious birder in my region (Florida/USA) to not use eBird.
That is exactly messing with my information. The two were split several years ago, by both UK and International authorities.That is an issue with the taxonomy that eBird uses. I wouldn't call that eBird "messing with" your information.
You can still list them as the identifiable subspecies Anas crecca and Anas carolinensis, and if (when) they are split, they will show up as two species.
Mostly throwaway but the trend around my area seems to be, if you have gone around chasing a local rarity, participate in the bird walks more than 3 times and have a decent pair of bins or camera, they are on eBird for the most part. In fact, last year I did a bird trip to Oregon and I was the one in charge of the checklists, outside of two people who were general nature lovers, everyone kept the pen and paper checklist but they still asked me to share the eBird list so they could add it to their records as well.How serious do you have to be, to be a serious birder?
I'm asking for clarification or was that a throw-away line; understood for what it is by any passionate birder?
No argument here, just trying to limit self judgement.
As long as there are multiple organizations with their own taxonomic lists, the chances of them agreeing completely with each other are slim. Perhaps eBird can add an option to let you select the list that you prefer to use.That is exactly messing with my information. The two were split several years ago, by both UK and International authorities.
They also take my Grey Heron sighting, and display it to the world as 'gray'. If I enter it with the correct spelling, they should respect that, not just for my own personal viewing, but for everyone. I don't want other people thinking I'm an American imperialist, just because they are and mess with my list.
Yep, agree there; e.g for Sciurus carolinensis, I use Gray Squirrel, even when talking of introduced ones in Britain. Birdguides are wrong thereI agree with you that Grey Heron should be spelled with an E, just as Gray Catbird should be spelled with an A, not like this.
Until we have a global consensus for all of the bird species this problem will continue, but when that happens I can only imagine how many birders (myself included) will groan and curse at the fact that certain species we ignored due to just being regional variants due to time constraints will be added and even more will go mad over how many species will be 'lost'. I'm not saying that the American taxonomy is better than the European one and vise versa, but we can all agree that until we have a truly global outlook to all of the bird species in our field guides, online lists, etc., these arguments will never stop and we just have to accept what we are offered.Yep, agree there; e.g for Sciurus carolinensis, I use Gray Squirrel, even when talking of introduced ones in Britain. Birdguides are wrong there