Lots of conversation right now about where to report bird sightings

                        
For those who follow Ohio bird sightings on the Internet, Ohio Birds is the place to go. The Web site is actually called birdingonthe.net but you can find it by searching for Ohio birds. It’s also possible to search for birding reports from any other states and across the country. Some people keep track of what rare birds are showing up in Texas and Florida and Arizona this time of year. But here in Ohio, I think most of us mainly follow the Ohio Birds site.
Usually most of the postings to this site refer to current sightings. They are not necessarily rare birds but just what people are seeing. Some birders actually report their entire list for a day of birding, but most just mention the highlights. Since there are people birding all over the state, this gives us an idea what is being seen along Lake Erie, but also down by the Ohio River near Cincinnati, and anywhere that folks are out birding.
Even though the main reason for the Web site is to list birds being seen, at times a topic gets posted that sparks a lot of attention. That happened last week when someone suggested that the bird lists posted on Ohio Birds are really not of much use for gathering data about birds. Since then there have been many, many responses from a wide variety of people. It may be that during the winter the reports are a little slow, so a hot topic gets a lot of attention.
A number of top birders and ornithologists have been encouraging people to report their sightings to E-Bird, an online option that stores huge amounts of data. These people argue that it is much more helpful to send reports to E-Bird than to post them on Ohio Birds. I don’t think there is much doubt that they are correct, but as others point out, the Ohio Birds site is really there to be helpful to birders right now rather than being a place that gathers scientific data. However, a volunteer does summarize the sightings each week and that information can be helpful in looking back at what was being seen in the state at any given time.
Locally, we have a different situation. A high percentage of our local birders don’t have regular access to the Internet. The Bobolink Rare Bird Alert (330-763-5119) may be old technology but it really does meet the needs of birders in our area. There are also a number of other rare bird alerts around the state and country, but I’m afraid this kind of service is in decline due to the increased use of the Internet.
As for keeping records, by far the most important local resource has been the quarterly birding journal, The Bobolink, which summarizes all the birding records sent in each season. In turn, all the information from The Bobolink is sent to the state birding journal, The Ohio Cardinal, which in turn sends data to North American Birds. In this way, local birders who find rare and out-of-season birds can have those sightings recognized at the local, state, and national level. Now that most such data at the national level is entered on computers, data can be found by anyone who has access to the Internet. Christmas Bird Count data is a good example. After I post the data from the Millersburg CBC, it will appear on the national CBC results, available for anyone to see at no cost.
I hope this hasn’t been too boring for you! Getting back to actual bird sightings, things have been quiet over the last week or so. Some reports of gull concentrations along Lake Erie have come in, but nothing really rare. Locally there have been snow buntings and Lapland longspurs with the flocks of horned larks, but that probably has decreased as the snow melts and the weather is milder. Keep watching your bird feeders these days - you never know what might show up.
Good Birding!
Contact Bruce Glick at birderbruce@yahoo.com, or phone 330-317-7798.


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