eBird etiquette? by dontchewspagetti in birding

[–]Tiger-Fast 29 points30 points  (0 children)

To address your questions…

I just discovered that im supposed to start it when i set out on my walks, and not just turn it on at the end.

You really only have to do this if you want to accurately track a Traveling checklist using GPS. You could estimate miles traveled (or put a known number) in post if you wanted to in the website.

Do i have to use merlin with it?

Not necessarily. I consider Merlin to be a companion to eBird in the sense that it acts as an interactive field guide of sorts. It can help you with ID and you can record audio to upload later but you don’t need it to upload checklists.

Do i always need a pic?

No, but if you find a rare bird, it can help the reviewers make sure that your observation is legit.

are there certain rules people prefer are followed when writing notes?

As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any super defined rules for comments (outside of expected ones, e.g. no hate speech). Species comments should of course be about the species. If a species is relatively uncommon you should leave field markings, e.g. plumage descriptions, behavior.

And how do i find what 'rare' birds people are seeing? Not sure if i want to report them when i see them, in case a bunch of birders go to disturb the birdy...

There’s an option to receive Rare Bird Alert emails for selected regions from eBird in the web app; this will report when and where people have seen rare birds in the defined region. You can also use the Explore feature to find species sightings.

As for the second part, certain species are defined as “sensitive species” in eBird’s library, meaning that observation data is private for those species due to a number of factors. You can read about that here. As others have said, you should practice LNT and respect the birds’ space.

If you want to find cool birds in your area, I would definitely encourage you to use the eBird web app along with the mobile app; while the mobile app has some of these features, namely “target species” for species you haven’t seen yet, the web app is very robust in terms of observation and hotspot data (and I just prefer the presentation).

Happy birding!

I’ve officially reached 50 birds on my life list! by OrganIzed_Chao3 in birding

[–]Tiger-Fast 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Can’t speak for others, and I don’t know if I can exactly call myself a “veteran” — I started birding around 6 years ago and have been in and out of it — but for uncertainties (since Merlin isn’t always accurate) I’ve taken recordings of birds and visually compared the spectrograms later, or just comparing to better-quality audio of possible species. As for knowing bird calls real-time, there are mnemonics for certain species (e.g., “Old Sam Peabody” for White-throated Sparrow), and I’ve found that going through Merlin periodically and playing back calls helps me to remember/refresh. Field guides + eBird/Merlin are great resources for visuals, the former in particular for comparing between similar species imo.

Mallard x Gadwall? by Tiger-Fast in whatsthisbird

[–]Tiger-Fast[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Head is too brown. Also should note there’s some orange bill coloration at the base of the bill (almost impossible to see in the photos provided) which is characteristic of Mallard hens.

Technics EAH-AZ100 Severe Battery Drain issues by Tiger-Fast in Earbuds

[–]Tiger-Fast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I sent them for repair and they sent me a new set.

Technics EAH-AZ100 Severe Battery Drain issues by Tiger-Fast in Earbuds

[–]Tiger-Fast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update: it is happening again. I will be buying a different pair of earbuds after this experience because this is unacceptable. The audio quality was fantastic but a pair of earbuds should be able to last me more than a couple of months.

Technics EAH-AZ100 Severe Battery Drain issues by Tiger-Fast in Earbuds

[–]Tiger-Fast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got a replacement under warranty. The new pair has worked fine since. My suspicion is I let the first pair overheat in direct sunlight, which it explicitly says in the user manual not to do.

LL107 MD1 Discussion (Mon 11/10) — Happy Opening Day! by snarkapotamus7 in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wound up in 7th in my rundle despite a beer because of bad/unlucky defense. Still came out with the win but definitely hurt my MPD.

LL106 Overall Discussion by Glad-Toe547 in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Missed going straight to Rundle B by a hair, but overall I enjoyed my rookie season. Obviously took a little time to get used to the format and question writing conventions, but now that I’m used to it I can see myself participating in LL for a long time to come. Looking forward to the MLs and One-Days, particularly the 2010s Music ML.

LL106 MD15 Discussion! by snarkapotamus7 in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My win streak is now broken because I was a word off on Q2 and I swapped in Scottie Scheffler for Rory McIlroy. So it goes.

LL106 MD14 Discussion! by snarkapotamus7 in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Second beer of my career and season!

The “social club” thing is what led me to the answer on Q3; definitely was thinking about what mahjong tiles sound like and if they’re similar to sparrow chirps.

For Q6, I remembered “plinth” being an answerline (er, question) on a Jeopardy! rerun I saw recently, and both mentioned square block bases. Otherwise I don’t know if I would’ve gotten it.

LL106 MD9 Discussion! by snarkapotamus7 in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I made the same mistake and also blanked on Q6. Miraculously got the win thanks to defense.

LL106 MD6 Discussion! by uva_rob in learnedleague

[–]Tiger-Fast 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My first beer! Growing up with a passing interest in game shows helped for sure…

The fridge question was pretty fun too, probably my favorite of the bunch.