Date: 3/5/26 5:59 am From: Jamie Adams (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Comments on "Rules for eBird acceptance of a rare species"
If there is one thing Danny is, it’s not being lazy. He’s busy finding more
rare birds. Just wait a minute and he will get the information in.
Jamie Adams
Wilmington NC
On Tue, Mar 3, 2026 at 10:23 PM gchays23 <carolinabirds...> wrote:
> Couldn’t agree more.
>
> The blossoming eBird culture of short-changing the descriptive
> justification of a rare bird sighting is concerning, both from the reporter
> and the reviewer’s point-of-view.
>
> In short, we as birders have become at best…lazy…or worse…more interested
> in the “tick” over showing we understand what we’re seeing.
>
> The issue is most often encountered when there is a lingering rarity. We
> resort to writing “Continuing”. Or “well -documented by others”. Or
> “photos available” yet never attached. Or “the bird was seen to the left of
> the large pine tree at the tip of the peninsula”.
>
> None of these descriptions give credibility the bird was seen or properly
> id’d.
>
> I’ll end with a reminder that eBird was created by Cornell University to
> use the power of citizen science to capture bird distribution and breeding
> evidence. Only confirmed sightings are included in the official database
> for research support.
>
> Let’s all be committed to helping Cornell achieve its objective!
>
> Greg Hays
> Charlotte, NC
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 3, 2026, at 9:39 PM, Harry LeGrand <carolinabirds...> wrote:
>
>
>
> As a follow-up to my previous eBird posting, in regard to a report of a
> Western Grebe along the NC coast a few days ago, where there is no
> description, nor photos, posted yet --
>
> that on March 15, 2003, I was birding with Ricky Davis and Derb Carter at
> the former site of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse at Buxton. Ricky spotted a
> large grebe in the inshore ocean that he felt was a *Clark's Grebe*, and
> Derb and I immediately got onto the bird. Indeed, it had an orange-yellow
> bill and the white on the face came above the eye. We all agreed on
> Clark's, a first and still the only report for the state. Derb got some
> video, but ultimately the NC Bird Records Committee did accept our detailed
> description (putting the species on the Provisional List) but felt that the
> video was not quite clear enough to separate Clark's from the similar
> Western (such that it did not go on the Official List). There were a good
> handful of Western Grebe records for NC at the time, and now there are
> about 20 Coastal records -- still a very rare bird. We wrote a General
> Field Note for *The Chat*, published in Chat 72:102-103. If you go to the
> species page on the Birds of North Carolina website, you can click on the
> active link and read the report.
>
> The point is -- was Clark's Grebe ruled out of the 2026 report? Without
> the information on the eBird report, we don't know. It takes less than a
> minute for someone to enter a description of a rare bird in Comments, and I
> encourage the reporter of the grebe to go back into the report and add a
> description so that Clark's can be ruled out. Any of us can go back into
> one of our eBird reports and add more description, add a photo or two,
> etc., to further provide the necessary documentation for acceptance.
>
> Harry LeGrand
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2026 at 9:04 PM Harry LeGrand <hlegrandjr...> wrote:
>
>> Folks,
>>
>> Several times a day many of us look at the Carolina Bird Club Sightings
>> page to see what rarities have been reported in NC and in SC. I was a bit
>> surprised over the past few days to see one or several rare bird sightings
>> that have been accepted by a reviewer with no documentation, or some still
>> with much documentation, not yet accepted by a reviewer. Here is what I
>> found when I Googled "Rules for eBird acceptance of a rare species" (the
>> blue is in Google, not mine):
>>
>> eBird requires rigorous documentation for rare species to be accepted
>> into its public database, usually involving detailed written descriptions,
>> photos, or audio recordings. A volunteer regional reviewer evaluates
>> this evidence to rule out similar species and confirm identification, or
>> the record remains unconfirmed and private
>>
>> Key rules for submitting rare species include:
>>
>> - *Documentation:* Provide detailed notes on field marks, behavior,
>> and vocalizations, rather than just stating "seen well" or "seen with
>> expert".
>> - *Media:* Upload photos or audio recordings, even if not high
>> quality, as they are essential for verification.
>> - *Rule out similar species:* Specifically explain how you ruled out
>> more common, similar-looking species.
>> - *Age and Sex:* Note the age and sex if possible, as this aids in
>> identification.
>> - *Location and Date:* Ensure accurate location plotting; for
>> sensitive species, consider delaying reports.
>>
>> ----------------
>>
>> So, this is a reminder for reporters of eBird list "write-ins" -- make
>> sure that you provide the necessary information in Comments for a reviewer
>> to be able to accept your report. And a reminder for eBird reviewers --
>> make sure that you have the necessary information in Comments to be able to
>> evaluate a report, acceptance or not.
>>
>> NOTE: I tried to post this same material about 30 minutes ago to the
>> GroupMe NC Rare Bird Alert page, but the moderator deleted this important
>> reminder. We all want to abide by eBird rules about reporting and then
>> accepting records into the eBird database.
>>
>> As the CBC Briefs for the Files editor, I go through the eBird
>> database four times a year and collect the most significant reports that
>> have been accepted, going species by species for a given season. Thus, it
>> is very important that these sightings be documented in the eBird database
>> before they appear in print in *The Chat.*
>>
>> Thanks for your attention.
>>
>> Harry LeGrand
>> Raleigh
>>
>>
>>
