Date: 3/5/26 6:59 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Comments on "Rules for eBird acceptance of a rare species"
Jamie,
Your first two sentences are correct. I'll agree with them. The third is
incorrect. Weeks and months go by without even a one sentence description
provided for nearly all of his rare sightings. I know this when I review
eBird rarity reports on that website a month or two later, and still there
is no description or photos added. Essentially everyone else provides a
written description of the rare birds, when they submit the report, so that
an eBird reviewer can judge if the report is correct. As they say -- "no
one is above the law", or better -- "no one should be above the law".
To make a point -- Ron Martin is a very busy birder, going all over much of
NC daily. He was at Johnnie Mercer's Pier this morning, and still had time
to spend 30 seconds or a minute to describe two rare birds that are
probably "continuing" -- Red-necked Grebe and Pacific Loon:
On Thu, Mar 5, 2026 at 8:59 AM Jamie Adams <jadamsbirds...> wrote:
> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
