Date: 9/17/26 11:35 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: The eBird county maps have now been added to the species accounts on the Birds of NC website
Folks,
Chris Hill in South Carolina checked out some of the NC maps, and he DID
notice that the Long-eared Owl map is missing. As there have been no name
changes, that wasn't the issue. So, I called up Long-eared Owl in eBird
Explore -- Long-eared Owl, all years, and location = North Carolina. Yes,
there are quite a few purple rectangles for quad-type mapping accuracy, but
there are no pins and thus no data showing. The pins DO show in Canada, and
thus the species in the USA is considered as a Sensitive Species, and the
mapping and data information are listed here for a S.S -- I underlined the
one that matters for viewing the map:
-
Hidden from checklist views, except to observers on the checklist
-
Hidden from all site-level output (e.g., Hotspot Explorer, bar charts
for hotspots)
-
*Shown only at grid-cell level (400 km2 accuracy) on eBird species maps *
-
Shown at region-level output (e.g., Region Explorer, Illustrated
Checklists) with checklist details (date, location, observer, checklist
link) omitted
-
Included in listing totals (e.g., Top 100), but never shown as "most
recent addition"
-
Shown in Media Search with checklist details (date, location, observer,
checklist link) omitted and only for regions larger than a hotspot
-
Specifically marked as Sensitive wherever the species name is displayed
in output and location-level data has been removed, such as on the Region
Explorer or Illustrated Checklist pages
---------
I already know that Black Rail has been considered in the USA as a
Sensitive Species for eBird mapping of data, and though the eBird map does
show on the website, it is badly incorrect, showing a grand total of one
record, for Carteret County, in 2018!
I checked a few other potentially sensitive species -- thankfully, Snowy
Owl and Yellow Rail DO show I think all legit records on the map on the
species accounts.
I will work with Tom and Michael to see what we can do to show eBird maps
for Long-eared Owl and Black Rail. NOTE: Both species contain purple
rectangle/polygon maps on eBird, and I hope that somehow those maps could
be "copied" and pasted to the species accounts. Sadly, the Carolinabirds
listserve does not allow embedded copy-and-paste screenshots from websites
in the posts here. I will have to send them to Tom and Michael to see what
can be done.
Are there other species on the websites without maps, or maps clearly
incorrect? Chris has uncovered the Sensitive Species issue.
Harry LeGrand
On Thu, Sep 17, 2026 at 12:26 PM Harry LeGrand <hlegrandjr...> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Great news! Tom Howard and Michael Fogleman have been working together to
> get the eBird county maps for each of the roughly 500 species onto the
> species account pages on the Birds of North Carolina website:
>
> https://ncbirds.carolinabirdclub.org/index.php >
> As you can see, each map shows red dots for accepted records on eBird,
> different colors for the counties depending on recency of the last
> observation (by year on some maps but by decade on others), and other
> information in the line just below the species name.
>
> Now, these maps were only posted about 30-45 minutes ago, so I/we can only
> hope that there is a map for each of the roughly 500 species, as Tom and
> Michael had to match up the names each was using so that the eBird
> scientific names matched the ones on the website. I still expect that
> there COULD be a mismatch. *If you DO see a map missing, or incorrect,
> let us know.*
>
> Most importantly, Tom and Michael are working to figure out the best way,
> and frequency, to update the maps so that they are not static/stagnant. It
> may be that the maps are updated quarterly in a year, or every 6 months,
> for example. So, you won't likely be seeing new counties showing up on the
> maps for a while; certainly, do not expect a new county to turn from white
> to dark blue once a species is accepted by an eBird reviewer.
>
> Lastly, remember tha*n** these maps contain ONLY records that have been
> posted on eBird lists*. They are not going to be complete, as many
> records for the 20th Century will likely be missing. Thus, refer to the
> text account, especially, to see all known records for a rare or very rare
> bird.
>
> Harry LeGrand
> Raleigh, author/editor of the Birds of North Carolina website
>
