I have noticed that many eBirders do not seem to grasp how to enter subspecies on their eBird lists. Here is an example: In your birding, you encounter and identify 20 "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers and 2 "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Your eBird list should therefore show: --- Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 20 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
But many eBirders enter it like this: 22 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 20 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
This is wrong, since your list now shows 44 Yellow-rumped Warblers total when in fact you only found 22 of them.
Of course, it may not be possible to identify all individuals encountered to subspecies. ,So if you found 20 "Audubon's," 2 "Myrtles," and 10 other Yellow-rumped Warblers that could not be identified to subspecies, you would enter it as: 10 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 20 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
In summary, if you list a bird to subspecies, then DO NOT also include that bird under the "umbrella" species name. Seems obvious, but many birders do this incorrectly. If you have been doing this incorrectly, please take the time to go back and correct your lists.
Remember that you can toggle on/off the button that says "Show Subspecies" when you enter an eBird list. If you elect to show (and enter) subspecies, then please enter them conservatively (very few subspecies in our area are readily identifiable in the field). It is our bias (as reviewers) that if there is only one subspecies possible in the region [e.g., "Brown Pelican (California)"] you should only enter your observation to the species level unless you carefully examined characters that allowed you to identify the subspecies. [How many of you who enter Brown Pelicans in our area to subspecies actually studied them carefully to rule out, for example, the subspecies *carolinensis* from the Gulf of Mexico or *occidentalis* from the West Indies, which are not part of the "California: subspecies group?]
Thanks,
Kimball Garrett (for the L. A. County eBIrd reviewer team)
