All,

I am the reviewer for the GBBC for Washington. The system only gives me
alerts outside of pre-set parameters for species set by Cornell/Audubon.
I'm afraid the Mountain Quail error slipped by me - I read it as California
Quail and moved it through the system - I'll correct it. In checking the
Mountain Quail list for the nation I GUARANTEE that the reports from
Oakhurst (3 miles from where I grew up), Sonora, and the Napa Valley in
California are all also in error.

The only other record that was alerted in Ruth's list below was the Blue Jay
count, which I rejected and noted likely observer error - Stellers Jay most
probable. The GBBC and CBC are entirely different creatures - the CBC has a
group mix of reporters for every area ranging from novice to expert while
the GBBC has no checks for individual reports except for (very ill defined)
total species counts for any given report that lump ALL OF WASHINGTON STATE
together as a birding area. This means that if 5 Sage Grouse were reported
from Sequim I wouldn't find that error as 5 Sage Grouse would be a
reasonable number from Hanford Reach - the GBBC database makes no
differentiation. I could review every record...if this were a full time
job. As it is I spend as much time as I can working through the "bad"
reports.

Another problem is the definiton of "Backyard Bird Count" - location(s)
allowed, timeline(s) allowed, etc.. Some people treat this as more or less
a Big Day or CBC effort while others stick to their 8500 square foot lot in
the suburbs.

I've rejected about 30 individual reports including:

Siberian Accentor in Kitsap County
Brambling (4 reports)
Several Lark Buntings
Zone Tailed Hawk
Anhinga
Reddish Egret
Ross's Goose (several from Puget Sound area - 3 seen from moving vehicles!)

etc...

The system isn't perfect, but it is what we currently work with. If you
have questions on specific records send them to me and I'll go over the
record AND I'll work with the GBBC team to try to get better "limit" records
in the Washington State database (as well as a more refined geography)

Good Birding to all!

Rob Conway
Newcastle, WA

robin_birder at hotmail.com





>From: "Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan" <godwit513 at msn.com>
>To: <lpatters at ix.netcom.com>, <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Mountain Quail
>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:02:55 -0800
>
>Hello Larry and to Tweeters,
>
>I was so intrigued to look the list which is posted by Audubon to Cornell
>at the Great Backyard Bird Count website. Is there an Editor for the GBBC?
>On the CBC it will be sent to a regional Editor,and if there is question on
>some bird how would it be written up or documented? Our regional editor for
>the CBC is Mike Patterson,but the GBBC has nothing to do with that.
>Here are just a few of he sightings that caught our attention the most:
>26 Lesser Goldfinches in Cle Elum, 21 Green Herons in Issaquah, and 8 in
>Yakima, 40 Red Phalarope at Ridgefield NWR,6 Blue Jays in Tonasket(most
>inexperienced people call the Steller's Jay Blue Jays) 21 Mountain
>Chickadee in Tacoma among other reports in western Washington.,This had to
>be an invasion year for this species. 1 Vesper Sparrow in Lynwood. And the
>list is going on and on for 3 pages of sighting all in question that we
>found.
>
>We having a nice yard with many nice birds,but I not sending my yard birds
>ever to such a cause.How can this going to be an accurate account for
>keeping records?
>There been only few sites on Mountain Quail chiefly in western
>Washington,if you also include scattered reports in the Blue Mountains of
>released birds.These areas are the South Port Orchard Airport area in
>Kitsap Co. the Seabeck area also in Kitsap Co. and the Shelton area in
>Mason Co.
>
>Ed Newbold of Seattle has a very good account of birds with his Yard
>BirdRace, in which people keep a yearly list of species they encounter in
>their yard or on or from their property only.
>
>Cheers, Ruth Sullivan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <lpatters at ix.netcom.com>
>To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 11:09 PM
>Subject: [Tweeters] Mountain Quail
>
>
> >
> > Tweeters,
> >
> > Well here is a strange one. The top spot for Mountain Quail in NA
>according to the Great Backyard Bird Count is Bridgeport, WA with 35.
>http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=SpeciesLocation&species=mouqua&year=2007
> >
> > Larry Schwitters
> > Issaquah
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Tweeters mailing list
> > Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
> >


>_______________________________________________
>Tweeters mailing list
>Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

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