Hi Tweeters,

I recently recorded an eBird survey at Yesler Swamp, and when I went
to enter it, I discovered that there was no "hotspot" link to the
location - so I placed one on the map, and suggested it as a hotspot.
Charlie Wright sent me an email today, asking if that area is usually
considered part of the Union Bay Natural Area/Montlake Fill, or if it
represents a unique location.? His exact question is below:

"Is Yesler Swamp technically part of the Union Bay Natural
Area/Montlake Fill, or would you consider it a distinct hotspot? If
the former, the hotspot conventions would probably want me to name the
hotspot "Union Bay Natural Area -- Yesler Swamp." However, if it's
owned separately or otherwise distinct enough, then perhaps simply
Yesler Swamp is better."

It caused me to pause and think, so I decided I should pose the
question to the community first:

For those of you who use eBird, and bird those locations, have been
recording everything at the Montlake Fill site, or do you distinguish
them?

I could see an argument for either choice:

The birds certainly are able to readily move from one to the other,
and both are under the eye of the Center for Urban Horticulture.? That
being said, they are separated by the center and the parking lots, and
Yesler Swamp has certain habitat characteristics that make it distinct
from the Fill. I don't actually know much about how each is
managed/owned.

There are plenty of other eBird sites that are within one "property",
if they are distinct enough to have different kinds of birds - for
example Foster Island is considered distinct from the UW Arboretum,
and there are numerous "hotspots" within Mount Rainier Nat. Park, to
cover the different areas where people commonly bird.

I would say that if the local eBird user community usually records
birds separately for each location, it makes sense to keep them
separate, but if not, we should combine them.

What do folks think?

Thanks,

Michael Schrimpf
Seattle

--
Michael Schrimpf
Graduate Student
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
University of Washington
Box 355020
Seattle, WA 98195-5020
Tel: 206-221-6904