Dear Joe, Tweeters, Mark, Joe, et al,

There is indeed a bit of confusion between Skagit Flats and Samish Flats.

On eBird, it is easy to?see this confusion?by clicking on?the "pinpoint" for each of these two place on "Hotspot Explorer," which is on the "Explore Data" page. By way of clarification, Samish Flats is north of SR 20, and Skagit Flats is south of SR 20.

If one goes to the Hotspot Explorer for each of the above two locations on eBird, there are species listed that were almost certainly not found there. Birders have apparently entered parts of their?day's lists onto checklists for Samish Flats or Skagit Flats, rather than breaking the day into separate?checklists,?resulting in species being reported for unlikely sites.

To be specific, for Samish Flats, there are eBird sightings of e.g. Harlequin Duck, Brandt's Cormorant, and Marbled Murrelet. I am guessing that those birds were probably seen off Samish Island, not on Samish Flats.

For?Skagit Flats, birders have made reports of Black Scoter, Rhinoceros Auklet, Common Murre, and Marbled Murrelet. Perhaps those birds were seen at Deception Pass or March Point, but it is very unlikely they'd be found on the flats.

This sort of inaccuracy is found, of course, not just on Skagit eBird checklists, but on those all around the world. I'm sure I have contributed my share of the muddle!

Oh well, it's all grist for the mill. Go Seahawks--there's a bird we can all agree on!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch


>________________________________
> From: ck park <travelgirl.fics at gmail.com>
>To: Marc Hoffman <tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com>
>Cc: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 4:05 PM
>Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Just a friendly reminder
>
>
>
>i'd love to hear this response, too.? Thanks!
>
>
>
>00 caren
>http://www.parkgallery.org/
>george davis creek, north fork
>
>
>On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 3:59 PM, Marc Hoffman <tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com> wrote:
>
>Hi Joe,
>>
>>Thanks for the clarification, but could you please specify whichever
posts that confused the two? We're driving up on 2/8 and would hate to be
misguided.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Marc Hoffman
>>Kirkland, WA
>>www.songbirdphoto.com
>>tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com
>>
>>At 03:21 PM 1/31/2014, Mechejmch wrote:
>>
>>Recent Bald Eagle reports motivate me to once again remind folks that the
Skagit Flats is not the same as the Samish Flats. They're both in Skagit
County but there's a bit of geography between the two, so please make it
clear when you report anything from either of these fine birding
locations.
>>_______________________________________________
>>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
>
>
>