Yes, as Josh and Michael explained, there are multiple accounts that are
displayed as "Anonymous eBirder". Regarding the Great Gray Owl and Indigo
Bunting reports that were mentioned, they were reported by different people
and I don't see any reason to suspect either of being a hoax.

Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Seattle



Ebird offersthe option of posting anonymously. When someone choses this
> option that person's postings will be listed as "Anonymous Birdger".
> Therefore all the "Anonymous Birder" lists need not be the same person,
> just from people who have chosen to post their lists privately, so the fact
> that postings are fairly fair apart isn't relevant. The following location
> provides more information from ebird:
>
> <http://goog_1098650733>
>
> http://help.ebird.org/customer/en/portal/articles/1006833-data-privacy?b_id=1928
>
>
> Whether these particular sightings are spoofs, misidentified birds, or
> actual sightings is anyone's guess.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:43 AM, Barbara Deihl <barbdeihl at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>> There have been several sightings posted on eBird and perhaps on
>> Tweeters, by "Anonymous eBirder" and another anonymosity with a similar
>> moniker. The most recent questionable reports include one on a Great Gray
>> Owl out on SR 530 and yesterday's posts and pics of a supposed Indigo
>> Bunting - both of these came in on eBird alerts from Snohomish Co. with
>> little or no confirmatory sightings, or, in the case of this Bunting,
>> high-level description of the bird. And Anonymous eBirder has sometimes
>> posted 'rare' sightings from places fairly far apart from each other, on
>> the same day.
>> This all prompts me to suspect spoofing, which, I hear, is not something
>> foreign to either list. But, hey, it's neither April Fool's Day (yet) nor
>> very funny, either of which would be, and also has been, well-appreciated,
>> at least on Tweeters, back when birders could enjoy more tail-pulling. I
>> can see now why someone might get off on sending ardent chasers off on wild
>> goose chases, just for the power of it all or in order to get a bunch of
>> vehicles parked in one place, with lots of pricey optics available for the
>> "Smash+Grab".
>> I'm not sure why anyone would wish to share sightings anonymously in the
>> first place...
>> If any of you have any thoughts as to whether or not to believe these
>> folks or to follow any of their sightings or location directions, or any
>> other related thoughts, please advise, either just me personally or the
>> Tweeterage at large.
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>> Barb Deihl
>> Matthews Beach Neighborhood - NE Seattle
>> barbdeihl
>>
>
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