Date: 11/24/12 11:24 am
From: Jim Wilkinson <lakekoshare...>
Subject: [MDBirding] e-bird and other records--delays in mapping


With the ongoing winter finch invasion as an example it appears that the Maryland ebird reviewers are following a similar disturbing pattern to the breeding atlas by not communicating before delaying or rejecting a sighting record.

I find neighboring states to be more responsive. The most recent example is of crossbills and ravens I saw in PA from the last 2 days are mapped but the Maryland crossbills along with other sightings from mid-November are still missing. On a 2010 record that was questionable as to species I never heard anything from the local ebird personnel--I did receive a note from Marshall Iliff after I sent a recent inquiry (2012) to the ebird main site.

I can understand records needing to be reviewed, but not communicating anything to the observer before rejecting or delaying is not helpful. This is especially true when there is an ongoing major finch irruption and it would be very helpful to see the latest sightings.

Jim Wilkinson
Columbia, MD

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