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Re: Bird Listing Format and a small request

From:

Mark Hoffman

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 12:38:42 -0400

As one (of perhaps 2-3 people), who actually use the observations posted to
MDOsprey as part of a larger data base project (in my case limited to
Worcester County), the following information for each report would is needed
(if it is not too much trouble).

Location (if it is a large area, indicated a little detail as to the area
covered).
County
Times (start and end)
Species observed and number
Any comments about age/sex, breeding, etc. if warranted
Details for anything unusual
Observers (for rarities, list the specific observers who saw and concurred
or did not concur on the id)

Gene Scarpulla's Hart-Miller reports are a great example to follow.

If you visit multiple "locations", please provide a distinct list for each.
From my perspective, it is better to include a complete species list, but if
you only have the time to list highlights that is ok (it is better than
nothing).  Please be careful about lumping locations ... the West Ocean City
Pond is distinct from Skimmer Island, which is distinct from the Ocean City
Inlet, etc.

Often with MDOsprey lists it is difficult to determine even the date (e.g.,
we visited Assateague this weekend and saw a Palm Warbler ...).  Without a
specific date, you just can't get it into any system.

Thanks.  These reports do end up being used and your assistance is greatly
appreciated.

Mark L Hoffman


-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Todd Day
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 7:29 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Bird Listing Format and a small request

Greetings,

As regional editor for North American Birds, I try to take a look at every
email on MDOsprey to see if there are birds of interest for the seasonal
report.
 Add to that a few listservs in Virginia (the region covers both states),
and
I end up reading a ton of email.  That said, while I agree it is easier to
read things in list format, it isn't particularly difficult for me to scan a
paragraph and pull out the noteworthy birds.  Uppercase letters do make
things
stand out, but I don't use them in my own reports to listservs.  To me, I
say to
each their own.  I don't love the idea of each report looking the same.

One thing I would like to request is that people put a locality and date on
their posts.  I end up with a few inaccuracies in my reports, many stemming
from taking the date of the report as the date the bird was seen, and often
that
isn't the case.  Also, a lot of places in Maryland and Virginia are unknown
to
me, and it takes a bit of digging or follow-up emails sent to folks to
figure
out what county the bird was seen in.  It seems like it wouldn't be too
difficult to track these things down, but sometimes there are dozens of such
birds
that I need to determine where they were seen.

Despite my efforts of reading email to help compile the seasonal report, I
would love to encourage more people to send me a report at the end of the
reporting periods (30 November, 28 February, 31 May, and 31 July).  I
certainly miss
a fair amount of birds that I would like to include in the column, and only
way to be sure I know about them is in a report sent to me.

Best,

Todd

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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
Culpeper County

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