Hi Dan/Everyone,

We've requested more details. We'll share any available information if the sighting is confirmed!

While on the topic of eBird, but mostly unrelated, I'd like to say a few words about April eBird thresholds. As many of you know, eBird uses a filter system to determine which species get flagged as rare when you submit a checklist. These filters are set for each species, in each county, and in each month of the year. Since the Bell's Vireo treshold is set to 0 in all Maryland counties and in all months, it appears on none of our default checklists. Other species might permit 2, 10, or 500 individuals before you get the "excellent observation!" note. For species and counts that are flagged, eBird requests any available details/documentation. Notes are especially appreciated for any species that needed to be manually added to a checklist (i.e., a threshold of 0). 

April is a particularly tricky month for managing eBird filters. There are many species that are exceedingly rare, virtually unheard of, in the first half of April, but expected at the end of the month. This means that we're forced to make the tough decision of whether we 1) flag a lot of expected reports at the end of the month, or 2) let any reports of those species come in without review on April 1st. I think nearly everyone would agree that the conservative approach is best. eBird fully intends to refine this process in the future, but in the mean time, please be patient with the increasing flags over the next 12 days. The Google Gadget will show an increase in flagged-but-expected migrants at the end of April, but it's a decision made for the benefit of data quality. Thanks for understanding and for the outstanding support for eBird in Maryland!

Good birding,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com

--- On Mon, 4/18/11, Dan Haas <> wrote:

From: Dan Haas <>
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Brown-headed Nuthatch in AA??
To: 
Date: Monday, April 18, 2011, 4:50 PM

I saw a report on the eBird gadget about 2 Brown-headed Nuthatches
here in Anne Arundel inside the Patuxent NT.  Any details would be
appreciated!

Good Birding,

Dan Haas
St. Margaret's, MD
nervousbirdsatgmail.com

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