What someone told me a couple years ago was that you would record the bird using a DC location in your eBird account, and then create another sighting for the area of MD that it flew in to.  I run into this all the time birding along the Alexandria, VA waterfront.  

In the case of a Tundra Swan that swam from City of Alexandria (its own County) waters into Fairfax County waters you would do this:

Hunting Creek Bridge, City of Alexandria, VA:  Tundra Swan 1
Belle Haven Picnic Area Waters, Fairfax County, VA:  Tundra Swan 1

And then when it swings left and heads across the Potomac you would enter:

Potomac River, Prince Georges County, MD:  Tundra Swan 1

For most list tickers out there vantage point doesn't matter, right?  If you are sure of the boundaries, you'll get excited when you're in one place and the bird crosses a boundary line - two ticks for the price of one!

Conversely, if I am standing on the Fairfax County shoreline and I see a bird fly over the river, but only over PG County waters, I can't count the bird as a Fairfax County bird - the bird has to be a PG County tick.  This affects folks on the Rio Grande every now and then.  They see a bird on the Mexican side which would be a US first, but it doesn't matter that they are standing on the US side of the Rio Grande, the bird isn't!

I'm not clear if this is proper eBird protocal, but since they highly encourage competitive listing it seems like it would be.

Cheers,
Steve Hersey
Alexandria, VA

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