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eBird and Splits (1 Viewer)

martinboer

Well-known member
Hi all,

I've been using eBird to log all my sightings (going back to 2003) and it also serves as my lifelist. I realize of course that there are splits and I am wondering if eBird automatically updates the splits for me (knowing for example where I saw the species) or if that needs to be done by hand in eBird.

If the latter, are there good tools to use for that? I've seen Bubo and Scythebill mentioned as good databases.

Hopefully, eBird already updates for me but just wanted to check.

Many thanks,

Martin
 
Yes, eBird will update your list to account for splits and lumps when it can. See http://help.ebird.org/customer/en/p...ate-my-life-lists-when-splits-occur-?t=401194 for more information.

Dan

Hey Dan, I much appreciate your answering my question. Let's say I saw a bird in Namibia and in South Africa in the early 2000s - both having the same name. If it has split since then, would eBird then make the change whereby I have an additional species on my list? Would there also be an alert for this, or would we notice by seeing our life list go up/down? Thanks, Martin
 
Hey Dan, I much appreciate your answering my question. Let's say I saw a bird in Namibia and in South Africa in the early 2000s - both having the same name. If it has split since then, would eBird then make the change whereby I have an additional species on my list? Would there also be an alert for this, or would we notice by seeing our life list go up/down? Thanks, Martin

Assuming you had entered them into eBird before the split, and they can be differentiated (e.g. the split species have no overlapping range, or you entered a subspecies level entry), then they should be split automatically and your list count would increase. There may be cases where you would have to adjust your list following the split, if eBird doesn't have enough information about your entry to make the call itself.

eBird will notify users when it is updating its taxonomy. I don't recall if it notifies users individually when their list is changed (I think not, but don't hold me to it). Here is an example of the general notice you will get following a taxonomy update: https://ebird.org/news/taxonomy-update-for-2017/

Dan
 
Assuming you had entered them into eBird before the split, and they can be differentiated (e.g. the split species have no overlapping range, or you entered a subspecies level entry), then they should be split automatically and your list count would increase. There may be cases where you would have to adjust your list following the split, if eBird doesn't have enough information about your entry to make the call itself.

eBird will notify users when it is updating its taxonomy. I don't recall if it notifies users individually when their list is changed (I think not, but don't hold me to it). Here is an example of the general notice you will get following a taxonomy update: https://ebird.org/news/taxonomy-update-for-2017/

Dan

Dan, this is all much appreciated. Many thanks!
 
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