Surfbirds stoppress going down hill? (1 Viewer)

[Dougie Preston]

Is it a sad indication of the Autumn so far, or just a case of people not understanding the principle of what constitutes a rare bird, but have you seen the list of scarce or even escaped sp that are now on the UK Stop-press page of Surfbirds!

The list of "Rare" birds lately have included such birds as;

Bluethroat
Kumliens Gull
Pectoral Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Long-tailed Skua

And even what must be a presumed escape in the form of a Ross's Goose.

So is it all down to a crap Autumn, or are people just too lazy to post to the correct category?

 

[nigelblake]

I think the Surfbirds gallery(s) "lost it" a long time ago, very few people observe the image size rules or post in the correct categories, its not moderated or kept in check and it should also have an 'uploads per day' limit so that there are not 10 near identical (generally shoddy) images of the same bird posted in one go.

 

[draycotebirding]

Is it a sad indication of the Autumn so far, or just a case of people not understanding the principle of what constitutes a rare bird, but have you seen the list of scarce or even escaped sp that are now on the UK Stop-press page of Surfbirds!

The list of "Rare" birds lately have included such birds as;

Bluethroat
Kumliens Gull
Pectoral Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Long-tailed Skua

And even what must be a presumed escape in the form of a Ross's Goose.

So is it all down to a crap Autumn, or are people just too lazy to post to the correct category?

This point was talked about a couple of years ago on the Surfbirds news thread and I thought it was agreed that BB rares were only put on the "Stop Press" page. It worked for about a day but gradually commoner birds crept in and the free for all started all over again.
Shame as it once was a good site and perhaps has gone too far now to recover.

Regards

John

 

[redeyedvideo]

Just wait until the first Waxwings arrive!

I think the posters stick their pics on Stop-press to get them noticed in the belief that no-one looks at the other galleries. Not true for me, I just love the World Rarities & World Birding pages. Some of the birds I've never heard of and the Scarcities galleries often contain better pics than the Stop-press.

One question. If Surfbirds runs it's own forum which has been muted, would links to the site still be allowed as BF rules state that no links are allowed to other forum sites?


Dave J

 

[Adey Baker]

Not sure that it's always first-timers, John. There's a lot of regulars there who ought to know better!

One or two of them are members on here, as well, so perhaps they could tell us the thinking behind boring everybody by trying to fill up the front page with a dozen similar images of the same bird (which everyone else has posted, as well) rather than putting on just one or two different poses and a link to their own website with the usual: 'See more images here...'

Stop Press seems to be used for whichever bird is the most newsworthy at the time irrespective of its rarity status. Of course, a few years ago some species, such as Long-tailed Skua were 'BB' rarities and Buff-breasted Sandpiper was probably heading back in that direction until an upsurge of sightings in recent years

 

[Farnboro John]

As for Surfbirds having lost attraction I tend to look at that first on Monday (I can cope with pictures better than shining wits first thing on a Monday morning) and then come on here. I agree too much dross goes in UK Stop Press which should be BBs only, its often more fun to look at the John Robinson show on European common.

But the mammals are often remarkable.

John

 

[nigelblake]

I think its only right and fair to to criticise, it is through constructive criticism that things get improved upon, unless of course it falls on deaf ears!
I certainly do not have a problem with beginners posting work anywhere on the net, but as Adey say's "There's a lot of regulars there who ought to know better!"
I am also amazed that there are images of pinnioned wildfowl regularly posted in the common birds pages.
There are also certain individuals who clearly watch the pages like a hawk and bury other peoples posts with a mass of pictures in their manic attention craving desire to stay at the top of the page!
Plus it would be good if some who clearly are not familiar with the bird names occasionally picked up a fieldguide and checked the spellings.

 

[Dougie Preston]

Never really looked that closely at the common bird posting page, but have just done so. Can't remember who took the pic, but surely that pic of the Firecrest belongs in the scarce page? Not only that, it's a stunning pic as well. The standard of pic's on the common page is quite outstanding too.

 

[ColinD]

I think its only right and fair to to criticise, it is through constructive criticism that things get improved upon, unless of course it falls on deaf ears!
I certainly do not have a problem with beginners posting work anywhere on the net, but as Adey say's "There's a lot of regulars there who ought to know better!".....

No problem with beginners posting photos, but is surf birds the place to do it? There are plenty of other places where photos can be posted if you are looking for opinions or advice.

The thing which always perplexes me is why people put poor quailty "record" shots on, often in amongst stunning images by others of the same bird.

 

[yoyo]

"Wilson's Phalarope and Curlew Sandpiper, Worcestershire, Upton Warren 23/9/2007"

This being a classic example probably the worst photo i have ever seen all i can see is a moorhen !

cheers
jason

 

[Rich Bonser]

Surfbirds Stop Press has indeed in my opinion gone downhill. I know exactly what is a rarity and what is a scarcity- Bluethroat, Long-tailed Skua, Pectoral Sandpiper and Buff-breasted Sandpiper all fall into the latter category whatever their location.

The Kumlien’s Gull that I found near Cahersiveen, County Kerry on Saturday is however worthy of inclusion within the Stop Press section. This subspecies is included within the Provisional List of Rare Bird Sightings (see http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/irbc/irbc_rarities.html). Given the date of occurrence as well, it makes the sighting even more unusual.

Hopefully this reasoning (i.e. it is an IRBC description species!) justifies why I posted it on the Britain/Ireland Stop Press.

Cheers and good birding

Rich

 

[Bird Hard 2]

To be honest, it's up to the users to police themselves. The people who run Surfbirds, run it as a part-time operation to make money for conservation charities. They all have full-time jobs elsewhere. If they start moving people's posts, or removing multiple posts of a popular bird, then users might get the hump and not bother posting. The rules are there for people to read - it's not Surfbird's fault that people don't read/abide by them.
Also, a quick look at the gallery shows that we can see a whole weeks rarity photos over 3 or 4 pages (with only 12 photos per page), so it's hardly 'swamped' with stuff. I agree that some of the photos are of poor quality, or should be better placed on the 'Scarce' page, but it's really no hardship to look over some stunning photos of Long-tailed Skua and Bluethroat to get to some of the more rarer birds, is it?
The organisers of Surfbirds are in an unenviable position really. They run one of the most popular birding websites in the world, but don't have enough time/money/resources to do it full-time.
They raise thousands of pounds for conservation from the galleries, so I think moaning about some over-sized or misplaced photos is a bit petty.
Anyway, that's just my opinion.
I'm sure there are many other people who work full-time and think they could do a better job.

 

[ColinD]

To be honest, it's up to the users to police themselves. The people who run Surfbirds, run it as a part-time operation to make money for conservation charities. They all have full-time jobs elsewhere. If they start moving people's posts, or removing multiple posts of a popular bird, then users might get the hump and not bother posting. The rules are there for people to read - it's not Surfbird's fault that people don't read/abide by them.....

I don't think any of this has been an attack on the efforts of the people who run surf birds, who I'm sure do an excellent job.

 

[HH75]

Surfbirds Stop Press has indeed in my opinion gone downhill. I know exactly what is a rarity and what is a scarcity- Bluethroat, Long-tailed Skua, Pectoral Sandpiper and Buff-breasted Sandpiper all fall into the latter category whatever their location.

Bluethroat is very much a rarity here in Ireland! The one that I ticked, at Tacumshin in November 2001, drew quite a crowd... :eek!:
Regards,
Harry

 

[Rich Bonser]

Bluethroat is very much a rarity here in Ireland! The one that I ticked, at Tacumshin in November 2001, drew quite a crowd... :

Indeed. I’d have no objection to e.g. an Irish Serin or, heaven forbid, an Irish Tawny Owl or Green Woodpecker being posted on the Stop Press page- many this side of the pond may disagree.

I’ve also had a little look at the blurb in terms of the guidelines for submission to the Britain and Ireland Stop Press gallery. This is what I found:-

‘If there are already good photos posted of a particular bird, you may post no more than 2 photos of that bird. If posting more than 2 photos of an individual bird, please use your judgement to decide if your photos add anything new…’

‘Submissions are limited to only genuine vagrants or very rare county rarities (eg less than 5 records). Site rarities or scarce birds are no longer accepted (eg inland Grey Phalaropes, Great Grey Shrikes etc). Scarce bird photos are welcomed in the Britain and Ireland Scarce Birds Gallery’

If you take the above as gospel i.e. the county spiel, then Long-tailed Skua in Notts is probably worthy of a place in this gallery. The number of shots of this individual... you decide whether they continually ‘add anything new’. As for Pecs, Buff-breasts and Bluethroats all nice birds but they’re all scarce in the locations where they’ve been taken.

Let’s enjoy the shots… how rare or scarce, good or poor (often the poorest shots are the most enjoyable in an ironic way).

Cheers and good birding

Rich

 

[lewis20126]

IMO currency is important - the Josh Jones pics of his G legs tonight are frankly shocking; but they are the only ones and thus of value; if the bird stays - well post some better ones, don't post further dross just to prove that you've seen it (Well done).

As for the World Rarities page and the battle of the tour companies, that's probably for another thread, although I do recall a Mr J Olah posting a pic of African Pygmy Goose on there once.

alan

 

[rokermartin]

I would say Bluethroats are much rarer these days than they used to be in the Uk, in the last few years on the east coast in the spring there have been very few of them,also we dont get many in the autumn.Still get a few turning up mainly on Fair Isle and Shetland in spring and autumn but a very scarce bird on the east coast and elsewhere

 

[Adey Baker]

All I can say after reading some of these posts is ,where has the lovely old pastime of birdwatching for the individual pleasure of it gone ? Dear oh dear !

Alive and well in the Common Bird gallery I'd think - though I, too, would have put the Firecrest into the Scarce gallery!

This thread is about the Stop Press rarity pages and I think many of the points raised are valid

 

[nigelblake]

As for checking spellings ! - good gracious is that what it's all about ! ?
I give up.

Spelling bird names correctly is very important John, without the scientific/latin names as reference it is very helpful to those who view from other countries who do not speak english. Although looking at some of those images from overseas photographers who post within Bird forum they seem to get the spellings correct much more than some of the english contributors do!

 

[Farnboro John]

Spelling bird names correctly is very important John, without the scientific/latin names as reference it is very helpful to those who view from other countries who do not speak english. Although looking at some of those from overseas who post within Bird forum they seem to get the spellings correct more than some of the english contributors do!

Spelling anything correctly is important otherwise your readers will never be quite sure of your meaning.

And with the resources available its not difficult.

And who would actually want to do it wrong anyway? That would be hailing ignorance as a good thing, and surely no-one who is interested in birding, which is all about advancing knowledge, would want to do that.....

John