Date: 4/20/24 11:38 am From: 'Dan Stringer' via Colorado Birds <cobirds...> Subject: [cobirds] Re: Colorado Combined Yard List now on Google Sheets
An outstanding effort, Thomas, and also Bryan. What a fun and interesting
collaboration, and I think it sparked renewed interest in sharing
information on COBirds.
Dan Stringer
Larkspur, CO
On Friday, April 19, 2024 at 11:15:59 PM UTC-6 Thomas Heinrich wrote:
> Greetings COBirders and WSBN birders,
>
> I'm happy to share the news that the CO Combined Yard List is now up on
> Google Sheets and accessible to all via the link below. A huge thanks to
> all who have contributed and made this such an interesting and fun
> collaborative project, and especially to Bryan Guarente for his help in
> getting this list up and running on Google Sheets.
>
> *Current statistics:*
>
>
> 400 Species
> 100+ Contributors
> 30 Counties represented
> 3200 Total ticks
>
>
>
> I would like to share a few thoughts about the list for clarity in terms
> of its goals and what expectations we might have for it.
>
> This list is a collective effort to discover and document how many of the
> species on Colorado's official state bird list have been observed,
> identified, and recorded from a yard. It highlights the incredible
> diversity of yard habitats in Colorado, our remarkable breadth of coverage
> of Colorado's avian species, and the value of birding in the ultimate of
> local patches, our yards. I hope this list will continue to grow, be an
> interesting resource, and be a fun way of connecting with other birders
> across the state.
>
> One of the main goals is to reflect the communal effort by ensuring that
> everyone's contribution is in some way represented and recognized. As much
> thought and care as there was put into the matching of species and viewer
> (method outlined below), it wasn't possible to pair everyone with each of
> our favorite, or most memorable species. The answer to this is the
> Additional Sightings feature in Column H, which gives the option of adding
> one's name and sighting to species that are personally meaningful.
>
> You'll notice the absence of dates on the list. This is something Bryan
> and I debated about, and eventually decided not to include due to various
> challenges and considerations. One challenge is that many of us keep
> yardlists without dates of sightings, or just general "Summer of '73" kind
> of notes. If there is enough interest in adding this data set, we could add
> an editable column for it.
>
> The current list total of 400 species reflects the uncertain status of two
> species: Tundra Swan and Glossy Ibis. Both species required leaving the
> yard to confirm the ID, something that would be potentially permitted under
> Big Sit rules, but perhaps not acceptable under the most inclusive yard
> listing rules. My initial response was to include them. But then I had
> second thoughts. Perhaps it would be best to leave them off the list,
> unless there is overwhelming support to include them.
>
> While there is no formal review (a la eBird or CBRC), the intent is to be
> as accurate and pure as possible. As new species are added to the list, it
> would be ideal, especially for rare species, for contributors to include a
> link to an eBird or CBRC report.
>
> It's worth mentioning that this list is neither intended nor set up to be
> a database for complete yard lists.
>
> **If you happen to notice a species with "Viewer" listed as Anonymous that
> you believe is actually your sighting, and you would like to have your name
> listed, please let me know and I will make the changes. This would really
> only apply to sightings of species sourced from CBRC and eBird reports.
>
> **If you ticked off a species on Bryan Guarente's Google sheet, but don't
> see your name listed here, and would like your sighting to be included,
> please consider using the Additional Sightings feature in Column H
> (instructions for data entry below).
>
> **If there are any first state record sightings on this list that happen
> not to be attributed to the original viewer, please let me know. It would
> be nice for the original viewer to receive the recognition.
>
>
> *A Brief Overview:*
>
> There are three sheets:
>
> 1) The list in Taxonomic Order
> 2) The list in Alphabetical Order
> 3) A Needs List in both Taxonomic and Alphabetical Order
>
> You can navigate from one to the other by clicking on the tabs at the
> bottom margin.
>
>
>
> *The Link:*
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNxdFNOXy1767VMnnQkUulrzszSycvvVz8BBkErzNWA/edit?usp=sharing >
>
>
> *The Taxonomic List: The Place to Add Data*
>
> The Taxonomic List is set up so that data may be entered for new species
> (the blank cells in Columns D-G). If you have any species to add to the
> list, please feel free to enter the information in the
> appropriate cells. It would be great to have complete information on each
> species (Name, City, County) rather than just a tick. Links to eBird
> reports and/or photos would be terrific, especially for the rarer species.
>
> If you would like to remain anonymous that's totally fine, of course. I
> would just ask you to consider sharing your sighting with me directly via
> email (I will not share any names), just to have some way to verify that
> it's an actual sighting (and not bot generated 🙂).
>
> Data that's already entered in Columns A-G is protected. Please let me
> know if you see any errors, misspellings, etc in the data already entered.
> I'll be happy to make corrections and edits.
>
>
>
> ***Column H: **Additional Sightings***
>
> Detailed instructions (with screenshots) on how to enter data to come in a
> separate email, but here is a not-so-brief description of how to enter
> additional sightings.
>
> Notice that each cell in Column H (for species currently listed/ticked)
> has a small downward facing arrow along the right margin. Clicking on this
> arrow reveals a dropdown list. I've set up several as examples.
>
> 1) Click on the small downward-facing arrow. This will reveal a short list
> of names & counties, or "Option 1", "Option 2", or a combination of the
> two. Below this, in the bottom right corner, is a small pencil symbol
> (otherwise known as the "Edit button").
>
> 2) Click on the pencil symbol. This will open a sidebar along the right
> side of the browser window with the heading "Data validation rules." From
> top to bottom, you will see "Apply to Range" & "Criteria" and corresponding
> cells. Ignore those, no changes necessary. Below that you will see cells
> that contain "Option 1" or "Option 2". If both Option 1 and Option 2 boxes
> have been filled out with other observations, you may click on the box that
> reads "Add another item" in green text.
>
> 3) Click on the first available cell, delete the text that says "Option
> 1" or "Option 2", and replace it with your name and county (example: Thomas
> Heinrich, Boulder).
>
> 4) Click on the green "Done" button at the very bottom of the sidebar. A
> pop-up window will appear, which will ask* "Apply to all? There are ###
> other dropdowns with the same properties, do you want to make changes to
> all of them?"*
>
> 5) Be sure to click on the "Just this instance" button only please 🙏,
> otherwise potential chaos. If you accidentally click on "Apply to all", you
> can undo the mistake by pressing the Command and Z keys simultaneously.
>
> 6) After clicking "Just this instance", you'll notice that the cell still
> appears blank. Click on the small arrow one more time. This will reveal the
> dropdown box again, this time including your name & county. Click on your
> name & county. The cell will now list your entry, and you're done.
>
> Note that this dropdown feature allows one to toggle between the various
> additional sightings for each species. Anna's Hummingbird, for example, has
> been seen in five yards. The Primary viewer is listed as Bill Schmoker,
> with additional sightings from Rachel H, Tina J, David S, and Brad B. At
> the moment, Rachel H, Larimer is displayed in Column H. But Tina, David, or
> Brad might like to have their name appearing in that cell at some point,
> and use the dropdown feature to select their entry.
>
>
> *Links to Colorado Bird Records Committee or eBird Reports (Column I)*
>
> An option for those wishing to share a link to a CBRC or eBird report of a
> personal sighting. Please provide links only to sightings of your own, out
> of respect for others' privacy or desire to remain anonymous. At the
> moment, the list is set up with space for only one link per species. (This
> could be adjusted if there's interest in having more than one link per
> species.)
>
>
>
> *Links to Photos (Column J)*
>
> An option for those wishing to share a link to a photo of a personal
> sighting. I've entered one for a Northern Pygmy Owl from my yard as an
> example. This is using a hyperlink that, when clicked on, will take you
> directly to the photo. As with Column I, there's only space for one link
> per species at the moment. (This could be adjusted if there's interest in
> having more than one link per species.)
>
>
>
> *The Alphabetical & Needs Lists *
>
> These sheets are protected entirely, so it is not possible to edit or add
> data to these sheets. At the moment, because these pages are not linked to
> the Taxonomic List, data entered in the Taxon List does not automatically
> appear in the Alpha List (or disappear in the Needs Lists). For now, I will
> manually update the Alpha and Needs list, and hope to get the lists linked
> eventually.
>
>
>
> *Sources:*
>
>
> Posts to COBirds
> Email sent directly
> CBRC reports
> eBird reports
>
>
>
> *Steps in pairing Species with Viewers:*
>
>
> 1) Recorded unique sightings as they came in (the easy part)
> 2) Took note of favorite, rare, and memorable species as shared by each
> contributor
> 3) Matched each contributor with three species, prioritizing favorite,
> rare, and memorable species
> 4) Second round, upped the species per contributor to five
> 5) Third round, upped the species per contributor to seven, where possible
> 6) Distributed the remaining species
>
>
>
>
> Best wishes for a fruitful Spring migration, and happy yard birding!
>
> Thomas
>
> --
> Thomas Heinrich
> Boulder, CO
> <TEHei......>
> www.pbase.com/birdercellist
>
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