Date: 5/7/24 6:45 pm From: James Tyler Bell <00000337af6274c1-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: [ND-BIRDS] eBird and Merlin
As an eBird reviewer in both ND and MD, I can tell you firsthand that Merlin is a nightmare. People run Merlin in their pocket then submit a checklist that includes everything that Merlin "suggests" without vetting in any way. Sure, it can be 90%+ accurate but the <10% is the problem. If users took the time to read the users manual, they would understand that the bird recorded is usually in the top 5 suggestions but it might not be there. In fact, Merlin tries to pin a bird name on almost every sound it hears. I like to run Merlin just to test it. It's pretty remarkable how accurate it is but it will throw out names of birds that I definitively didn't hear and it won't suggest birds that I hear clearly. I've said this for a few years, Merlin in 5 years will be mind blowingly accurate. It's not there yet.
Also, as a reviewer, the folks at Cornell, who created Merlin, had to create two kill codes to invalidate eBird submissions. When a reviewer sends out a canned email, which we usually try to customize to make more personal, that sets the clock ticking to a two week autokill if the observer doesn't respond. I wish I knew how many of those disappeared automatically because the observer who notes "Merlin IDed" could not provide the audio to back it up. Almost all of them. Personally, I use the voice recorder app on my Android. Cell phone microphones are incredibly sensitive and can pick up a singing warbler a couple houses away. Plus, the app allows me to trim the audio clip so you are submitting a 15-20 second file instead of two minutes with 5-10 seconds of the actual bird song/calls.
Pretty much everyone these days uses a smart phone. It's a miracle in your pocket. The cameras have improved tremendously with zoom capability and easy video. And, the audio recording is easy and sensitive. eBird reviewers look for photos, videos and audio first because you can sort the review queue so they come out on top. Several clicks and most of those go away. Then you have to deal with the submissions with details, or continuing rarities (probably a lot more of that in MD than ND just because of the number of birders finding and chasing said rarities). The remnants are the ones that require work. Just giving the reviewer an idea of why you had 50 White-faced Ibises, or 150,000 Snow Geese means that they won't have to email you. And if it's a tricky ID like Chipping versus American Tree Sparrow when there could be overlap, a few words go a long way.
If you're still here, one more thing. If you submit a back of the camera (BOC) photo to get the word out, please remove that when you get home and add the actual photo. BOC shots are typically poor quality compared to the actual image even if it requires some serious cropping. It's a great placeholder but isn't meant to be permanent.
Thanks to Keith for bringing this subject to the fore.
Tyler Bell
<jtylerbell...>
California, Maryland
On Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 08:41:22 PM EDT, Keith Corliss <kcor708...> wrote:
ND Birders,
Bear with me while I make a few points from a personal perspective.
The most commonly used "tools" used by today's birders are, no doubt, eBird and Merlin. eBird because, well, it's the gorilla in the living room that everyone is using for all sorts of birding reasons. For me, it's a super handy way to keep records. I'm a poor administrator and it showed after finding boxes of loose birding checklists from years past, handwritten and sorta dated with sometimes a location. I chucked virtually all of them because they are pretty useless now without all the relevant data to accompany my sightings. Now, I don't have to write lists down on paper, eBird keeps my files for me. The lazy man's approach.
Merlin is breaking out to be another useful tool for identifying bird sounds. Its database continues to grow so it gets "smarter" all the time. Again, it's a handy tool but not foolproof. More on that later.
My concern is this: for some time (years?) I continue to see rare bird sightings without a description of the bird; often with something as simple and empty as "heard on Merlin." I am not an eBird reviewer but I know for a fact this makes their job much harder. Without a solid description of the bird, or its sound, or its behavior, a reviewer will most likely spend time following up with you asking for more details. Something we should all be doing. I'm not necessarily referring to "re-finds" of already described and staked-out rare birds, most people just say something like, "continuing." I guess that's okay but I still wish to see someone describe the bird now and then.
Maybe it's laziness or a shortness of time (hey, I'm guilty too; there have been times when I roll my eyes after a bird I've just recorded on the eBird app pops up as rare). It also could be the short attention span rampant in our current age. If it's something that takes more than 30 seconds, many of us just move on to the next shiny object.
But I would encourage all of us to take those precious moments and describe these rare birds (or even yearly "firsts" or "lasts" that don't seem to match the calendar. For instance, I sometimes wonder after seeing someone report a super early chipping sparrow when American tree sparrows are still around in abundance) as best we can. It makes us all better birders. It helps others who might wish to find the bird. What did you see? Where was the bird? What habitat? What was it doing? What did it sound like?
Also, if you still feel the need to text in the description box something like, "picked up on Merlin," I want to hear the sound file attached to your eBird checklist. Shouldn't be hard to do.
Again, I'm not a reviewer but I hear of their frustrations. I will continue to cringe the next time I read "flyover" on a rare bird description. And you know what? So will the reviewers.
I'm simply asking that we all take those few moments and share with the rest of the world (hey, it's eBird) exactly what you saw or heard. It will make you a better birder and it will help educate the rest of us as well. Let's continue to use these modern and useful tools while recognizing their limitations. But let's also keep honing our observational skills by carefully observing, hearing, and documenting our discoveries. You will be a better birder for it. And it will make both eBird and Merlin better too.
Keith CorlissFargo
Date: 5/7/24 5:41 pm From: Keith Corliss <kcor708...> Subject: [ND-BIRDS] eBird and Merlin
ND Birders,
Bear with me while I make a few points from a personal perspective.
The most commonly used "tools" used by today's birders are, no doubt, eBird and Merlin. eBird because, well, it's the gorilla in the living room that everyone is using for all sorts of birding reasons. For me, it's a super handy way to keep records. I'm a poor administrator and it showed after finding boxes of loose birding checklists from years past, handwritten and sorta dated with sometimes a location. I chucked virtually all of them because they are pretty useless now without all the relevant data to accompany my sightings. Now, I don't have to write lists down on paper, eBird keeps my files for me. The lazy man's approach.
Merlin is breaking out to be another useful tool for identifying bird sounds. Its database continues to grow so it gets "smarter" all the time. Again, it's a handy tool but not foolproof. More on that later.
My concern is this: for some time (years?) I continue to see rare bird sightings without a description of the bird; often with something as simple and empty as "heard on Merlin." I am not an eBird reviewer but I know for a fact this makes their job much harder. Without a solid description of the bird, or its sound, or its behavior, a reviewer will most likely spend time following up with you asking for more details. Something we should all be doing. I'm not necessarily referring to "re-finds" of already described and staked-out rare birds, most people just say something like, "continuing." I guess that's okay but I still wish to see someone describe the bird now and then.
Maybe it's laziness or a shortness of time (hey, I'm guilty too; there have been times when I roll my eyes after a bird I've just recorded on the eBird app pops up as rare). It also could be the short attention span rampant in our current age. If it's something that takes more than 30 seconds, many of us just move on to the next shiny object.
But I would encourage all of us to take those precious moments and describe these rare birds (or even yearly "firsts" or "lasts" that don't seem to match the calendar. For instance, I sometimes wonder after seeing someone report a super early chipping sparrow when American tree sparrows are still around in abundance) as best we can. It makes us all better birders. It helps others who might wish to find the bird. What did you see? Where was the bird? What habitat? What was it doing? What did it sound like?
Also, if you still feel the need to text in the description box something like, "picked up on Merlin," I want to hear the sound file attached to your eBird checklist. Shouldn't be hard to do.
Again, I'm not a reviewer but I hear of their frustrations. I will continue to cringe the next time I read "flyover" on a rare bird description. And you know what? So will the reviewers.
I'm simply asking that we all take those few moments and share with the rest of the world (hey, it's eBird) exactly what you saw or heard. It will make you a better birder and it will help educate the rest of us as well.
Let's continue to use these modern and useful tools while *recognizing their limitations*. But let's also keep honing our observational skills by carefully observing, hearing, and documenting our discoveries. You will be a better birder for it. And it will make both eBird and Merlin better too.
