Obviously incorrect reports on eBird

[Neil Fitzgerald]

How does one find or link to specific observations on eBird? e.g., it's nice that a record given in the data has the Global Unique Identifier "URN:CornellLabOfOrnithology:EBIRD:OBS548199062", but how does one find this sighting (not checklist)?
It's the most basic thing but I can't find anything in eBird help.

[benackerley]

3 Blue duck in Zealandia https://ebird.org/checklist/S165344913

[AngryBird45]

identified by merlin of course https://ebird.org/checklist/S166293827

[Jake]

Adjacent to the Travis Pateke occurance/ topic; there's a record of "escapees" in Ashburton. They're coming up as the orange mark, rather than the native purple. Talking go The Pateke Recovery Coordinator; these seem to be deliberately released retirees. Presumably they're "tickable" as any other released Pateke, or indeed as "tickable" as the Travis Wetland bird. This might be me splitting hairs.

Also, we have some far out Kokako sightings South and West of Pukaha, Mt Bruce (Tararua, Manawatu). One at Mt Kaiparoro seems very unlikely, the other seems like the pin was placed a bit off.

The three hotspots for Mt. Bruce/ Pukaha seems very excessive, in their current iteration. Perhaps amalgamation is due, or spreading them out and defining/renaming. Eg One for near the Aviaries, and Visitors Centre, and a second Hotspot for the Pukaha main hike.

There's also a Stitchbird recorded from Pukaha, that doesn't seem correct... unless an escapee(?)

^all of this might be a bit petty

[Jan]

The Ashburton ones are not deliberately released, they can come and go as they like but since they are past breeding age, it probably really doesn't matter. Hence the old fella at Travis that has caused such a fuss recently.

[Jan]

It may not be obviously incorrect, but could well be. 2 Tomtits in Halswell Quarry Park, Canterbury, by Anonymous Birder on 11th June. Tomtits are present at the top of the Port Hills well above the quarry, but never recorded down low.

[andrewcrossland]

Hi folks, I'm working on a threatened species plan for Reef Heron on Banks Pen and have been looking at the veracity of local records on ebird.org which combines NZ Bird Atlas records with other ebird records.

Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, the Highway stops along Lake Ellesmere etc are well known sites for dodgy ebird records - this is because of cruise ship birders and general tourists who make basic ID mistakes or "dump" a days worth of sightings in one spot ("seen along route from Arthurs Pass to CHCH" for example)

reef heron.JPG (66.47 KiB) Viewed 1911 times

In the case of Reef Heron there aren't too many and some records have some good notes that verify that the bird seen was definitely reef heron, but others need correction. Some examples below

https://ebird.org/checklist/S101019186 - the photo of this bird shows its a W/F Heron, not a Reef Heron or a hybrid as the submitter suggests

https://ebird.org/checklist/S160544877 - besides this report of Reef Heron at Akaroa, this checklist from 22/1/2023 also includes records of species never recorded or extraordinarily rare at this site including Turnstone, Grey-backed Storm Petrel and cattle egret.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S124158796 - this record on 22/1/2020 from the tidal Heathcote River is not impossible (because there is a record by Dr Peter Harper from the early 2000s) but the location was under pretty close bird monitoring at the time with no Reef Herons seen and the observer was on day 26 of a NZ holiday. The bird is listed with an "x" beside it and no notes or photos.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S154818523 - this checklist from the CHCH Botanic Gardens has a lot of species you'd expect at the site so its not just a "chch wide dump" but 1 Reef Heron and 4 Little Black Shag are more likely 1 W/F Heron and 4 juvenile Little Shags.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S96316469 - this record from the southern side of the AH Estuary is possible as Reef Herons are a very rare visitor to the estuary but every species recorded has just the number 1 beside it (which is the same as marking an x) and the records include 2 other super rarely seen species on the estuary - Pectoral Sandpiper and Crested Grebe. Its perfectly fine for someone on a birding holiday to record what they think they've seen on ebird, its an enjoyable and meaningful hobby after all. No harm done, but just an example that if one wants to draw on ebird as a source of data for a report or paper, etc, then there's a wee bit of work to do to assess which records to cite and which to ignore.

[Mike Bickerdike]

Not sure it's an obviously incorrect report, but this alert from eBird dubiously claims 4 sooty shearwater off Tirititi: https://ebird.org/checklist/S190242940

I'm very doubtful for a few reasons: (i) I was there, and spent some time scanning the work-up of shearwaters and didn't see any, (ii) I took many photos of the same work-up and have carefully inspected them all to see if I could find any other shearwater or petrel species but can't see any, and (iii) there are no previous records on eBird of sooty close to Auckland at this time of year (they've barely ever been recorded north of Wellington in July or August).

[Neil Fitzgerald]

How about all the Pōpokotea / whitehead records from Aotea / Great Barrier Island? I thought maybe I'd missed something and they had been reintroduced, or rediscovered. A relict population would be big news, but no, a couple of people who I am sure would know about these things tell me they are, as far as we know, still absent from the island. Now, who's going to prove me wrong?

https://ebird.org/checklist/S38901465
https://ebird.org/checklist/S166911377
https://ebird.org/checklist/S132650867
https://ebird.org/checklist/S44078974
https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S129894994
https://ebird.org/checklist/S165537264
https://ebird.org/checklist/S40403024
https://ebird.org/checklist/S40404839

Screenshot 2024-09-17 173640.png (325.68 KiB) Viewed 1407 times

[paradoxdinokipi]

Quite a few of our native birds that seem to have eBird data misallign with known reintroduction spots, tourists would be my guess... (obvious with kiwis), but what especially confuses me are Wekas as for a flightless bird they seem to be amazing dispersers (or perhaps some records are 'dumped birds')? For at least Northern NZ I know they're present in the Russell Peninsula and thus adjoining areas in that part of the Far North (yet records around Paihia itself seem rather sketchy with the only one with comments saying 'Flagstaff Hill' which is on the peninsula... with the only other Weka reports on eBird which seem to have quite a few observers at least for Northland being at this locale called 'Lodore Farm' in the center (perhaps a reintroduced population which I can't find info for online?), others in the region/in western Northland seem entirely dubious with no comments, (the only one which does is one at Lake Omapere, which if the 'Lodore Farm' wekas are real, possible dispersion??)
The ones that particularly interest me although are the 3 reports of Weka near Whangerei, 1 near the city and 2 on Bream Head Peninsula, 2 being by local birders who would definitely know their stuff and the other one having a bloody trail cam photo!!! Yet I don't seem to be able to find anything about these Wekas in the region online nor is there anything to go off besides the 3 records??
Weka reports around Auckland are also interesting, I know Kawau Island and at least Waiheke (something I only learned after my last visit 2 years ago when I thought there wasn't any), Rotoroa, Ponui and possibility to disperse to more since I believe that's the theory on how they appeared at Kawakawa Bay on the mainland? Yet there's still a considerable! amount of records dotted all over other areas of Auckland outside these regions, whilst the 'zoo wild birds ONLY' & the ones in the Waitekeres are well the former obviously captive the latter I also assume mis ids considering no comments, the Tiritiri Matangi birds I also believe are just erronous ids by tourists, with although some observations having photos I find it more likely to be people forgetting where they were as theres absolutely no mention of the birds online.
Not too sure what to make of the records offshore of Kawau, especially the Snells Beach one with photos (unless they meant they saw it off Kawau?), I'm not certain of the Weka records in the Hunuas but I assume besides those records (and seemingly another population offshore of Aotea looking at eBird?) all the other Weka records most likely prove to be mis-identifications/faulty in some way.
Very much would like to know more about if theres any Wekas in the Whangarei/Bream Head vicinity although!