Obviously incorrect reports on eBird

[tom.b]

Listed as Black Fantail rather than (melanistic) NZ Fantail:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S279249141

[tom.b]

Another Black Fantail:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S279803364

[Oscar Thomas]

If it’s a recent record that trips the rarity filter you don’t need to share it here, it’ll be in the review queue for the Canterbury volunteer reviewer once they get to it. Incorrect observations that have slipped through the filter and are visible on the eBird explore map are useful to share to this forum.

[Mike Bickerdike]

This Weka observation should be 'unconfirmed': https://ebird.org/checklist/S237580073
It will be a banded rail at this location.

[simon.fordham]

I stumbled across the images of a 'North Island robin' on the Macaulay Library, derived from the following eBird checklist:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S307046896

I am not even sure there are NI robins on Rangitoto / Motutapu.

[Ian McLean]

Thanks for that Simon, it's odd that they had pictures of riroriro/grey warbler twice ! There are no NI robins on Rangitoto & Motutapu; however, there is a natural population of NI tomtit in the higher elevation forest near the summit on Rangitoto Island. It is hoped that the NI tomtit will spread to the Rotary Centennial Walkway forest on Motutapu, where there is some perfect habitat.

[Oscar Thomas]

There are no NI robins on Rangitoto & Motutapu; however, there is a natural population of NI tomtit in the higher elevation forest near the summit on Rangitoto Island.

I’ve always wondered about robins on Rangitoto, there are a handful of eBird records, some from reliable observers and some with photos, but if they are there they are not numerous: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S26672304


They are not referenced as having been translocated unless it was after 2012 and not well publicised: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/u ... d_2013.pdf

[RichardLitt]

I've been going through and checking all of the records for Tomtit in Zealandia. Quite a few observers are absolutely confident they saw them - and I wonder how many are seeing female North Island Robins in bad light. Not everyone notices the differences in structure, the white blaze on the wing, or the tail when making their documentation.

[Ian McLean]

Thanks for checking this Oscar. I can confirm there have been no translocations of NI robin to Rangitoto Island & Motutapu. Whilst there is the possibility that the NI robin photographed by Douglas Long in 2016 could be a vagrant from Tiritiri Matangi Island, I expect that the majority of the eBird records are errors.

These errors can be as follows:-

(1) Simple identification errors, mainly made by overseas &/or novice birders e.g. there is a sighting of 3 NI robins at Pig Bay on Motutapu, which we should assume is a mistake.

(2) People confusing NI robins with NI tomtits & occasionally with whiteheads.

(3) People taking a photo of NI robin in another location & mistakenly thinking that they photographed the bird on Rangitoto Island.

(4) Often there have been people who have made a long road trip by car or by ferry, who have used a location that applies to only part of the complete journey. A good example is that of 5 NZ dabchick sighted at Otara Creek Wier (where there are no Dabchick). For this record, they travelled a distance of 61.3km & recorded 50 species in a time of 6 hours & 14 minutes. (This is the type of eBird record that is poor stuff !)
https://ebird.org/checklist/S294424258

Any confirmed records of NI robin on Rangitoto Island would be appreciated & I will be encouraging local Birds New Zealand members to record any sightings there.

[Nick Allen]

Tomtits were translocated into Zealandia a while ago but seemed to be forced out of the sanctuary by robins - see https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/getti ... tomtit.pdf . I guess life for tomtit 'strangers in town' could be difficult there.

I find clicking on the name of the submitter can often be enlightening, as long as they have made their profile public. Mind you I've come across some real top world birders, who should know better, that have submitted some absolute rubbish on eBird - and one who told me that he would correct his list when he had the time - it would have taken about 2 minutes to change the location on the offending submission to country level. I even supplied the URL to the list so he didn't have to search for it.

Looking at hotspot barcharts usually highlights trip lists dumped on them. They appear as a vertical bar. Searching up a totally unexpected species on the bird list for the hotspot is an easy way to see who the suspect is. There are innumerous vertical bars on hotspot bar charts in NZ though, some fine, others not so, depending on the location and birding effort there.

There is also the issue of 'stretching' hotspots - reporting species from an adjacent area out of the intended area of the hotspot so you get species that don't use the habitat the hotspot covers and/or are known to be common at an adjacent location but not at the hotspot, polluting the hotspot data.

Sometimes a submitter will (I had people admit this) add a species they saw totally elsewhere add the species to a 'random' list so that went on their country/life/goodness-knows-what-else list rather than submit it on it's own incidental list.

It's difficult to be totally confident with much of the data on eBird - RIRO unfortunately. Broadly I find the data make sense, which is great, but look in detail and things get a bit fuzzy.