When IDing crow images, I and others ask observers if the birds vocalized to help discern between American and fish crows. If they say no, we keep it in general crows and ravens. I always note in obs if a American crow went caw caw and a fish crow went eheheh but usually don’t record American crows…

From a thread called “What is evidence?” [image] What is evidence? Photos and sound files of the organism itself, or sign of that organism, like tracks/scat/nests/galls are considered evidence on iNaturalist. What about other things, like: an illustration an attached description or comment by …

I consider a person’s note about such vocalization to be evidence. Not only because of what it says about the call, but also because of what it tells about the observer; they know they should listen for that. If these species were rare, I might be more cautious, but not in this case.

Absolutely counts as evidence, but the IDer has the prerogative to evaluate that evidence. So if there are other characters that go against the description/traits in the notes, they think the observer may be being mistaken/untruthful, etc. they can evaluate in that manner. That said, I don’t think t…

Thanks all! That’s what i thought.

I sometimes post Crows in an area that has both Fish Crows and American Crows. I wasn’t aware of the difference until once when an identifier asked me if I had heard the bird calling. Since I hadn’t, I knocked my ID back to genus. Then I learned to recognize their calls, and now I make a note statin…

Past thread on this subject: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observer-added-context-is-it-relevant/50118

The observer’s account should count as evidence, that needs to be evaluated against possible biases, mistakes and misunderstanding. My description of a corvid call was rejected because the other species makes a very similar call under certain conditions. The description of the wing adjustment was …

Personally I compare it with the standards for Casual observations. If they provide no media evidence, even if they give a great description, it can never be RG. Someone gives a detailed description of a crow (enough to rule out grackles, starlings, ravens etc.) and says that it went “caw”? Still no…

[image] upupa-epops: If they provide no media evidence, even if they give a great description, it can never be RG. I disagree with your premise. Perhaps that’s because I come from a birding background, including being on a state committee that evaluated rare bird sightings long before good p…

[image] upupa-epops: Personally I compare it with the standards for Casual observations. If they provide no media evidence, even if they give a great description, it can never be RG. Someone gives a detailed description of a crow (enough to rule out grackles, starlings, ravens etc.) and says tha…

Does observer's account ever count as evidence?

General

AdamWargon November 23, 2025, 5:28pm 2

From a thread called “What is evidence?”

Topic		Replies	Views
How much weight should descriptions of organisms carry when IDing? General	26	636	October 27, 2024
What is evidence? General	62	7819	October 4, 2021
Changing ID based on lack of evidence General	49	1733	November 17, 2020
Observer Added Context: Is It Relevant? General	24	684	April 3, 2024
'Trusting' description details or needing the evidence visible General	6	757	September 12, 2020

Does observer's account ever count as evidence?

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