Oh yeah, I’m all good with purples. I’ve just never had to bother sorting out siskins before. It does seem that all the ones in my area have been hofis though
Continuing the discussion from The 2020/2021 Pine Siskin irruption in the U.S:
They are arriving at our feeder on Sarasota Florida! I will try and get a photo. Thanks for this info!!
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welcome to the forum Betsy :)
We live in Nebraska and occasionally get Pine Siskens during the late winter. We had a pair nest near by and had fledglings in our yard…last sighting June 24 2020. My husband reported this on eBird, and I noted this on iNaturalist. That sighting is close to the record for Douglas Co, NE…the last date of a sighting in Pine Siskins was June 25.
We have Red-Breasted Nuthatches this year…a pair. Some years we have them, then others we don’t.
Thanks for starting a project so I can add these 2 species to the lists. Maybe we will be lucky and get some of the others.
Whereas I’ve had almost nothing–not even my regular wrens and downy’s and such in my feeders. Just some white winged doves and house sparrows, not even as many of those as normal.
Bird patterns are so dang weird.
I don’t want to sound like an iNaturalist naysayer (I’m not), but this is the sort of project that eBird is far, far superior for in every way, since abundance and effort are recorded and far more birdwatchers use it. I put my plant and insect records here and my birdwatching on eBird (I do put good or interesting photos of birds here, as well) and I would encourage other iNat users to do so, as the data is far more useful there. I think that a broad citizen science app like iNat has its use, but the more specific ones certainly do as well.
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Having used both platforms, I prefer to have my birding data shared in a collaborative (not competitive), democratic (not hierarchical) system. I also prefer transparency and accountability in the identification process, as well as flexible, user-driven terms on my contributions - especially photographs and audio recordings. Overall, I have more confidence in a platform that consults users about changes to its terms of service in advance, and rolls them back if the community supports that.
My experience of iNat is that the site is engaging users for a different purpose than eBird. So, the 2020/2021 NA Winter Bird Irruption project is very valuable if it is encouraging users like me to interact with nature.
Just my .02 worth, thank you for listening.
There was a bit on this on one of the recent episodes of Ray Brown’s Talkin’ Birds…#802, it aired on October 18, 2020 and discussed the irruption. You can listen online via the website. It’s a great show for anyone interested in birds!
I think Bohemian Waxwing should be added to this project. And maybe Blue Jay as well.
I just learned that White-breasted Nuthatches irrupt as well - perhaps they should be added too?
I’m in Indiana and have never seen so many pine siskins as I have this fall!
Both websites have value. They are tools.
I prefer eBird for my bird lists. If I used iNaturalist I would have to make a single observation for every single bird. Today at one spot I saw 25 robins and some other species. . Uh…no…I would not want to enter 25 robins here. And, what if I went down to the lakefront and saw thousands of red-breasted mergansers flying by later in the winter?
Both websites have value. They are tools.
There is an Ohio Dragonfly Survey that uses iNaturalist. I participated in it this past summer. iNaturalist works well for that. They require a photo for a valid entry. You can easily get help from the people in that survey if you are unsure of a species ID.
I belong to a group of birders here in NE Ohio. Some are competitive. Some are not. (I am not.) We all respect what the others are doing. We like finding species and entering them into eBird. It is a tool.
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