Birders share information about unusual sightings so others can rush out and enjoy the visiting rarity. But not everyone has awe and respect in their hearts, some people use the information for harm. Poachers may wish to nab a bird for commercial trade (rainbow lorikeets in Australia), or falconry (gyrfalcons such as the one shown in the photo), or kill the bird for some perverted glory (trophy). And some of those who just want to see and photo the rare bird don’t respect the habitat or other birders.
The perverted glory outcome happened in my area a year ago when a long-tailed duck, rarely seen here, was spotted and reported on social media. Two weeks later, a hunter shot the bird dead — in a no-hunting zone. A CDFW biologist noted that the kill “was possibly premeditated by trophy hunters who seek out rare species, and perhaps had been tipped off by social media posts alerting the birding community to the duck’s presence.”
For many years now, official databases on threatened and endangered species have kept location data off some species occurrence reports to keep the plants and animals safe. Now eBird, the community science bird reporting website has decided to censor location information for 325 at-risk bird taxa.
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Audubon reports on the policy change.
Technology has revolutionized birding in many ways. It’s simply routine now to tap into the wellspring of information from listservs, Facebook groups, forums, group chats, Twitter, and community science platforms like eBird before—and during—a day in the field.
All told, this access is good for both birds and birders, seeing how it’s turned birding into history’s largest biodiversity survey. And given that one in eight bird species are now threatened with extinction, this global effort couldn't be more timely. [...]
Rather than revealing all localities by default, eBird now maintains a global list for sensitive species whose bearings will remain hidden. This list, which currently consists of 325 taxa, protects birds in nine risk categories. Here in North America, this includes rare raptors such as Gyrfalcons that are at risk of the falconry trade, especially shy roosters such as Spotted Owls, range-constricted species such as Gunnison Sage-Grouse or Lesser Prairie-Chickens, and regionally sensitive populations such as Painted Buntings in Florida.
After assembling the list with help from conservation partners and regional eBird reviewers, the team had to tweak every line of code in the system to clean up the existing pool of sightings. It’s the kind of self-editing some North American birders already practice.
Instead of location-specific data on eBird maps, occurrence records for these birds will be shown as shaded 20 km by 20 km blocks. Anyone who wants to trash the rare bird will have to work harder.
Many birders and nature-lovers who share information on social media have already been obscuring location details about sightings to protect species. Better yet is to not share your amazing photo and finding to the public until the bird has moved on.
While the bulk of photographers act responsibly, a not-insignificant number seem ignorant of basic respectful behavior: remaining quiet, moving slowly, keeping their distance, and backing off at the first sign of stress in the bird. Photographers like these, who put their “right” to get the shot well ahead of the bird’s right to go about its business undisturbed, or the right of other people to enjoy watching it, not only jeopardize the welfare of the bird but also ruin the birding and bird-photography experience for other people. [...]
And really, even if every individual in the throng is well behaved, what kind of impact does the mere presence of that many birders and photographers have? If they are all on a public walkway then at least they are not trampling the bird’s habitat, but rare birds do not always show up conveniently right beside a sidewalk, road, or seawall. And remember: Even if the bird itself seems unperturbed, the human horde may limit its ability to hunt by disturbing its prey or its ability to attract a mate by keeping a shyer partner at bay.
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Are you keeping secret sightings? I am.