We are now near the end of data vetting — and you have the option to help us by skimming the maps for your local area!
Our vetting team is already in the middle of this process, and some species have been scrutinized while others are in progress. But your local perspective can help us catch further mistakes.
If you’re interested in helping, join us for a live walkthrough of this process Oct 3 from 7-8 PM.
Want to get started now? We’ll explain how. Here are the basics:
BASIC STEPS
1. View the maps here
2. Look for records that might be wrong for your region
3. Go to the eBird map to examine details on records of interest
4. Email us with details so we can investigate and fix if appropriate
DEADLINE: IF YOU HAVE CORRECTION ON THE MAPS, PLEASE EMAIL US BY OCT 23.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: View the maps here
There are 4 pdfs, and you can scroll down each and look at the species maps (WAY easier than typing each species name into eBird!). It’s most useful to us if you focus on regions of the state that you know well. Maps are color-coded by the number of coded records in that block (including all breeding codes, except for F [flyover]). If a block is pink, there is only one record with a breeding code in that block for the duration of the atlas. Red blocks have 2-3 coded records for the duration of the atlas, and gray or black blocks have many coded records for the atlas. The light gray background range is the calculated spatial range map from eBird’s Status and Trends models – some of these involve atlas data, so in certain places the gray range may be influenced by our own records.
Step 2: Look for records that might be wrong for your region
Look for records that look out of place as breeders in your area. Focus on the pink or red blocks which have fewer overall records (these are good ones to scrutinize, although in some cases the blocks are non-priority blocks with little overall effort which might explain why there is only one report). Focus on species that are rare for your region, highly habitat-specific, or species with a range boundary near you.
***Please note: it is not necessary to evaluate S and H codes for certain colonial and wide-ranging species (see bottom of this page)
If the map looks fine for a species in your area, scroll to the next one.
If you find a record you are interested in looking into, move onto step 3:
Step 3: Go to the eBird map to examine details on records of interest
Go to Explore Data on the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas eBird portal. In the blank that says “Species Name”, type the species (or 4-letter code) which will pull up the WBBA II map. As you zoom in, blocks will turn to points. Click on the applicable point for the record. If there are multiple dates for a location, you should be able to see the breeding code on the right-hand side once you have clicked the pushpin. Remember light blue O (Observed) records are uncoded and we don’t care about those at the moment. When you click a pushpin, then click on the blue date to open up the checklist to view the details — look at the time of year, and any comments or media. Some out-of-range records are a surprise but turn out to be well documented! However, if your local knowledge leads you to think the record is a mistake or it should not be coded in your area for various reasons (e.g., maybe it’s too late or too early to assume it’s nesting there, maybe the species ranges widely in summer, maybe it’s a mis-ID), send us an email about it.
In general, this process is not one where we will be focused on coding UP uncoded records (unless you find a particularly notable one). These will be scrutinized during our final vetting of priority blocks later this year.
What happens if a record that appears on the static red/black maps doesn’t show in eBird? That may mean we already corrected it through another data vetting process. While you folks are skimming your local areas, the atlas review team is also going through species by species with an eye on the whole state, so a record you suspect may be in error may already have been downgraded.
Step 4: Email Nick at nicholasm.anich@wisconsin.gov with details so we can investigate and fix if appropriate
When you email:
1. Copy and paste the checklist URL (e.g. https://ebird.org/atlaswi/checklist/S84943958)
2. Tell us which species seems questionable
3. Provide the reason you feel the record needs adjustment
4. Suggest which breeding code the record should have
5. If you have multiple corrections, please send them in the same email rather than multiple emails
***A special case — do not worry about vetting Possible codes (H or S) for the following wide-ranging and colonial species. Observed and Possible codes for summer records will show together on the final product for this set of species.
Spotted Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster’s Tern
Common Tern
Caspian Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
That’s it! Thanks for helping us catch data quality errors for the atlas.