We are quite dismayed by your statement. We are fairly new to the reporting community and normally do not have our rare or out of the ordinary observations confirmed without having a photo. We have worked very hard to meet the standards put forth by the Ebird reviewers but still do not seem to have any credibility without photos so, we have made them a priority whenever we are birding. It is a shame that one class project prompts the thoughts that everyone must be modifying their photos thus they are no longer a viable way to prove an observation. We ask you, what prevents someone from sitting in their living room and writing up a precise observation, draw sketches and present it as fact without ever leaving their home? In both cases the only variable that governs the path the reported takes is their honesty and we have not seen this to be a problem generally in the birding community.
Wade and Melissa -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John and Sue Gregoire Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 9:08 AM To: cayugabirds-l Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Hoax Golden eagle Video making the rounds After getting this fraud on line, I wonder if photographic evidence is any longer a valid ID for a rarity or event. This was later found to be the product of a Canadian university student group as a class project in digital film something or other. Maybe birding will return to good observation and precise details with sketches as it is doubtful we can really trust photos/videos at this level of technology. John http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CE0Q904gtMI -- John and Sue Gregoire -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
