Not Exactly The Perfect eBirder!

This female Bobolink was entered onto eBird and was my first of the year.

I use eBird all the time to find out what species I haven't seen for the year, to see what others have been seeing in my area, and to keep track of my county list (and where I rank).

I wonder what she was doing here as she pulled her head back to her neck that way?

The thing about eBird is you have all sorts of people entering data. Some just randomly enter a sighting because they feel like it and include very little accompanying information. Others try to get an exact count of every single bird they see and include all sorts of details about each species they see. I imagine these are the same sort of people that take a notebook to the gym to keep a record of each exercise they perform and the number of sets and repetitions. That's something I never found the ambition for.

Eastern Kingbird

I am somewhere in between. I don't have the concentration level to keep track of every single bird  I see so I estimate. I do a tally in my head- something like-I'm pretty sure I saw about 4 cardinals? I am careful not to enter any sightings that I'm not confident about, especially if it is a rare or unusual sighting. 

I enter for most places I go but if I don't see anything new at a popular location that I was recently at, I might skip the list altogether. I do like to enter a sightings list for new places that no one seems to visit. To me, that is the most interesting data and I also like to read others entries of new places.

So I'm not exactly the perfect eBirder but there is interesting and helpful information that you can obtain using eBird so I will continue to enter data as often as I feel comfortable with.  Maybe when I'm retired I'll try to be a little more thorough.