I put my sightings in eBird nearly every time I go out on a nature walk. But I've never tried including photos or audio -- even though I always have my camera and telephoto lens and take a buttload of images. eBird for me is all about logging what I saw & heard, where, and when. That's valuable for research (by others, not me). Given that I'm a scientist by profession, this is like breathing for me. It's what one does. Sometimes I try not even opening eBird on a walk, and it just feels weird to not log a record of observations. I think the habitual process of eBird logging has made me see and especially listen much more acutely. (Also, thank goodness for the Merlin app!)
I think, also, that I don't want the burden of preparing photos for eBird. It's not a social media platform; "merely" pretty pictures are not its purpose. It's the logging that has the most value, usually. I'd post photos in a heartbeat if I ever capture something truly remarkable, worth leaving an explanatory image or recording for the record, but that hasn't occurred yet. Rare things are rare! (This reminds me that a couple of days ago I saw a couple leucistic mallards. I should attach an image or two to my eBird entry. Thanks for the unintended reminder -- I'm glad I saw your article!)
I think that sound like a good strategy. I definitely want to start logging more of what I see, but it might be a bit much to include pictures of everything I see.
I think your sighting probably does deserve the pictures.
I put my sightings in eBird nearly every time I go out on a nature walk. But I've never tried including photos or audio -- even though I always have my camera and telephoto lens and take a buttload of images. eBird for me is all about logging what I saw & heard, where, and when. That's valuable for research (by others, not me). Given that I'm a scientist by profession, this is like breathing for me. It's what one does. Sometimes I try not even opening eBird on a walk, and it just feels weird to not log a record of observations. I think the habitual process of eBird logging has made me see and especially listen much more acutely. (Also, thank goodness for the Merlin app!)
I think, also, that I don't want the burden of preparing photos for eBird. It's not a social media platform; "merely" pretty pictures are not its purpose. It's the logging that has the most value, usually. I'd post photos in a heartbeat if I ever capture something truly remarkable, worth leaving an explanatory image or recording for the record, but that hasn't occurred yet. Rare things are rare! (This reminds me that a couple of days ago I saw a couple leucistic mallards. I should attach an image or two to my eBird entry. Thanks for the unintended reminder -- I'm glad I saw your article!)
I think that sound like a good strategy. I definitely want to start logging more of what I see, but it might be a bit much to include pictures of everything I see.
I think your sighting probably does deserve the pictures.