BIRD FILES!!

I ahve already voiced my opinion(YES!)

Just want the powers that be they are welcome to use any of my pics if they want.

I am not an expert by a longshot but would do anything to help that I can.

This message was edited Apr 30, 2008 7:06 PM

BirdFiles! Hooray! Great idea! Would help those of us with new birds learn more about them and maybe have tips on nesting and ideal nest boxes to use for certain bird types, ideal foods for setting out to attract certain birds, perhaps identification tips for confusing species like warblers.

I hope this idea takes flight! (pun intended!!)
Claire

I think it would be a good idea.

I would love it. I was searching for a bird ID just this morning.

I wonder if it could be searchable by color, size, beak, etc.? Would that be asking too much?

Hi grandpapa, In the Bird Watching forum we have a thread called

"Identify This Bird Please" and if you have a pic or a good description I'm sure Resin or someone else can help you out.

I have a few concerns about the Bird Files but I'm still definitely for it!

Would love to see a Bird/Avian Files. Think it would be a fine and helpful addition to DG.

Lana

My vote would be a yes!
BAF would be a good thing. I don't hang out on the BW forum much, but I would use the ID for sure.

Definetly Yes!! The quality of pics on the bird watching forum is awesome, making a bird files forum with those pics would be an asset and a pleasure for any bird watcher/ Ornithology student! ☺

Yes, Yes for a bird file!

I vote yes for the bird files, too! It just makes good sense!

I also vote YES for a bird files :)

Birds are part of our gardens here ~ we have feeders, houses and water sources throughout our gardens. In fact, I look for plants that offer berries etc. that birds are attracted too.

These baby robins were raised in our hanging fuchsia basket under our front porch last year!

~Diana

...the powers to be would have to evaluate bird files or wildlife files? I'd hate to see other wildlife left out from consideration

bugs are bugs and not 'wildlife' (well they are, but you know what I mean), so bugfiles works well; but if there is just a birdfiles then some people may vote for a squirrelfiles or something else ~ maybe 'wildlife files' would be something to think about. Then a sub category under that title could be birds.

just a thought

Think birds alone is a good idea and then maybe wildlife later. I think birds are too diverse and extensive to be a sub category. Seems to work best if we do one thing at a time. Will take awhile to get birds started!

I agree with GrammysGardenAZ.......I watch birds, I don't watch plants.

It sounds like a lot of interest is around this feature, and I would agree. I have some pretty big things to work on right now, though, so I have to postpone it for now until I get these other big items taken care of.

It will happen, though!

Thanks, Dave!

Thanks Dave!!

Hooray for Dave! Can't wait to start adding all my photos which Resin (and others) have so helpfully identified for me!

sounds good to me Dave.

Yippee! Thanks, Dave!!

Thanks Dave! Looking forward to it. And special thanks to threegardeners for starting this thread!

Thanks, Dave. You're always so responsive.

Another indication of the common thread of gardening and bird watching is a magazine I subscribe to called "Birds & Blooms".

In the meantime, here's a new forum for identifying our feathered friends: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/birdid/all/

Yippee!!!

Thanks Dave and Terry, this will be such an awesome feature of Dave's Garden. I'll never have to leave, ever!!

Thanks Dave. I was hoping this would go through. :)

OUTSTANDING!

Thanks so much, Dave. This is a great learning opportunity for many of
us and I am very grateful to you.

June

Thank you Dave and all birdwatchers everywhere :-))))))))))))))
yippee!

Thanks Dave!

Yeah!!!! You Rock Dave!!!

I'm very much looking forward to this new feature. Thank you!

Thanks Dave & Terry, I'm really looking forward to this.

Thanks for the new forum!

I was wondering something about the Bird Files.

Since there are so many bird file type sites out there already would it be possible to do some extra things like "Compare Two Birds" to put it above the other sites?

Many birds get confused for one another (like House Finch/Purple Finch etc) and if you could get them both to come up on one page to compare the ID marks it would be easier than going back and forth.

I also like the idea of having an area for putting in the natural foods each type of bird eats.

Two more questions please. :-)

Will the main page of each bird have a color print of each bird or will it be a photo?

Also will there be a limit on the amount of photos ( if thats a side feature).?

Thank You ^_^

I was assuming it would be set up just like Plant Files and Bug Files, a main page with info and then all the photos on the side that have been submitted. I don't think PF and BF have absolute limits on how many pics can be submitted, but admins have the discretion if there are a lot of photos and you submit one that's very similar to ones that are already in there they may decline it (I'm not sure how often people actually get their pics turned down though)

The only problem with using photos as the main pic ids that most do not show all the identity marks. If the main pic was a professional color print you would be able to see all the ID markings that need to be seen to correctly identify the bird. ^_^

I agree with you, prints like that would be nice but all the features here have always relied on user-uploaded content, so unless we have someone here who owns the rights to those sort of pictures and wouldn't mind uploading them and sharing them, or an advertiser who would be willing to donate the content in exchange for some free advertising or something, I'm not sure how we would get them--it's not like I can go copy pages out of my bird book and upload those! LOL You could argue the same thing would be true for Plant and Bug Files, user generated photos don't show all the distinguishing characteristics there either, but we have enough experts around that when people post things for ID someone is generally able to figure it out.

One thing we can always do (and this is true for BugFiles and PlantFiles) is rearrange the photo order, so if/when a truly representative image is submitted, we can put it at the top of the stack.

Could we possibly have something where the bird is positively identified in the Bird ID forum before being able to post a pic at the the Bird Files? It would save alot of time.

Also Terry do you know if theres anyway that a few features that are not in place at all at the other Bird File sites could be implemented with ours? It certainly would put us at the top of the pack. :-)

I don't think we can use the system to mandate positive IDs before a bird is entered in BirdFiles. Like BugFiles and PlantFiles, we will rely on our eagle-eyed (pardon the obvious pun) editors and readers to watch for errors, and add the same "report an error" button on each entry in BirdFiles. as we have in the other 'files'.

When we are closer to "fleshing out" the BirdFiles feature, we will definitely want input on the value-added options and features that will make it the very best we can possibly make it. So I would encourage you to think of all the "this is cool" and "wish they would have done it another way" thoughts you've had when using other sites, and we'll ask for that input when the time is right. One note of caution: we may ask you to prioritize your lists, depending on how much input we receive, and how complex the suggestions are ;o)

Oh, this is so exciting! I can't wait for Bird Files!!