Introducing BirdFiles, con't.

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/935238/#new

Here's the place to ask questions, report problems, and propose suggestions for enhancements, etc. for this new feature.

Note: the former thread unfortunately ended on a less-than-positive note. Let's use this new thread as an opportunity for a fresh start, and keep the conversation constructive and focused on what can/should be done to improve this new feature.

Personal conflicts should be resolved offline via private dmail, or use the "Contact Us" to reach our admin team if you need our assistance in resolving any problems.

Thank you all so much for your diligence and the time you are spending on this. It means so much to us "newbies" to have all possible view of the birds at all their different ages. If they aren't the greatest pics to start out with, they can be replaced as you get better ones later on.
Thanks so much and keep up the good work!

Nan

edited because I forgot to spellcheck ;-)

This message was edited Dec 31, 2008 9:14 AM

I'm still just thrilled to have BirdFiles!
Thanks everyone who is working so dilligently on it.
Deb

In giving a location is it ok to give the nearest sizeable town or should the exact location be given that no one could ever find?

i have a question regarding a Sandhill Crane picture that i uploaded. i need to add the family and order and can't figure out how to do so. i also entered it as Florida Sandhill Crane because it is a subspecies but if i search genus Grus, mine doesn't appear so maybe i didn't do the name right in the first place. there are six subspecies but they are all Grus.......i'm confused to say the least and totally out of my league as to what is proper.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/1120/

I think this entry needs to be American Black Vulture.

Hi tracks,

On Wiki the subspecies name is Grus canadensis pratensis in the Order: Gruiformes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhill_crane

Checking that out with a google and ITIS as well as what we have here on DG, for ITIS it is valid and the Order is the same, some have been altered albeit not accepted by our current format.

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176180

We do have an Order Gruiformes

http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/

As I'm sure you would like to add hte bird yourself, here is how to do it,

Common Name: Florida Sandhill Crane
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Gruidae
Genus: Grus
species: canadensis pratensis

The hit 'enter' and return to your entry to upload pics! Good luck! I did check and we don't have that entry.

I checked with just Grus and it is there! Obviously if you go into the Order to do a search it doesn't show, but this time I went to the green search tab at the top of all the Orders and searched only for Grus.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/37/

This message was edited Jan 1, 2009 5:44 PM

I thought that strange, even when looking through the list in hte order yours didn't show tracks, now I know why! It has no Order or Family so they need to be added by Admin.

Order: Gruiformes
Family: Gruidae
Genus: Grus
species: canadensis pratensis


http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/37/

thanks, wallaby. i figured that was the problem. i should have added the order and family when i first did it but i thought i could come back later and add it. i was wrong! i hate to add yet more work for admin. from now on, i'll know better. thanks again.

You're welcome tracks, if you can copy and paste from the sites which have correct spelling that saves possible errors too. But to be sure of the spelling I like to check more than one source as some get it wrong!

will do. thanks again.

I'm trying to enter White-throated kingfisher under the family Halcyonidae. But it is showing something else saying 'this entry already exists'. Could this be checked? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-throated_Kingfisher

You can add it here:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/1020/

The family name is different.

Sorry, I misunderstood. But some other sources use the same family as birdfiles, Alcedinidae

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=all&search_value=Halcyon+smyrnensis&search_kingdom=every&search_span=exactly_for&categories=All&source=html&search_credRating=All

Thanks claypa. I think halcyonidae is the subfamily. Will feed the data in the same link.

Great Job Everyone! A HUGE Thank You to all involved in helping create Bird Files which is a great asset to the garden! I hope at some point we will be able to have the availability of audio for the songs of each species, as well as a range map.

plantladylin, the addition of a range map and audio is a great idea. However, I doubt that individual members have captured the songs of each specie and/or developed their own range maps. Absent that, we then likely face copyright issues from potential other sources.

If there's a great source for range maps and/or audio files, I wonder if a link could be placed on the main page for BirdFiles...

or is it better just to put such resources in the sticky at the top of the Bird Watching forum?

?

I wonder if we have someone who is a good artist capable of drawing color range maps.

Using the standard for range maps (no names).

Would that still be copyright infringement?

If Dave could fix it so everybody could enter in the "does this occur in your area" field, it probably wouldn't be difficult to map those entered locations, then DG would have it's own area map. And it could be used the same for Bug and Plant files.

The problem is going to occur for birds that migrate to South America (quite a few); I don't see many South Americans on here. Am I wrong?

I would think across the pond there would be the same problem.

For "does this occur," maybe we'd need more than a yes/no, so people could indicate summer bird, winter bird, just passing through... ?

You could, but for it to mean anything, it has to be international. There are enough people around the world to make it valid.

I think that is expecting too much for here at Dave's. Just can't have it all and there are other well known sites that have that info. There are the zip code reports for each bird for a very basic idea of a birds range...IF people enter the information.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2009 11:48 AM

IF you're in the USA, it does no good for me here in Canada.

canada doesn't use the zip code system? i didn't realize that, or i guess i never really thought about it. do other countries use zip codes?

Yes zip code reports don't help us in Europe either..

Only the US uses zip code reports, no body else can.

why didn't i know that? obviously not a world traveller. lol

I think the range maps will be the only way.

The zipcode reports really take up alot of space too.

i agree about taking up space. the pf zips can get really long and aren't accurate anyway because someone up north will put in a zip for a tropical that can't be grown except in a greenhouse. that irks me to no end.

I guess I just don't expect to find everything here...I use my book and go to Birding sites like Cornell for more info if I want it.

I have stumbled onto a glitch, in the system, when submitting entries to the bird files. If you double click when making the final entry, after the preview, two copies of the same image are entered into the data base.

I think that is system wide not just BirdFiles. I see double posts in a lot of threads.

I have entered several of my brothers images with his permission but he has some exotic hummingbird photos from his trip to Ecuador, none of which have existing BirdFile entries. If I make a list here, can someone help with the entries? I haven't got a clue as to how to enter those and don't want any errors and was hoping someone would be kind enough to create those entries for me. ^_^

Hi Sue, post the names and I will see what I can do, or someone else might, but I would post here first with what I find and/or if there is any doubt so as not to confuse anyone if others are in the process of doing it. Does that make sense? lol.

I have the book of the birds of Ecuador and double-checking with the ITIS site on the net can create all the entries you need if you provide the list here,

Ken

I think just a Sticky with links to sites with good range maps, etc, in the BW forum would be the simplest, as critterologist suggests.