Every birder might have a different answer to this question. For some it might be "to help me track my life list," or "to create a permanent record of my sightings," or "to let others know about rarities in my area," or even "because I love the pain of some jerk challenging my sighting based on a pedantic and arrogant self-confidence that he or she knows better than me what I saw."
And sure, those things are all important. But Dave Bell over at BirdsEye and BirdLog argues that these are just the perks (or pains) that come from doing something even more important: providing raw data that supports the long-term conservation of birds and other species globally.
Say what?
Well, don't take my word for it. Go read Dave's blog post and see what you think.
hmm, I can't think of a good reason NOT to post on ebird.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's made birding more of a social media thing, and even somewhat competitive or adventuresome... It makes it way more fun. =P