Condor Watch Talk

Guessing Tags?

  • Shiphrah by Shiphrah

    Sometimes I think I can read a number on a tag but am not very sure. Sometimes I think I see a tag's color but sun glare, etc. make it uncertain. Which is more useful:
    A. Is it better in such cases to enter my best guess, or leave it with XX?
    B. If there's definitely a tag but I'm unsure of both color and number, should I enter XX for number and a guess on color, or XX & leave color empty, or skip the whole thing?

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    There is a magnificent F.A.c.Q. Question and Answer post here you can read at your leisure with answers to all your questions but the short version is :

    (well, not short because I type really fast so it's never "short" 😄)

    If you see a tag, part of the top tag clip or the shape of a tag (but that's it) put XX in the number area and leave everything else blank (so you're saying "There's a tag". This also goes if you kinda sorta see a color but not really.

    It's better not to guess. Reasons being that

    1} There are going to be other many more photo in that series you're looking at since the camera is timed to take them when there is movement. Maybe every second; maybe every minute, etc. So eventually that tag will be clearly seen and identified. You might be marking a bird as XX in that photo so feel you're not "helping" but that's never the case. Maybe there have already been a lot of photos where the tag was seen and identified.

    2} All the info we mark is important - how many condors were there, when they came and went, the distances, adults/juveniles, other critters, etc. It's a lucky break when we can see the tags well!

    4} If you think your guess is really an educated one then you can guess. If you really think you're really seeing a Black66 but are 45% it might come up as "Not a known BIO". Then you slap your head and go "argh I was wrong!" Then you have to go stand in the corner for 2 minutes (house rules) (I swear). This gets back to Answer # 1.

    Hope this helps 😃

    And thank you as always for all your work!

    Posted

  • Shiphrah by Shiphrah

    Really clear. Thank you!

    and thanks for the reminder of your very helpful FAQ. I read it some time ago but didn't remember this detail. I've marked it "follow" so I'll always be able to find it & will know if you add to it, perhaps something about the Mother Ship?

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator in response to Shiphrah's comment.

    LOL! There's that, and the Kraken, and the Bird Origami, and the Clouds.and the Optical Illusions

    Just shows you the incredible powers of observation the people who classify photos on Condorwatch have! So many (creative!) things have been seen in the photos along with the priceless project data, too

    Posted