Condor Watch Talk

Exactly where to mark?

  • G.Haldursson by G.Haldursson

    Could you please clarify exactly where to place the mark on the animals? I have done a lot of them but guess I am getting picky all of a sudden. I know to place the mark on the carcass as close to "middle" as possible. As far as the condors, does the mark go preferably on the tag? Their "middle"? Legs? What about in the case of the bird in the back there whose head is on one side of the condor and rear end sticking out the other side? Do you go for "middle" of the guy in back or mark his visible head? When they are layered in this manner it hit me that it is a bit of an art form to mark them so that the marking dots aren't piled on top of each other or it may look like they are all standing in the same exact place, and they are not.

    Tak! Gunner

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    Hi Gunner!

    All great questions.

    Correct on the carcass - where ever you can figure the "middle" is, that's where to mark it. I know some are a gruesome mess but that's what makes it so...uh...fun sometimes.

    The marking gets translated on the Scientist's end by a mathematical formula. This makes my brain hurt too much to explain it. For us regular people, let me just say it's "math". Blah.

    In the case of the Guy In Back - I usually mark the part of the bird that is the obvious part in the photo (in this case, its head at the carcass). You're marking it "at" the carcass, so that's the part "at" the carcass. Since the rest of him is hidden, it's better for your own sanity to put a dot on the place you can see it. (I'm sure you've had a lot of birds on a photo and then have gone back, clicking dots twice, not knowing which went to who or what and totally confusing yourself. Or maybe that's just me 😄) The important part is the relation to the carcass - if you're marking the animal "two lengths away" then anywhere on the animal that would be that length is fine.

    As to the 3 at the left: You can mark the "butt" of the guy on the far left, the body of the one in front and the side or tag of the one to the right. Again - they're all "within reach" and your dots will be, too. It avoids making a pile of 3 dots on top of each other which is what I think you're asking - there's 3 condors right there but there not standing on each other.

    It gets to be a mess when there's a huge pile of elbows and butts, wings and a lot of feet that have to be sorted out.
    In these cases just do the best you can. Sometimes what's helpful to spot is the top of the tag-clip on the wing, the curve of a back or a pair of feet behind another condor. If that's what will mark your animal the proper distance from the carcass then so be it.

    Sometimes there are a few so layered in there you're taking an educated guess. This is fine! So are the other people who will see that same picture. All the opinions of those who classified the photo will be put together and the correct answer picked.

    If you get one of those rare photos where they're all standing nicely sideways with their tags pointed straight on at the camera, being super polite about it...Oh, Happy Day! This means you will soon get a photo with 32 ravens in it, just to pay you back for thinking it was getting easy 😃

    Hope that's helpful. Mark it however it makes it easiest for you while you try to be careful - a happy medium.

    Thanks for all you do and hafðu það gott!

    (That's "Have a Nice Day" in Icelandic. "Tak" means "thank you" which was the give away in G.Haldursson's post. Someone messaged and asked me to explain that one! Proof that at least one other person reads the message boards 😃)

    Posted