eBird Quiz of the Week

[Kevin]

Since the recent discussion about eBird quizzes, I thought it might be fun do do similar to the bird of the week thread and select a county somewhere in the country every week. Then post your results.
I'd don't know if anyone will care for this but why not try?
For settings I will always be using: Year round, All possible bird from this location, and Photos. It's not necessary to use the same settings, but if everyone uses different settings it's going to effect the results you get.

Let's start with somewhere that may give us some harder birds... Kenai Peninsula Borough , Alaska.

https://ebird.org/quiz/setup

[Kevin]

I got 16 out of 19, I had four different species of gulls, two of which I missed. And the one I skipped was feild notes and a sketch.

[AveryF]

I got 13 out of 20
2 wrong due to multiple species, 1 wrong because I forgot to check the location the photo was taken (was from Ecuador), 2 because I was unfamiliar with the subspecies and got confused, and 2 I just got wrong.

[Lonestranger]

I got 11 out of 20 with the same settings as Kevin. I tried a second game with just Likely birds for comparison, and scored 15 out of 20. The better score is mostly attributed to better photos, my first game had some photos that got 1 star ratings because there was no 0 star option.

I didn't really notice a difference between the two different settings as far as birds go, they both had different birds, mostly, but I think they were mostly likely birds in both games, but what do I know? Yeah, yeah, even I was thinking, not much.

I'm going to suggest that we use Likely birds to help make the game more location specific. With Likely and infrequent or All possible birds from the location options we increase the possibility of vagrant birds being included in the quiz. While there may have been rare sightings of Ontario or Texas birds showing up in Alaskan locations, which would make them possible birds, they don't really fit a quiz about birds from a specific Alaskan location, in my opinion. Just this idiot's thoughts (not to be confused with, that idiot).

[Charlie Spencer]

I got 13 out of 20
2 wrong due to multiple species,

You know you can skip photos, including the multi-species ones, right?

I'm going to suggest that we use Likely birds to help make the game more location specific. With Likely and infrequent or All possible birds from the location options we increase the possibility of vagrant birds being included in the quiz.

I agree regarding 'All possible' but think 'Likely and infrequent' would be the best choice.

[Zoroark]

11 out of 20.

9 were birds I've never seen. 2 were ABA code 4, and 2 were ABA code 3.

[Aidan B]

20 out of 20 for me.

Being a California birder constantly on the lookout for vagrants definitely helped with this quiz. Only received good photos, and everything was either a familiar species that also occurs in California or was a vagrant I've studied extensively. I want a Black-tailed Gull!!!

I do think that using only the common or maybe infrequent quizzes would be best. Using all possible birds gives you some weird species.

[Kevin]

Okay I like the idea of of keeping it more range specific, so let's go with the Likely option.
Also is one week too far apart? I could add one every Saturday night, and Wednesday morning. That would keep the pace up a little faster, while keeping a weekend day available within the time frame.

[Zoroark]

I tried again with the Likely option and got 19 out of 20. The one I missed was a Northern Harrier with its obvious field mark (the white rump) showing.

I have not seen 3 of the birds that came up, but they were easy to identify.

[Lonestranger]

Okay I like the idea of of keeping it more range specific, so let's go with the Likely option.
Also is one week too far apart? I could add one every Saturday night, and Wednesday morning. That would keep the pace up a little faster, while keeping a weekend day available within the time frame.

I see nothing wrong with a few different locations each week. People can always play previous locations and the new location, and post their results for both if they come in after a new location is announced. The more frequently we change location, the more often the quiz is likely to be used, which is a win/win situation for both the birders and the quizzes. Using the quiz more often can help improve our birding skills quicker. Using the quiz more often also improves the quiz quicker by down rating the terrible blurry blobs so they can be removed from the quizzes. At least I hope that's what happens to one star photos.

My first quiz for this location had photos so bad that I couldn't even make out the bird's shape, never mind see any identifiable field marks in some of them. One was a foggy shot of three dark blurs, sort of shadowed silhouettes, flying off in the foggy distance. With nothing to make a size reference with or habitat to provide a hint, I took my 1 in 4 guess and surprisingly got it right. The photo shouldn't have gotten a 1 star rating, but as I said before, there is no 0 star rating. Hopefully the better quality photos continue so we don't have to ask ourselves, 'is that a bird?', before we ask ourselves, 'What Bird is That?'
Just this idiot thinking out loud.

[Kevin]

Okay I like the idea of of keeping it more range specific, so let's go with the Likely option.
Also is one week too far apart? I could add one every Saturday night, and Wednesday morning. That would keep the pace up a little faster, while keeping a weekend day available within the time frame.

I see nothing wrong with a few different locations each week. People can always play previous locations and the new location, and post their results for both if they come in after a new location is announced. The more frequently we change location, the more often the quiz is likely to be used, which is a win/win situation for both the birders and the quizzes. Using the quiz more often can help improve our birding skills quicker. Using the quiz more often also improves the quiz quicker by down rating the terrible blurry blobs so they can be removed from the quizzes. At least I hope that's what happens to one star photos.

My first quiz for this location had photos so bad that I couldn't even make out the bird's shape, never mind see any identifiable field marks in some of them. One was a foggy shot of three dark blurs, sort of shadowed silhouettes, flying off in the foggy distance. With nothing to make a size reference with or habitat to provide a hint, I took my 1 in 4 guess and surprisingly got it right. The photo shouldn't have gotten a 1 star rating, but as I said before, there is no 0 star rating. Hopefully the better quality photos continue so we don't have to ask ourselves, 'is that a bird?', before we ask ourselves, 'What Bird is That?'
Just this idiot thinking out loud.

I'm good with doing it more often. I'll do every other day for now, so I'll post one tonight or tomorrow.

[Kevin]

Let's go to the opposite part of the country to Monroe , County Florida. https://ebird.org/quiz/setup
Monroe county is the southern most county in the contiguous 48, contains the Florida Keys, was established as a county in 1823 and has an approximate population of 81,000.
Thought I'd try to add a little information about the area if there's anything to add.

[Kevin]

I just did it and got 20/20. With one exception the photos were fine, and I had reasonably identifiable birds, at least for me, except there was one that was a 50/50 guess on a Dowicher.

[Lonestranger]

I couldn't find Monroe County in the list until I finished typing Florida, and then there were 4 different options on the list to choose from. I chose Key West, Monroe County, Florida and scored 12/20.