Report your Sightings!

Information on social networks circulates for a short period of time and then falls to the forgotten archives of cyberspace.

We find that there is an opportunity to use the social web to collect and summarize information. Social networks encourage sharing what we do. It may be as spontaneous conversations, discussions groups, photos, videos, or reports of events that this information is fed to us…and it flows fast and largely unharnessed.

Report sightings

Map of Peru showing Andean Condor sightings.

The power of social media lays in the fact that is built around communities and groups of interest. The network of potential sources of information is as big as the number of participants in such community. Community members share information in real-time providing a unique opportunity to learn about trends, changes, and seasonality and also providing the opportunity to formulate responses. Social media can also help corroborate or refute assumptions or beliefs. If people report facts that oppose what is generally thought of as facts, then it may be time to revisit such an assumption.

In an attempt to capture basic ornithological information, we have created entry forms and maps to encourage voluntary reporting of information. By collecting information over a long period of time, trends that support assumptions begin to be built up. This information is then made available to decision-makers, researchers, bird enthusiasts and the community in general.

Report banded birds

Report of banded bird plublished on Facebook

With the idea of getting into the habit of reporting sightings, we have created three forms to report important sightings, sightings of banded birds, and Andean Condors. We hope that over time, we learn about bird distribution and movements of the birds of Peru.

See the links to the maps and forms at bottom of each of the pages on www.peruaves.org, Happy reporting!