Commentary by Christy Solo
If you read the April 1, 2026 Crawlies, you know I recently had a rare visitor to my yard; a black-chinned X Anna’s hummingbird hybrid.
If you haven’t read that Crawlies yet, we’ll pause while you click over and catch up.
Done?
Great!
Because the hybrid is rare – not only in our area, but in general – I dutifully created an e-Bird checklist for my sighting and uploaded one of the (few in focus) photos I’d taken of Black Anna. Checklists help science, rare birds even moreso.
Having done my duty as a community scientist, I moved on with my life. Or so I thought.
If you use eBird and have ever had a rare sighting, you probably know what’s coming.
Wisely, eBird doesn’t just take your word for it when you submit a Rare Bird. Before you can even submit your checklist, you have to fill out additional information including a description of the bird, how they behaved, and various other details.
While including a photo isn’t required per se, I wouldn’t dream of submitting a rare bird without one, because even with a photo – a nice, clear photo – there’s a very good chance you will receive a follow-up email.
eBird is staffed with local reviewers, experts in your area who peruse all rare bird sighting submissions and either give the stamp of approval (as it were) or follow up.
While your sighting will show on the daily “Rare birds” list, it is not official until it’s been reviewed.
Sometimes the reviews are quick, e.g. and email asking “Can you give a better written description?” And yes, I’ve been asked to do that even when I’ve submitted a photo.
Really, I get it – scientists can learn a lot from rare birds, and they need to be sure a rare bird really IS a rare bird.
Sometimes the review process is a *bit* more of a gauntlet. Such was the case for Black Anna.
The first email from my – very nice! – reviewer (I’ve heard tell from other eBirders, including some with advanced degrees in avian biology – that reviewers from some areas are not remotely polite or nice) – anywhoo the first email asked if I had any other photos of Black Anna from very specific angles showing the fanned out tail and open wings.
I did not. I felt over the moon lucky I got the few in focus shots I got of the ephemeral Black Anna.
I had taken some videos with my iPhone and offered to upload them if the reviewer thought that might help. I wasn’t sure they would show any more than my photos had (no fanned tail or open wings, just Black Anna drinking at a feeder).
The reviewer said to go ahead, so I did. I also uploaded the second “actually in focus” photo of Black Anna at a very slightly different angle from the first.
Because I’d received the email only an hour after I submitted the sighting, I went out at 7 a.m. the following day to see if maybe I would see Black Anna again.
I did not (or at least I did not think I had). I did see a “regular” black-chinned, got photos and submitted yet another Rare Bird sighting.
And…there was another follow up email from the local reviewer.
I was sure I’d seen two different birds – the reviewer felt I had not. I am not at all familiar with black-chinned hummingbirds having only seen two (maybe one?) ever, so I wasn’t fixin’ to die on the hill of “It’s the same bird!”
On top of the “one or two birds” question the reviewer were also still not sure if Black Anna was a hybrid (okay, THAT hill I was going to die on, but I digress).
He asked if he could send a link to my checklist (ergo the photos and video too) to an Advanced Bird ID forum for their review. He also asked if I had a photo of “the other side” of Black Anna (the bird’s left side as I only had photos and vid of his right side and front uploaded).
I said “yes” to the “send to the Advanced ID forum” and “maybe” to the “other side” pics.
I found an out-of-focus-but-clear-enough photo of Black Anna showing the left side of his face. Not one I ever would have uploaded if not absolutely necessary for ID.
Fun fact: When you upload your photos to eBird they go to the Macaulay Library and everyone and their dog can see them. Then folks have the option of rating your photos between 1 and 5 stars. These folks don’t care that you were specifically requested to upload a blurry photo for a tricky ID – they’ll happily slap a one-star rating on the pic anyway.
I also uploaded yet another video of Black Anna from a slightly different angle.
Luckily before “uploading things to verify a rare bird” became like my second job, the Advanced Bird ID forum declared yes – Black Anna IS in fact…Black Anna (black-chinned X Anna’s) and that it was the same bird on both checklists.
So I had to go change the 2nd day “Black-chinned” to the hybrid on my checklist, but that was at least a quick fix and didn’t require any more uploading.
Don’t let this discourage you from having fun and using eBird! ID is tricky! Sometimes you may have to put in some extra work, and sometimes you may have to admit that you could only tell Black Anna WAS Black Anna from one angle, but it’s more fun to be at least half right and learn a lot along the way!
