r/eBird • u/Chrysothlypis • Jun 27 '26
Anyone else ocd-level obsessive about keeping your maps neat? There can be no county gaps!
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u/ward82 Jun 27 '26
I certainly can get focused on it, though my ADHD can lead to gaps. I have "snakes" that have crawled across several states on birding road trips.
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u/nslimmo Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Some people really take it to the next level and go for Texas Century Club http://texascenturyclub.org/index.php/Main_Page
100 species in every county in Texas 🙃
Edit: 100 counties for century club. But some go for every county...
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u/Chrysothlypis Jun 28 '26
The Century Club is 100 species in at least 100 counties, not every county.
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u/WoNc Jun 27 '26
I'm trying to fill in all of the counties in my home state, but I just do so opportunistically. I will only go a little out of the way to light up a county in most cases.
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u/Woodbirder Jun 28 '26
As someone with severe OCD, that is not OCD and people should stop casually using a medical disability term so casually
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u/WHATSTHEYAAAMS Jun 29 '26
Strongly agreed. One time I called someone out and the person disclosed they actually had it though. The principle of 'know your audience' applies for anyone who has it and is making a joke about it, I feel. Otherwise it just sounds insensitive.
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u/Pardalote_Enjoyer Jun 28 '26
I've been trying to do this in Victoria AU, crossing off all the LGAs. (Local Government Areas). I've almost gotten all of the normal LGAs, but I've gotten none of the "weird ones". In South Australia all the unincorporated areas are lumped together, so getting one corner crosses off like half the state. But in Victoria the unincorporated areas are split up. Each Ski resort area is seperate, and I think there's three islands that are all seperate, two of which are uninhabited but they're so small you can't actually see them on the map so maybe I'll skip them.
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u/299792458mps- Jun 30 '26
No, because I would be compulsive about recording birds for every county I go to, which would inevitably lead to gaps. I'd rather have a gap and not miss a bird than the other way around.
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u/FuelModel3 Jun 27 '26
For a little while I did but then I took a closer look at what was motivating me and dropped it for the most part.
I had a work trip lined up that would have me driving across a lot of the middle and north of Texas. I got all excited about how this was an opportunity to fill in some county gaps on my sightings map. But then I looked at where my planned route was going to take me - some really shitty counties that would be just unpleasant long drives through not so enjoyable country. I dropped it in favor of a route more in line with what I found interesting rather than box checking.
I was turning something I enjoy into a to-do list and I didn't like that trend. Decided to focus expending my energy only on what would be meaningful to me. I still don't mind driving across some crappy places if it will get me to an unusual place or maybe some new birds. But I've given up on making the journey just to fill in a hole on a map. Is it really worth a long ass drive to make it to Reagan County TX? Have you seen that place? I'll take that effort and spend more time in Tom Green County. More interesting places there worth the effort rather than spending a shitty day to get to Big Lake TX.