Challenge Dates
Birda's Sightings and Sessions have two dates assoctaed with them, these are the sighting date and the post date. The sighting date is the date that you observed a bird and the post date is the date you posted the sighting on Birda.
Sightings will only count towards a challenge if the sighting date is within the dates and time the challenge is running for. For example, if a challenge is life from the 1st March 2024 to the 31st March 2024, the sighting or session date must fall between these two dates. If you post a sighting on the 2nd of March 2024 but the sighting date is the 28th of February, then the sighting will not qualify as the sighting date falls outside of the challenge.
Post Privacy Settings
If the 'Post Sharing' privacy of your session or sighting is set to 'Followers' or 'Only You' then these sightings will not count towards challenges you have joined. Challenges are public events on Birda and are therefore only compatible with public posts shared to everyone or to a user's followers.
If you find that sightings seem to be missing from your challenges, editing the sightings that are missing, and make sure the sighting or session's 'Post Sharing' privacy is set to 'Everyone'. If the 'Post Sharing' privacy is set to either 'Followers' or 'Only You', the sightings will not be included in any challenges.
By default, your 'Post Sharing' Privacy Settings are set to 'Everyone'. You can change your 'Post Sharing' Privacy Settings for each Sighting or Session you post or you can change your default Post Sharing Privacy Settings by navigating to your Profile > Settings > Privacy Controls > Sightings and Sessions.
Location Privacy Settings on the other hand will not have an impact on how your sessions or sightings count towards challenges.
Location-based Challenges
Some of Birda's challenges are location-based challenges where sightings have to be within the boundaries of a specific area for them to count towards the challenge. For example, if Birda was to host a Yellowstone National Park challenge, then only sightings posted within the boundary of the park would count towards the challenge.