Requests needed to deliver and protect the website
When a browser requests a page, the hosting and delivery services receive technical request information needed to transmit the page and protect the service. Depending on the configured service, this can include an IP address, request time, requested resource and browser or device information. This is separate from optional audience-measurement scripts.
The services actually used, their purposes and the applicable retention information are listed below. The fact that the site has no account or checkout does not mean that visiting it creates no technical records.
Google Analytics 4. Purpose: Non-advertising website audience and engagement measurement enabled by default only for eligible US visits, unless the visitor opts out or sends Global Privacy Control.. Possible data: page paths without query strings or fragments, page titles, external referring hostname without path or query, and recognized referring paths within this site, controlled website interactions, foreground engagement time, cookie-based browser and session identifiers for eligible US visits, technical request and device/browser information processed by Google. Region or transfer information: Google may process data in multiple countries. The account-specific processing and transfer settings have not yet been confirmed by the operator.. Retention: Browser analytics cookies are configured to expire after at most 180 days without renewal. The Google Analytics account’s user/event-data retention setting has not yet been verified and requires operator confirmation.. Provider privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
OpticsCompass origin-server request summaries. Purpose: Count requests for known HTML pages and true 404s across regions without identifying or linking visitors.. Possible data: UTC calendar day without exact timestamp, country code supplied by a trusted Cloudflare connection, otherwise XX, normalized known page path or /404/, validated referring hostname only, or none/other, HTTP status. Region or transfer information: Request summaries are stored on the origin VPS, identified by the operator as OVHcloud US. Cloudflare may process connection and security information across its network. The exact data-center facility and account-specific provider retention have not been independently verified.. Retention: Daily log rotation retains up to 30 rotated daily files plus the current file (approximately 31 days). These request summaries contain no IP address, user agent, cookie value, visitor identifier, query string, URL fragment, full referrer or exact request time.. Provider privacy policy: https://opticscompass.com/privacy/
OVHcloud US. Purpose: Host the static website and the origin-server request summaries.. Possible data: technical network requests and connection information needed to deliver the website, server and security information processed by the provider, the minimized origin-request summaries described separately. Region or transfer information: The operator identifies the origin VPS as OVHcloud US. This describes the origin service, not a promise that every provider, CDN or analytics operation occurs only in the United States. Provider support and transfers follow the applicable service terms and privacy policy.. Retention: Provider-managed operational, security and account information follows OVHcloud US service settings, applicable contractual/legal requirements and its privacy policy. No account-specific provider log-retention period is claimed. The website’s own minimized request summaries have the separate rotation period stated in this notice.. Provider privacy policy: https://us.ovhcloud.com/legal/privacy-policy/
Cloudflare. Purpose: Provide DNS, proxied delivery, TLS and request-security processing; supply the trusted country code used by the website’s analytics eligibility check. Provide Cloudflare Turnstile bot verification for AI Bird Identify before identification requests are accepted.. Possible data: IP address and connection information processed by Cloudflare to deliver and secure requests, HTTP request and security information, derived country code used by the origin, browser and network signals and challenge data used by Cloudflare Turnstile bot verification. Region or transfer information: Cloudflare operates a distributed network and may process technical request and security information in multiple countries, subject to its service configuration and privacy policy. An origin VPS in the US does not limit all CDN processing to the US.. Retention: Provider-managed data retention follows the enabled Cloudflare services, account settings, security/legal purposes and its privacy policy. An account-specific CDN log-retention period has not been independently verified.. Provider privacy policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/
AI Bird Identify is an optional photo-identification tool. On submission, your browser sends a resized JPEG, the approximate place you enter and your observation time to this site. The site forwards these materials to the chat/completions API at code.xmine.cc to request a suggested bird identification. Use a town or region rather than an exact address, and avoid photos containing people or private information.
The browser redraws your selected photo to remove embedded image metadata before upload. Valid accepted submissions are stored as private files on the server: the resized photo, place, observation time, submission date, request status and identification result or a general failure message. Records expire after 30 days and are automatically removed. A result link uses a long random identifier; anyone with that link can view the saved photo and observation, so keep it private. Result pages are excluded from indexing and browser analytics. Your entered place, time, photo and result are not included in this site’s analytics events. The service briefly keeps client-IP-based counters in memory to limit abuse; these are not saved with the submission.
The AI API provider and any underlying model provider may process the submitted materials and technical request information. Their processing locations, storage, retention and training practices have not been independently verified; this site does not promise that those providers retain nothing. Normal hosting and CDN request processing still applies. Before identification, Cloudflare Turnstile checks your browser to help prevent automated abuse. Cloudflare processes network and browser information, including your IP address, and challenge data. The verification token is sent to this server for validation; it is not saved with your submission or sent to the AI provider.
Audience measurement and browser storage
The measurement setting and any browser storage used by this version are described below. Reading the guides and following an ordinary external link do not require agreement to optional audience measurement.
This website does not automatically display an analytics prompt. On https://opticscompass.com, non-advertising Google Analytics 4 is enabled by default only after a same-origin server check identifies an eligible US request. The country check uses a country code supplied through a trusted Cloudflare connection; it does not return your IP address to the page. Non-US, unknown or failed checks do not load Google’s tag or send analytics requests or cookieless consent pings to Google. Local previews, visits by IP address and unknown page paths are excluded.
An active Global Privacy Control signal or a saved analytics-off preference stops Google Analytics, including for US visits. The website’s tag configuration denies advertising storage, advertising user data and advertising personalization and disables Google signals. The operator has confirmed that enhanced measurement and Google Products & Services data sharing are disabled. Those confirmations are not an independent account audit; other advertising integrations and server-side retention settings have not been independently verified.
When enabled, Google Analytics measures page paths and titles, referring hostnames and recognized referring paths within this site, foreground engagement time, reading-depth milestones, and controlled interactions such as instrument-type choices, magnification changes, guide links and source links. Full page and link query strings, fragments, external referrer paths, free-text inputs, email addresses and order details are not included in this site’s event parameters. A limited set of validated campaign labels may be used for traffic attribution. Google may also process technical request and device/browser information. Engagement time is not exact reading time.
Privacy settings in the footer opens only when you choose it. An explicit settings choice is stored in this browser’s localStorage under opticscompass.analytics-consent.v1, with a version and decision date, for up to 180 days. It is a preference, not a visitor identifier. Existing unexpired analytics-off choices remain effective. After expiry, eligible US visits return to the default setting without another prompt. No acceptance record is created merely because default US measurement starts. If preference storage is unavailable, turning analytics off applies only to the current page; opening or reloading a page applies the regional default again unless Global Privacy Control is active.
When enabled, Google Analytics may set _ga and measurement-specific _ga_* cookies for browser and session measurement. This site limits their lifetime to 180 days without automatic renewal. The Analytics account’s server-side user/event-data retention setting has not been verified; this notice does not claim all data is deleted after the browser-cookie period.
You can turn Google Analytics off using Privacy settings. This stops new measurement and removes this site’s accessible Google Analytics cookies. When the preference can be saved, the page reloads to remove previously executed Google code. If storage is unavailable, measurement is disabled for the current page without reloading. Turning analytics off does not erase data already received by Google. Reading, navigation and homepage controls remain available without Google Analytics. Google’s privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Google Analytics opt-out information: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Separately, the origin server keeps minimized request summaries for known HTML pages and true 404s across regions. These contain only a UTC calendar day, country code (or XX when unavailable), normalized known page path (or /404/), validated referring hostname (or none/other), and HTTP status. They contain no IP address, user agent, cookie, visitor identifier, query string, fragment, full referring URL or exact request time. Daily rotation retains up to 30 daily rotated files plus the current file (approximately 31 days). These counts describe requests, may include bots and may miss requests served from Cloudflare’s cache. They do not identify unique visitors, connect browsing paths or measure time on a page. The browser analytics-off setting does not disable these minimized server summaries or necessary hosting/CDN processing.
External websites
When you follow a link, your browser contacts the destination, which applies its own privacy and cookie practices. A destination may receive normal request information, including the referring site where the browser supplies it.
External links provide source material and reference information. This version has no purchase links, checkout or affiliate campaign mappings. Other websites apply their own data practices after you follow a link.
Guides and printable worksheets
The printable spotting-scope check record has no online submission or account feature. Notes you write on paper are not sent to this site. Merely opening the worksheet still involves the technical page request described above.
Changes to this notice
When the site changes its hosting, measurement, contact or other data-handling arrangements, this notice must be reviewed to reflect the configuration actually in use. Its effective date refers to the notice, not to the date an optics source was checked.
Notice effective date: 2026-10-20.