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re: NC Birding fraternity (ABA Big Day and List Report)



Hi again,

It has been pointed out to me that I should have listed Bob Holmes' name
up there with the other birders who drive the NC competition to its
current over-400 heights. Apologies to Bob for leaving him out! He's not
listed in this year's ABA Big Day and List Report - which just arrived,
and presumably inspired Shantanu to start this thread - but last year's,
which is still on the ABA website, shows him at 396 species, one spot
ahead of Eric in the standings. I'm told that Bob is now above 400, up
there with Ricky, Harry, Derb, and the Johns; guess he was too busy
birding to fill out the ABA paperwork! (I suspect that Mike Tove is also
pretty far up there too)

As for Eric, he may not have surpassed the magic 400 number yet, but I
think all of us down here in the 250-350 neighborhood owe him lots of
credit for relaying news of individual birds and birding hotspots to
Carolinabirds.

Another bit of errata: apparently, the Swift Creek with all the rare
mussels and other species, the subject of the misguided legislation passed
by the NC House and currently in the senate, is not the same as the one
which runs through Hemlock Bluffs and the Swift Creek Bluffs preserve.
But, as the person who pointed this out to me said, "This doesn't make the
proposed legislation any less heinous."

Back to the ABA Big Day and List Report: glad to see a few new big day
records for NC. One team - David Harrison and Tom Spies - topped the old
August record of 100 species by tallying 110. Another - Richard Frechette,
Scott Spangenberg, and Frances Doyle - tied my June record of 93. And
thankfully, my pitiful old December "big" day of 56 species is finally off
the books, though I'm not sure by whom; Norm Budnitz and I submitted one
of 81 species, but the number now in there reads 84, with no indication of
who the responsible party was. Lowest NC big day is now 70 species in
March; but of course, there's no reason why we couldn't have 100-plus
species in all 12 months here, other than jobs and families and all those
other distractions...

And hey, is Gifford R. Beaton of South Carolina, ranked #41 in NC with 259
species, really a different person than Giff Beaton of Georgia, ranked #46
in NC with 256 species? I notice they both show up on the SC rankings
too, with Gifford ahead of Giff there as well. But only Giff is listed in
Tennesee... Well, if there really are two of him, it would explain how he
finds so many good birds *and* dragonflies!

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/