[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Bird count going on now



On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Allison Wells wrote:
> 
> Today is the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count (February 18-21),
> and reports rushing in. As of 5pm we're approaching 2600 checklists.

I just submitted my totals for Friday; so far for today, the most 
noteworthy addition is 5 Purple Finches.

However, it looks like this study is suffering from the same deficiency 
as the NAS' Christmas Bird Counts, namely a lack of editorial filtering 
on the data. I just checked out the 2000 totals so far and noted reports 
of TWO American Tree Sparrows and TWO White-crowned Pigeons (!!!!), as 
well as a number of reports that are possible but seem unlikely for any 
residential part of the state at this time. For instance, one report of 
20 Barn Swallows, which seems awfully early; and a report of two 
Black-capped Chickadees, which certainly occur somewhere in NC, but out 
of the range of almost everyone's backyards. And that's just for NC. 
Glancing at the SC reports I see that, yes, there is a Great Crested 
Flycatcher; think that report came from Hilton Head? Does anyone on the 
listserv have supporting evidence for these sightings?

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology

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