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Re: Big day interpretation



Dear C-Birders,

Shantanu raises an interesting question about comparing state list totals
among birders reporting to ABA for NC, VA, and IL, wondering why if seems
that the top NC birders reporting have, on average, better state lists than
their counterparts in VA and IL. I can't help but speculate on this
interesting bit of birding trivia. Here is my two cents' worth.

First, NC is more geographically diverse than either IL or VA, since it
stretches from the subtropics in the southeast to the top of the highest
mountain in eastern North America. VA is somewhat similar, but not nearly so
good as NC. For example Bachman's Sparrow and Red-cockaded Woodpecker both
occur on the VA state list, but neither is very easy to find. I am probably
one of the few total tickies birders who has Red-cockaded Woodpecker on his
VA list, for example. (I am a ringer, however, since I used to live in VA
and MD). Of course NC has easily available Bachman's Sparrows and
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.

Another reason why top NC birders have better lists than those of VA and IL
has to be the Outer Banks. Not only are the Outer Banks one of the best
birding areas in the United States, but rarities there are often seen by
large numbers of birders once someone has found them. Indeed one cannot be
in the top 25 of NC birders without making at least a few runs to the Outer
Banks chasing stake outs. VA has Chincoteague, which is good, but not so
good for rarities as the Outer Banks. IL really has nothing quite like
either of these coastal hot spots.

Another reason why NC lists are so good in that the pelagic birding is
awesome, and the top NC birders take a lot of pelagic trips. True, VA has
some pelagic birding opportunities, and it has the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Tunnel, but this is not the same. IL has Lake Michigan and a LOT of Chicago
area birders, so the rarities there get found, and so get on the state list,
but the chances of finding a lot of stakeouts just is not as good along the
Chicago area lakefront as off Cape Hatteras.

In other words, it is just easier to run up a big list in NC than it is in
VA or IL. Alaska, on the other extreme, has a big state list, but it is
quite diificult for any birder to find even 200 of the more than 400 species
on the state list. NC is right up there with FL and TX as an easy state to
see a lot of birds in. That's why it's so much fun for out of staters like
me to bird in NC. (I am also an NC ringer, since I lived in Durham, Chapel
Hill, and Carrboro for many years).

If you want to find a tough state to run up a big list, try KY or WV. These
states are fun to bird, especially WV, but you won't find anywhere near as
many species in either of these that you would find in a few days of birding
from the Great Smokey Mountains NP and Blue Ridge Parkway down the hill to
the Morehead City area and then out to the Outer Banks, topping it off with
a pelagic trip.

I live in SC now and bird here a lot, and we have some great spots in SC,
but I have to admit that the birding is better in NC.

Robin Carter
Columbia, SC
rcarter@sc.rr.com