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Re: Help needed on bird matters, Bear Island



To build a bird checklist for someplace as small as the Anne Close Greenway
what you really need are data, data, and more data. Here is what you need.
Each record should have the following -- Species Name, Date of Observation,
Observer, Number (optional), Other notes (such as where the bird was seen,
for unusual species).

Record all of this in a text file, perhaps using observer's initials, with a
special place to show what initials mean what. Keep the text file in
taxonomic order, and then in chronological order within species.

Once you get a few thousand observations patterns will begin to emerge.

Sample Bird List File for XXXX Refuge

Observers: RC = Robin Carter, TK = Tim Kalbach, BW = Bob Wood

Species

Great Blue Heron
2003/06/12 (2) RC, 2003/07/04 (1) TK  (This means that Robin Carter reported
two Great Blue Herons on June 12, 2003, and Tim Kalbach reported 1 on July
4, 2003.

Wood Duck
1999/12/23 (2) BW, 2001/03/01 RC  (This means that Bob Wood reported two
Wood Ducks on December 23, 1999 and Robin Carter reported this species on
March 1, 2001 without specify number).

Do this for EVERY bird species sighted, for every day. Put in even the
cardinals and chickadees. Do this for a year or so and you will have the
beginnings of the data that you need to do a check list. Then you can go
back over the data and make judgements about how common a species is, and
you will know the exact dates so you can easily determine which species are
resident or what the dates of the migration are for migrants.

You do not need special software to do this. All you need is a text file.
This is the way that I maintain the data for the Congaree Swamp checklist
and the Orangeburg sod farms check list.

The more data that you get your hands on, the better the checklist. Patterns
will emerge. The trick is to get day lists from as many good birders as
possible and them enter them into your text file. This is time consuming,
but will give you a better checklist.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "dcollopy" <dcollopy@rhtc.net>
To: <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 12:12 PM
Subject: Help needed on bird matters, Bear Island


> Hi folks,
> 1)I need some impute on doing a bird checklist for Anne Close
> Greenway in Fort Mill, SC.  They had a birder make a checklist ten years
> ago on what he thought should be seen at the greenway.  As far as I can
> tell this list was not check with actually observations.  The staff wants
> me to update what is actually seen at the greenway. The greenway has a
> really cool software package which pinpoints where fish, flowers and trees
> are located.  They want to day the same thing for birds so that the casual
> hiker can look up possible species are various locations in the greenway.
> The greenway is pretty big 2,000 acres made up of woods and fields. I have
> the following questions.  a) Is there a scientific way of creating an
> accurate checklist for a place, if so, what procedures should be followed?
> b) The checklist uses the following status legend for the birds M-Migrant,
> usually present in the Spring or Fall etc. etc. etc. I've used all kinds
of
> checklists with lots of different legends. Is there one that people like
> better than others? If the checklist uses the more common legend of
a,c,u,o
> and r is there a scientific way of determining which birds go in which
> category?  Or is the checklist just a rough guide to birdlife?  c) Is
there
> anything I'm missing? I've done breeding bird surveys but this is a little
> bit different.
> 2) If anyone has done any birding in Anhui province or Guangzhou,
> China in August can they e-mail me off this list. I leave next week and
> have lots of birding questions.
> 3) I missed the duck at Donnelley Island (ugh!) but saw three other
> lifers at Bear Island. I found the best shorebird habitat to be at
mid-pond
> section just past the entrance on the right side of the road. The water on
> the left side of causeway had yellowlegs, stilt and a few peeps.  Its not
> great shorebird habitat yet but it was a lot lower than the rest of Bear
> and mud flats were starting to appear.  Thanks for all you help, Dave
> Collopy  Rock Hill, SC   dcollopy@rhtc.net
>
> David Collopy
> Rock Hill, South Carolina
> dcollopy@rhtc.net
>
>