[TN-Bird] Tennessee Birders by the Numbers: 2007

Tennessee Birders by the Numbers: 2007

TN Birders:

   I had hoped to get this report out sooner but a small medical problem and
my job got in the way ("science is a demanding mistress," it has been said).
Yet, here it finally is.  As in previous years, the idea is to see where TN
birders stand compared to the wider community of birders.  And every year we
seem to get better in the standings and this year is no exception.  We begin
with "Total Ticks," where Tennessee birders continue to excel.

 I. Total Ticks: States/Provinces by Total Ticks Birders

  The American Birding Association's (ABA) Total Ticks is where you list the
total species seen in states (but not Hawaii), Canadian provinces, DC & the
French islands of St.-Pierre & Miquelon (located just south of the Island of
Newfoundland), with a threshold (requirement) of 4,000 total birds in these
areas.   In 2006, we came in 3 tied with California.  In 2007, as indicated
below, we tied for 1 with Michigan, with 8 total ticking birders.  No state
has more total tickers than TN!

  1.-tied TENNESSEE (8 birders)
  1.-t Michigan (8)
  6.-t California (7)
  6.-t Massachusetts (7)
  6.-t New Jersey (7)
  6.-t Washington (7)
  7. New York (6)
10.-t Colorado (5)
10.-t Florida (5)
10.-t Indiana (5)
15.-t Texas (4)
15.-t Maryland (4)
15.-t Illinois (4)
15.-t Pennsylvania (4)
15.-t Rhode Island (4)
16. Virginia (3)

 And who are these well-traveled total tickers for 2007?  They are: David
Chaffin (10,726), Rick Waldrop (7,729), Kevin Breault (7,071), Daniel
Jacobson (6,384) John Henderson (6,215), John Moyle (5,645), David Trently
(4,382), and Bill Pulliam (4,277).  That's 52,429 bird observations!


 II.  States/Provinces by ABA Area Birders

   The major ABA list, the "ABA Area" includes all the states (but again
not HI), Canadian provinces, St. Pierre & Miquelon and adjacent waters, with
a threshold of 500 species.  In 2006 we came in 14th, but we did better in
2007 with a rank of 12 (tied with Maryland) with 23 TN birders on the ABA
Area list.

  1. California (81 birders)
  2. Texas (61)
  3. Florida (53)
  4. Michigan (41)
  5. Massachusetts (37)
  6. Washington (33)
  7. Colorado (32)
  8. Arizona (29)
  9. New York (28)
10. New Jersey (27)
12.-t TENNESSEE (23)
12.-t Maryland (23)
14.-t Ohio (22)
14.-t Pennsylvania (22)

   Who are these 23 high ranking TN birders for 2007?   Benton Basham (866
birds with a rank of 2 among all birders, an extraordinary result!   Only
Professor Macklin Smith (MI) is higher with 876 birds in the ABA Area),
David Chaffin (803, with a rank of 27), Dollyann Myers (757), Nita Neilman
(751), John Henderson (749), Daniel Jacobson (748), Kevin Calhoon (734),
Rick Waldrop (732), Rick Knight (707), Kathy Jacobson (697), Carol Fegarido
(686), Judy Newsome (686), Gail & Steve Clendenen (677), Terry Witt (663),
Jeff Wilson (646), Kevin Breault (632), Ron Huff (621), John Moyle (614),
Francis Fekel (604), Michael Todd (602), Bill Pulliam (590), David Trently
(559).

   So, Tennessee ranks 12 in 2007 on the number of birders on the ABA Area
list, but is this a case of apples and oranges?  Sure, California ranks 1
with 81 birders, but there are lots of people in California, exactly
36,553,215 if the Census Bureau is right (TN is at 6,156,719).  Perhaps, we
could come up with a better list if we controlled for population size.
Thus,

 States/Provinces by ABA Area Birders (per million pop.)

  1. Montana (9.4 ABA Area Birders per million pop.)
  2. Delaware (8.1)
  3. Rhode Island (7.6)
  4. New Mexico (6.6)
  5. Colorado (6.6)
  6. New Hampshire (6.1)
  7. Idaho (6.0)
  8. Alaska (5.58)
  9. Massachusetts (5.7)
10. Washington (5.1)
11. Kansas (5.0)
12. Vermont (4.8)
13. Arizona (4.6)
14. Oregon (4.3)
15. Maryland (4.09)
16. Michigan (4.07)
17. Wyoming (3.8)
18. TENNESSEE (3.7)

...and at the bottom:

41. Georgia (1.4)
42. South Dakota (1.3)
43. Nevada (1.2)
44. Nebraska (1.13)
45. West Virginia (1.1)
46. Mississippi (1.0)
47. Hawaii (0.8)
48. Wisconsin (0.7)
49. Alabama (0.6)
50. Kentucky (0.5)

    Well, so much for controlling population size.  Yet, while I noted that
this is probably a "better" list it is not perfect (in statistics there is
beauty but no perfection).  For example, because some states have very few
ABA Area birders (e.g., 2 in Wyoming), and because the reliability of the
results for each states in the above rankings is not uniform (that is, over
time, states with fewer ABA Area birders would tend to vary more with regard
to their standing on these rankings), it may make sense to omit states with
few ABA Area birders (of course, there are other options like averaging the
data over many years to improve
reliability).  Thus, the question becomes how many birders is too small?
There are several ways of estimating this but let us say that less than 10
birders is too few.  Here,

States/Provinces by ABA Area Birders with States/Provinces with 10 or more
 ABA Area Birders (per million pop.)

  1. New Mexico (6.6)
  2. Colorado (6.58)
  3. Massachusetts (5.7)
  4. Washington (5.1)
  5. Kansas (5.0)
  6. Arizona (4.6)
  7. Oregon (4.3)
  8. Maryland (4.09)
  9. Michigan (4.07)
10. TENNESSEE (3.7)

   Now, that's a bit better!   Note, that no matter what the calculation, TN
is the highest ranking southern state on the ABA Area list.


 III.  TN Birders on State/Province Lists Other than Tennessee

   Lots of  TN birders are on the lists for other states (exactly 20 TN
birders with a total of 26 states/provinces).  Each state or Canadian
province has a requirement of 50% species identified.  In 2007, the TN
requirement was 203, i.e., in order to record your TN total with the ABA you
must have identified 203 species in TN (note, the requirement is 204 in
2008).  The following table provides TN birders by the number of
states/provinces at the 50% threshold, and the specific states/provinces
ranked first among TN birders.  Thus, David Chaffin has 50% or more species
in 23 states/provinces and in six states/provinces is first among all TN
birders.

  1. David Chaffin (23 states/provinces), AK, KY, IN, MI, OK, SD (first
     among TN birders)
  2. Rick Waldrop (17), MO, ND
  3. Kevin Calhoon (10), FL, OH, SC
  4. John Henderson (8)
  5. Daniel Jacobson (7), GA
  7.-t Jeff Wilson (5), AL, AR, MS
  7.-t David Trently 5), PA
12.-t Mark Greene (4)
12.-t Carol Fegarido (4), AZ, CA
12.-t John Moyle (4), CT, NJ, NY
12.-t Bill Pulliam (4), CO
12.-t Judy Newsome (4)
16.-t Kevin Breault (3), IL
16.-t Francis Fekel (3)
16.-t Gail & Steven Clendenen (3)
16.-t Rick Knight (3), LA, NC, TX
20.-t Philip Casteel (2)
20.-t Ron Huff (2)
20.-t Kathy Jacobson (2)
20.-t Dollyann Myers (2)

There are 24 states with no TN birders.  Is that a great opportunity or
what?

IV.  AOU Area

    What is the AOU?  Established in 1883, the AOU is the American
Ornithologist Union, the major professional association for
ornithologists--these are the people who actually do bird science.  Their
publication, The Auk, is the major scientific journal in the bird field.
The AOU Area is that covered by the most recent AOU Check-List of North
American Birds, and includes North and Central America and island groups
such as Hawaii.  Our TN leader on this list is Rick Waldrop with 1652 birds
and an impressive rank of 4.  Other birders include Dollyann Myers with 1538
and a rank of 18, David Chaffin has 1325 @ 51 and Ron Huff has 1317 @ 53.


V. Canada: The Undiscovered Country?

   This year there are no birders reporting on ABA's Canada list, and again
no birders with 50% or greater for a Canadian province (Robert Odear we miss
you!).  Note that the threshold for Canada is only 350, and several trips to
British Columbia and Ontario or Quebec might do the trick!  I expect to be
in western Canada (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan & perhaps a short trip to
British Columbia with my non-birding family) in May/June 2009 but
unfortunately I am not likely to get to any threshold.  (If any of you have
information about where to go in AB, MB & SK I would really appreciate it.)


VI.  The World

   Our World leader with an amazing 6877 species is Dollyann Myers at a
rank of 26 among all ABA birders.  Ron Huff has 6733 at rank 30, and Terry
Witt has 5944 at rank 56.  Note, that in the top 30 only one state, TX,
has more birders than TN.   Way to go!


 VII.  North America

   If we include all areas in North America, Rick Waldrop has 1652 birds at
a high rank of 4 (again, among all ABA birders!), Dollyann Myers at 1538
birds has a rank of 16, and Terry Witt has 1328 at a rank of 52.


 VIII.  South America

   On ABA's South America list, Ron Huff has 2153 species at a rank of 28,
Dollyann Myers is at 2141 with a rank of 31, Rick Waldrop has 1977 (48), and
Terry Witt has 1920 (50).


 IX.  Africa

   Our leaders in Africa are Dollyann Myers (1445 @ 27), Ron Huff (1439 @
28), and Terry Witt (1369 @ 35).


 X.  Eurasia

   In Asia, Ron Huff has 1513 (30), Dollyann Myers is at 1492 (32), and
Terry Witt has 1242 (43).


 XI.  Mexico

   In Mexico, Dollyann Myers has 695 (30), Jeff Wilson is at 686 (31),
Daniel Jacobson has 644 (40), and Judy Newsome has 563 (75)


 XII.  Millennium List

   A new list for the ABA is the "Millennium List".  Here, you record the
number of species identified in the ABA Area after January 1, 2001.  Carol
Fegarido has 668 and leads TN birders at a rank of 12 (among all ABA
birders), David Chaffin has 627 at a rank of 29, Gail and Steve Clendenen
has 618 at a rank of 39, and Daniel Jacobson has 615 at a rank of 42.


XIII.  Photographed-ABA Area

   This is another recent list.  TN birders on this list are Jeff Wilson
with 574 birds at a rank of 27, and Mike Todd with 482 birds and a rank of
47.


 XIV.  East South Central Region

   The major regional groupings in the US are the ones developed by the
US Census Bureau.  The "East South Central Region" includes Alabama,
Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee.  The following table includes the top
12 totals among all birders on the state lists for AL, KY, MS and TN.
Note that eight of the twelve are TN birders!  I don't know about you but I
find this statistic to be quite extraordinary.

  1. JEFF WILSON, TN  (1316 birds)
  2. DAVID CHAFFIN, TN (1142)
  3. RICK WALDROP, TN  (1064)
  4. MARK GREENE, TN (1047)
  5. Larry Peavler, IN  (1029)
  6. Leif Anderson, AR (953)
  7. Deuane Hoffman, PA (914)
  8. Mike Resch, MA (902)
  9. DANIEL JACOBSON, TN (859)
10. JOHN HENDERSON, TN (842)
11. PHIPPIP CASTEEL, TN (814)
12. KEVIN CALHOUN, TN (800)

    Are there other multiple states list that should be used?  Let me know
if you have an idea.  One group of states I hope to focus on when I get
older (I have been telling myself this for 10 years!) is states that are
adjacent to TN because getting there is relatively easy.  So, the following
is the thirteen highest birders by total number of birds in all of the
adjacent states (AL, AR, GA, KY, MO, MS, NC & VA).

 States Adjacent to Tennessee

  1. Deuane Hoffman, PA (2046)
  2. Leif Anderson, AR (2017)
  3. RICK WALDROP, TN (2008)
  4. DAVID CHAFFIN, TN (1855)
  5. Mike Resch, MA (1806)
  6. Robin Carter, SC (1501)
  7. Caroline Eastman, SC (1449)
  8. JEFF WILSON, TN (1260)
  9. Paul Sykes, GA (1083)
10. DANIEL JACOBSON, TN (1070)
11. KEVIN CALHOON, TN (1067)
12. JOHN HENDERSON, TN (1034)
13. MARK GREENE, TN (963)

Both impressive and an opportunity for TN birders!

 XV.  Annual Lists

   The ABA has various annual lists.  Among them is that for the ABA Area,
in which Gail and Steve Clendenen have 417 birds with a rank of 40 for 2007.
On the "United States" list, Gail and Steve also have a rank of 26.  In the
World, Dollyann Myers has 1705 annual (2007) birds with a fantastic rank of
4 (among all ABA birders), with Ron Huff very close at 1691 with a rank of
5. In 2006, Dollyann and Ron were ranked 4 and 6 respectively!  That is
serious annual birding!  With regard to annual lists for states and
provinces, Carol Fegarido is 6 on the AZ list this year with 287 birds.
John Henderson, Daniel Jacobson and David Chaffin are 9, 10, & 11 on the GA
list with 218, 209 & 195 birds, respectively.  David Chaffin is 10 on the MI
list with 180 birds.  Of course, lots of birders were on the annual list for
TN led by Jeff Wilson with 278 birds and Michael Todd at 263.

 XVI.  Annual Total Ticks, 2007

   The ABA does not have a list for annual total ticks but it can be
calculated.  The following table include the top ten birders by number of
total ticks for 2007 (in brackets I have included the overl total ticks as
of 2007).  Note that to be counted in a year you must have a record for the
previous year.  In previous years, John Henderson, David Chaffin, Robert
Odear, Rick Waldrop and Kevin Breault have been in the top 10.  Previous
results for 1999-2006 were included in the 2006 report.

  1. Joan Bathke, MO (687)  [6,098]
  2. KEVIN BREAULT, TN (676)  [7,071]
  3. Bill Laframbois, WA (428)  [6,414]
  4. Nancy Laframois, WA (419)  [6,316]
  5. Daniel Casey, MT (402)  [5,430]
  6. Albert Filemyr, PA (371) [7,325]
  7. Mike Resch, MA (368)  [10,839]
  8. David Stirling, BC (366)  [4,735]
  9. Michael Gochfeld, NJ (324)  [6,998]
10. Jennifer Rycenga, CA (301)  [4,946]


XVII. Miscellaneous

   One more category this year composed of two things that crossed my
mind.

 A. In every state and province there is one individual who ranks first.
How do these first ranked individuals rank with the rest?  That is, can we
determine a ranking for those individuals that rank first on
states/provinces? This is one way.  Each state list has a published number
of birds for the state.  In 2007, the bird list for TN was 406.  Our number
one birder in TN is Jeff Wilson will 386 birds.  That is 95.1%.  These are
the results for the top fifteen first "rankers":

   1. Bud Johnson (AZ) 95.5%
   2. John Parmeter (NM) 95.4%
   3. Robert Fox (MA) 95.3%
   4. JEFF WILSON (TN) 95.1%
   5. Ron Martin (ND) 94.4%
   6. Brainard Palmer-Ball (KY) 93.9%
   7. Charles and Mary Gambill (TX) 93.7%
   8. John Danzenbaker (NJ) 93.5%
   9. Colin Campbell (DE) 93.23%
 10. Dick Schottler (CO) 93.22%
 11. Paul O'Brien (MD) 93.0%
 12. Ricky Davis (NC) 92.7%
 13. Thomas Kent (IA) 92.1%
 14. Mark Corder (KS) 91.9%
 15. Bruce Barrett (CA) 91.8%

    Great result for TN's first birder, Jeff Wilson!  Looking for a state at
the bottom of this list?  Hawaii is at 74.9% and Alaska is at 72.4%.  But
don't think you can go there and end up with 90% anytime soon!

B.  How many total ticks are possible?  Well, all you have to do is add up
all the official state/province bird list and you get about 27,000.  How
does that compare to what total tickers have done at this point.  Our number
one total ticker is Paul Lehman (NJ) with 17,521 in 2007.  Given the amount
of effort involved this is a truly amazing result.  The second total ticker
is almost 2,000 birds lower (Deuane Hoffman @ 15,760).  Yet, Paul's result
is only about 65% of what is possible.  I can't imagine anyone surpassing
Paul at this point (and he is still very active) but there is certainly a
lot more room for more birding!  For me, now in Aug, 2008 having crossed
7,500, I'll be happy to get to 10,000, perhaps 12,000 if I am really lucky
(and healthy)!.


  That's it for 2007.  Best of luck for 2008!   Always, let me apologize in
advance for any errors.  There are lots of numbers and calculations here and
I'm sure some are incorrect.  Let me know and I'll make a note of it next
year.  Let me also know if you have a calculation question you would like
answered, and if you would like me to include additional lists, e.g., West
Indies, Australasia, etc.

    Once again let me note that you can't list your ABA totals unless you
are a member of the national body, the American Birding Association
(www.americanbirding.org).  An Individual membership is $45 and Joint is
$52, and you get subscriptions to Birding, a very nice full-color magazine,
Winging It, a newsletter with all things birds (where to go birding,
sightings, conferences, etc.), and the ABA Big Day and List Report.  A great
investment for all TN birders and a good way of getting TN birding out to
the greater birding community!  Join the fun!

Good birding and good totaling!

Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN


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