Another reminder that we are in the middle iof the first reporting
period for the new bird sightings journal for VA (Virginia Birds). This
reporting period follows the model of NA Birds, so only consists of July
and August. More information, the reporting regions, regional editor
contact information, etc, can be found at:
http://vsoeditors.home.comcast.net/ Click on Virginia Birds.
I'm taking the liberty to paste below some of what Kurt Gaskill
(Regional Editor for N. VA) has sent to birders in his area. I'm
running late for an airplane so am taking the lazy way out here (but
Kurt did such an eloquent job, why reinvent it!). When you read it, you
will realize the monumental task these volunteer regional editors have
taken on. Please join me in thanking in advance Kurt Gaskill, John
Spahr, Roger & Lynda Mayhorn, Mike Boatwright, Mike Stinson, Adam
D'Onofrio, Fred Atwood, and Bob Ake.
Please visit the website and contact your regional editor for more
information.
Alan Schreck
Here is some of Kurt's message:
I have been elected (read: got the short straw) to be a regional editor
of Virginia Birding, the new nearly quarterly journal of Bird Sightings
in Virginia. The journal is modeled after other journals such as those
for New Jersey and New York. The purpose of the journal is to provide
archival records of the bird life of Virginia. Not just the rarities!
For example, arrival and departure dates for migrants, high numbers &
date of a species during a season (spring, summer, fall and winter),
unusual breeding records, numbers of uncommon breeders, unusual species
for season (for example, there were 2 Lesser Scaup off the Dyke Marsh,
Fairfax Co,picnic area this morning), clinal variations of abundance(I
will get to that one in a bit), photos of rare and unusual sightings,
brief descriptions of said unusual sightings (one can always publish
examples, esp. of first regional records), comparative results of spring
and summer surveys or counts, highlights of CBCs, etc, etc. And I
think it would be desirable to have a list available of all the species
observed during a season (maybe not publish it, but at least record it
somewhere!).
The Northern Area for this new journal is quite extensive - it stretches
from Fairfax County to Shenandoah Co and south to Stafford, Culpeper
and... well let me just list the counties:
Frederick, Clarke, Loudoun, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William,
Stafford, Fauquier, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rappahannock, Culpeper,
Madison, plus all the included cities like Winchester and Falls Church.
With such a wide geographic area to cover, especially one that covers a
wide variety of habitats, it will come as no surprise to me that some
things that are taken for granted out in the mountains are just not
common near the Potomac. The classic examples are Cerulean Warbler vs.
Great
Black-backed Gulls (yep, saw one this morning off of Dyke, too!) These
clinal variations in species will make it difficult to report in this
journal. I believe I will need to differentiate the locations and
habitats carefully and probably over the course of 1-2 years should be
able to figure out what's unusual and not unusual. That's where folks
like you and your birding colleagues will play an important role. You
will need to tell me about unusual numbers or every-day numbers for
various species. Gulls. Sparrows. Warblers. Flycatchers. Thrush.
Shorebirds. Then, I can try to figure out what is a normal clinal
variation and what goes beyond the norm.
To help facilitate this learning curve, I am planning to do 2 things in
the near term. The first is, with the able help of Fred Bogar, use a
database program to record all sightings into a master database
delineating locations to at least the county level. Fred will brief me
on how to use this program soon, but I think one can adapt excel
spreadsheets to input
the desired info. (I will check on that). What this means is that if
you wish to report much information, say for a survey or a CBC or a BBS,
it would be easy to enter the data via a spreadsheet. For individual
sightings, I will just have to put it in by hand. There may be a way
to include you and your colleagues into this data entry process, but
that is likely many months down the road. In the mean time, the summer
reporting period is the months of June and July and so, please pass the
word and submit all your info to me via my home address,
kurtcapt87@xxxxxxx Thank you!
The second thing I plan to do is visit many of your top birding
locations. I have been to Blandy once (reported the Sora at the pond on
VA Birds 5/29/04). I am also reasonably familiar with Shenandoah NP.
I would like to visit other locations. One possibility is a trip this
coming
Saturday (one day). I may also be able to do a 2-day trip on the July
4th holiday period. In regard to these, can you or your colleagues
suggest useful destinations? I would like to learn about the typical
mountain breeders and find unusual breeders such as Brown Creeper, Least
Flycatcher,
and winged-warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Magnolia, Hermit Thrush, Veery,
Black-capped Chicadee, etc. Any help you can give in this endeavor
would be greatly appreciated!
That's about it for now, again, please pass this note onto others who
may be able to help. I will attempt to find a few more email addresses
and send copies of the main text to them, too.
Wishing you good birds,
Linda Fields/Alan Schreck
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