[Bristol-Birds] Tom McNeil ranks in top 20 of Tennessee birders
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'bristol-birds'" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 19:31:38 -0500
SPECIAL NOTE: Tom McNeil, a leading Northeast Tennessee birder, has moved into
the top-ranked among Tennessee birders. He is from Elizabethton TN and teaches
biology at Northeast State.
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of kbreault
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 10:20 PM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: kbreault@xxxxxxxx
Subject: [TN-Bird] Tennessee Birders by the Numbers: 2013 (Vol. 9)
Tennessee Birders by the Numbers: 2013 (Vol. 9)
Welcome to Tennessee Birders by the Numbers (TBN) report for 2013. The year
ending on December 31, 2013 was a wonderful one for rare birds in TN and
noteworthy performances by TN birders, including a rank of fourth on the
All-time Tennessee Big Years list by Ruben Stoll. And note that in the ABA
Area, Neil Hayward of Cambridge, MA may have the number one spot with his 746
accepted and three additional provisional birds for 2013 = 749. You will
remember that Sandy Komito ended up with 748 birds in 1998 when some of his
provisional birds were accepted by the ABA. You may also remember how many
people at the time thought Komito’s total could not be bested.
This report also includes an updated All-time Total Ticks list, an updated (and
without thresholds) Local Group Total Ticks list, a Tennessee Total Ticks for
counties list, and various information regarding our county birders.
I. TN List
With the new interactive reporting system adopted by the ABA I have changed the
form of TBN and so we begin first with the Tennessee list. You will see that
Jeff Wilson is still on the list and I have asked that his name be retained for
his extraordinary total on the list, and I would argue that he should remain as
long as he is in the top position. On this list I have used ABAs numbering
system of ties but I have alphabetically ordered ties (this is an easy fix the
ABA will probably make soon). I would also point out that almost 160 names are
on the TN list because the ABA no longer uses thresholds, allowing for a more
inclusive way of birding and listing. I thought it might also be interesting to
see the percentages of some of these ranks regarding the number of birds as a
percentage of Jeff’s total. Thus, Mike Todd, at rank #2, has 363 TN birds =
93.6% of Jeff’s 388 total. Congratulations to Kevin Calhoon for getting to 350,
and to Thomas McNeil for getting to 300!
TTom McNeil Elizabethton.jpg
1. 388 Jeff Wilson
2. 363 Michael Todd (93.6%)
3. 360 Clyde Blum
4. 356-t Mark Greene
4. 356-t Terry Witt
6. 351 Dollyann Myers
7. 350 Kevin Calhoon
8. 348 David C. Chaffin
9. 347 Tommie Rogers
10. 338 Ron Hoff (87.1%)
11. 332 Gail Clendenen
11. 332 Stave Clendenen
13. 325 Rick Waldrop
14. 323 Francis Fekel
15. 311 Scott Somershoe
16. 307 David Trently
17. 301 Ken Oeser
18. 300 Thomas McNeil
19. 295 Kevin Breault
20. 280 Rack Cross (72.2%)
20. 280 Mike O’Malley
22. 279 Darrel Wilder
23. 277 Gail King
24. 274 Stephen Zipperer
25. 268 Q. Gray
26. 264 Gary Brunvoll
27. 258 Larry Peavler
28. 255 Jon Mann
29. 254 Gene Knight
29. 254 Rick Shipkowski (65.5%)
II. TN Birders on States/Provinces Lists
Many TN birders are on the lists for other states and provinces and with the
removal of thresholds we perhaps get a clearer picture of TN birding. The
following list includes TN birders (but sadly not Jeff), by the number of
states/provinces in which they reported lists. Also included are the
state/province abbreviations for those TN birders who are first among TN
birders on these other lists. So for example, David Chaffin has reported lists
in 61 states/provinces and in the indicated 16 states/provinces is the leading
TN birder. Note that there are no TN birders on the lists for Northwest
Territories, Nunavut and St. Pierre et Miquelon. Get your reservations now!
Also, note that I did not include Hawaii as it is not in the ABA Area. Finally,
this list is highly correlated with the Total Ticks list that I will discuss
below.
1. David C. Chaffin (61 states/provinces), AK, AL, CA, IN, KY, ME, MI, OK, PA,
SD, WV, AB, BC, NB, PQ, YT (#1 among TN birders)
3. Kevin Breault (58) CT, DC, ID, IL, MA, MT, NH, NV, NY, OR, RI, UT, VT, WI,
WY, MB, NS, PE, SK
3. Rick Waldrop (58) GA, LA, MD, MN, MS, ND, TX, VA, ON
4. Ken Oeser (49)
6. Mike O’Malley (38)
6. David Trently (38) NF
8. Tommie Rogers (30) CO, DE, FL, IA, KS, MO, NE, NM, WA
8. Michael Todd (30)
9. Kevin Calhoon (25) NC, OH, SC
11. Gail Clendenen (14) AZ
11. Steve Clendenen (14)
12. Clyde Blum (8)
13. Thomas McNeil (6)
16. Mark Greene (5) AR
16. Ron Hoff (5)
16. Scott Somershoe (5)
17. Francis Fekel (4) NJ
III. ABA Area
The following are our TN birders on the ABA Area list, including totals and
ranks in the top 100. Thus, Benton Basham has 881 species and a rank of 4th.
Congratulations to Scott Somershoe for getting to 500!
1. Benton Basham 881 (4)
2. David C. Chaffin 817 (19)
3. Dollyann Myers 772 (74)
4. Tommie Rogers 760 (91)
5. Kevin Calhoon 758 (96)
6. Clyde Blum 740
7. Gail & Steve Clendenen 716
8. Ron Hoff 685
9. Terry Witt 680
10. Michael Todd 673
11. Kevin Breault 656
12. Ken Oeser 649
13. Darrel Wilder 629
14. David Trently 626
15. Francis Fekel 613
16. Jon Mann 603
17. Mike O’Malley 593
18. Gail King 585
19. Gary Brunvoll 514
20. Thomas McNeil 509
21. Scott Somershoe 500
22. Rick Waldrop 471
IV. Canada
In the past because of the threshold involved, TN birders were not on the
Canada list. Without the threshold in place David Chaffin is first among TN
birders with 316 birds in Canada, a rank of 73, followed by Kevin Breault, 279
(88), and Rick Waldrop 263 (103).
V. Lower Forty-Eight
As indicated, this list includes all the states with the exception of Alaska
and Hawaii. As an empirical matter the list is highly correlated with the ABA
Area list. Our top leaders for 2013 are David C. Chaffin at 743, Tommie Rogers,
742, Kevin Calhoon, 736, and Clyde Blum and Gail & Steve Clendenen at 716.
VI. United States
Our leaders on this list are: David C. Chaffin at 826, Dollyann Myers, 817,
Kevin Calhoon, 787, Clyde Blum, 777, and Tommie Rogers at 760.
VII. AOU North
The AOU stands for the American Ornithological Union, established in 1883, and
the AOU North list is covered by the AOU checklist of North American birds, and
includes North and Central America and islands groups like Hawaii. On the North
list Rick Waldrop has a strong position with 1729 birds and a rank of 7,
followed by David C. Chaffin at 1282, Kevin Calhoon with 1228, Clyde Blum,
1040, and Gary Brunvoll, 1021.
VII. AOU South
In the South, Rick Waldrop is again our leader with 2233 birds and a rank of
10, followed by Gary Brunvoll with 752, and David C. Chaffin at 525.
VIII. Mexico
The ABA Mexico list has Dollyann Myers at the top position with 714 birds and a
rank of 26, followed closely by Clyde Blum with 687 and a rank of 30. Gail King
also has 659, followed by Gary Brunvoll, 591, and Rick Waldrop, 567.
IX. Central America
TN birders high on the Central America list are: Rick Waldrop, 909 with a rank
of 9, Dollyann Myers, 693, Ron Hoff, 630, Terry Witt, 615, and David Trently,
605.
X. West Indies/Caribbean
Our leaders here are Rick Waldrop with 306 birds, Dollyann Myers at 195, and
Kevin Calhoon with 188.
XI. Europe & Western Palearctic
Our top three on this list are Rick Waldrop, 361, Dollyann Myers, 208, and
David C. Chaffin with 186.
XII. Asia
On the Asia list we find Dollyann Myers at 1753 with a rank of 13, Terry Witt
with 1483, Rick Waldrop with 886, and David C. Chaffin at 787.
XIII. World
Dollyann Myers and Ron Hoff continue to add birds and increase their rankings
on the World list, Dollyann with 7889 and a rank of 8, and 7801 with a rank of
9 for Ron. Other leaders are Terry Witt with 6336, and Rick Waldrop with 4934.
Note that Dollyann’s total is 90% of the top position (8765), held currently by
Claes-Goran Cederlund of Sweden. (I know I need an All-time World list, perhaps
next year.)
XIV. North America
Rick Waldrop is our leader on the NA list with 1664 and a strong rank of 4,
followed by Dollyann Myers with 1517, Ron Hoff at 1341, Terry Witt at 1329, and
David Chaffin with 1293.
XV. South America
Dollyann Myers and Ron Hoff lead this list with 2464 and 2463, respectively,
and rankings of 10 and 12. Other leaders are Rick Waldrop at 2233, and Terry
Witt with 2076.
XVI. Africa
Dollyann Myers and Ron Hoff also lead this list with 1602 birds followed by
Terry Witt with 1282.
XVII. Australasia
On this list, Dollyann Myers and Ron Hoff rank 4 and 5, respectively, with 984
and 975 birds.
XVIII. Eurasia
Here, Ron Hoff takes the top spot with 1997, followed by Dollyann Myers at
1983, Terry Witt at 1580, Rick Waldrop with 1095, and David C. Chaffin with 932.
XIX. Atlantic Ocean
This year we have two birders on the Atlantic list, Mike O’Malley with 66, and
Dollyann Myers with 36.
XX. Pacific Ocean
On the Pacific list our leaders are Ron Hoff with 400, Dollyann Myers with 353,
Francis Fekel at 160, and Rick Waldrop with 105.
XXI. Indian Ocean
Ron Hoff has an outstanding rank of 2 on this list with 249 birds, followed by
Dollyann Myers with 240, a rank of 5.
XXII. South Polar Region
On this list Mike O’Malley is our leader with 25 birds and a rank of 65,
followed by Dollyann Myers with 20.
XXIII. ABA Millennium
This list includes all the birders who have been the most active regarding the
ABA Area since the century began (specifically, this list is the ABA Area for
the 21st century). First on the list is Clyde Blum at 714 with a rank of 16,
Gail & Steven Clendenen with 677, Michael Todd with 672, David Chaffin at 663,
Kevin Breault with 554 (when will this guy get to the West again?), and Mike
O’Malley at 402.
XXIV. Photographed ABA Area
Mike Todd is our leader here with 635 and a rank of 17, followed by Clyde Blum,
602 with a rank of 22, Kevin Calhoon, 568, Ron Hoff, 439, and Mike O’Malley,
426.
XXV. Photographed World
Ron Hoff has a ranking of 2 on this list with a very strong 3684, followed by
Mike Todd at 1431 and a rank of 9.
XXVI. World Families
As you might expect, Dollyann Myers and Don Hoff are the leaders on this list
with 227 families at a rank of 6, followed by Rick Waldrop with 166 families
and a rank of 111.
XXVII. All Territories & Provinces
This list is quite similar to the Total Ticks list and combines all the
territories/provinces in Canada. Our leader here is David C. Chaffin with a
rank of 20 and 1061 birds, followed by Kevin Breault at 968 with a rank of 25,
and Rick Waldrop, 594, rank of 36.
XXVIII. Total Ticks
As many of you know, Total Ticks has been my focus for many years, and year
after year we have seen that TN birders rank in the top 3 of all states (in
2011 we were #1), on the number of birders doing Total Ticks. David C. Chaffin
leads the TT list with 11,399 birds and a rank of 4, followed by Kevin Breault,
10,700 with a rank of 5, Rick Waldrop is at 9049, Dollyann Myers has 6380,
David Trently, 5202, Ron Hoff, 5120, Ken Oeser, 4697, Gail Clendenen, 4501,
Steve Clendenen, 4500, and Mike Todd with 3839. Note that in the
"miscellaneous" category below I have included the All-time Total Ticks list
(this list can also be found on my biographical blurb on the ABA site). Note
also that the late John Henderson was on Total Ticks list with a high ranking.
XXIX. Canadian Provinces
For many years the only TN birder on the lists for Canadian provinces was the
late Robert Odear (who spent most of his Canadian time in Manitoba), but in
time and the removal of thresholds it is clear that several TN birders continue
to make the trek north: Kevin Breault, David Chaffin, Mike O’Malley, David
Trently, and Rick Waldrop. Currently, David Chaffin is our TN leader on the
Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick (rank of 10), Quebec, and Yukon lists
(the only TN birder on the Yukon list). Kevin Breault leads in Manitoba, Nova
Scotia, Prince Edward Island (rank 5), and Saskatchewan (rank 8). Rick Waldrop
is our leader on the Ontario list, and David Trently leads in Newfoundland &
Labrador. As noted above, there are no TN birders for Northwest Territories,
Nunavut and St. Pierre et Miquelon–not that there are many birds there either!
(But don’t miss St. Pierre et Miquelon if you are going to Newfoundland &
Labrador, they are next door, a short ferry ride away.) As we have seen on
previous volumes of TBN, the Canadian provinces are some of the easiest places
to bird in the ABA Area and are also some of the most beautiful.
XXX. Annual Lists
This year the only TN birder on the ABA list for 2013 was David C. Chaffin with
317 birds. On the annual Total Ticks for 2013, Kevin Breault ended up with 754,
my fourth highest total since the ABA has been tracking Total Ticks, but Leo
Miller (of Illinois) had 1569 and Jeannette Piecznski, a birder from Texas, had
an amazing 2134, the third highest annual Total Ticks score ever. And Miller’s
score was the 6th highest all-time score. Note that last year TBN was a
"special issue" devoted to a "Quarter Century of State and Province Birding,
1988-2012," in which Jeff Wilson ranked 2nd among all birders during this
period, and so I did not include the usual report but I did want to note here
some fine 2012 performances by TN birders, including 611 for Francis Fekel on
the ABA annual list (rank of 2), and 657 (with a rank of 1) on the US annual
list. Also on the US annual list for 2012 was Kevin Calhoon (rank 19), and
Tommie Rogers had a rank of 10 on the 2012 North America list. (The All-time
Annual Total Ticks list can also be found on my biographical stuff on the ABA
site.)
XXXI. Annual List for Tennessee
As noted above I have been told that our winner this year was Ruben Stoll with
297 (see the all-time list below), followed by Terry Witt with 274 (a rank of
21 on the all-time list), Scott Somershoe with 256, Kevin Calhoon, 251, Stephen
Zipperer, 229, Francis Fekel, 216, Thomas McNeil, 213, David C. Chaffin,197,
and among others, Joshua Stevenson at 175, Andrew Gilbert at 166, and Jeannette
Piecznski with 78.
XXXII Miscellaneous
A. All-time Annual Tennessee List (top 10)
The big news here is the performance of Ruben Stoll, now 4th on the all-time
list (for the 10 year anniversary of TBN next year I will produce an expanded
list, perhaps the top 25 or so, and see Volume 7 for the top 50 down through
2011). Good job, Ruben! And note that Ruben is the highest ranking active
birder on the list!
1. Jeff Wilson (307-2002)
3.-t Jeff Wilson (298-1994)
3.-t Jeff Wilson (298-2005)
4. Ruben Stoll (297-2013)
5. Rebecca Satterfield (296-1993)
7.-t Jeff Wilson (290-2011)
7.-t Jeff Wilson (290-1990)
9.-t Michael Todd (289-2002)
9.-t Jeff Wilson (289-1996)
10. Scott Somershoe (288-2011)
B. All-time Total Ticks (top 15)
1. 18,271 Paul Lehman
2. 15,760 Deuane Hoffman
3. 15,594 Kenneth Ward
4. 13,580 Thomas Heatley
5. 12,990 Jon Dunn
6. 12,701 Michael Resch
7. 12,209 Cecil Kersting
8. 11,399 David C. Chaffin
9. 11,262 Richard Rosche
10. 11,175 Jeffrey Sanders
11. 10,921 Stephen Dinsmore
12. 10,700 Kevin Breault
13. 10,614 Leif Anderson
14. 10,136 Robin Carter
15. 9,864 James Beard
C. Local Group Total Ticks
As noted previously on TBN, Tennessee is rather well positioned geographically
speaking–and I am sure this is part of the reason why TN is so strongly
represented on the Total Ticks list. Many states (8) are adjacent to TN and if
you add Kentucky to the mix, 11 states are adjacent to TN and KY, with one
other state, SC, almost adjacent to TN. Thus, birders in TN and KY are in a
kind of "local group" that includes, TN, KY (and going clockwise), IL, IN, OH,
WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, AR and MO, a kind of super-regional group of 14
states. It is therefore possible to calculate total ticks for the Local Group.
Note that unlike a similar list I published in Vol. 7 of TBN, the following
list does not include thresholds. On this list I include all TN birders with at
least 500 in the Local Group.
1. 3591 Rick Waldrop
2. 3490 David C. Chaffin
3. 3124 Kevin Breault
4. 2817 Kevin Calhoon
5. 2342 Tommie Rogers
6. 2340 David Trently
7. 1744 Ken Oeser
8. 1598 Michael Todd
9. 1410 Clyde Blum
10. 1258 Mike O’Malley
11. 1206 Jon Mann
12. 1105 Mark Greene
13. 990 Scott Somershoe
14. 945 Thomas McNeil
15. 671 Stephen Zipperer
16. 604 Francis Fekel
17. 580 Ron Hoff
18. 562 Gail & Steve Clendenen
19. 510 Gail King
D. Tennessee Total Ticks (Counties!)
One of the nice things about the new ABA reporting system is that it includes
all counties (and county equivalents) in the US and Canada. So for the first
time we can look at a TTT, Tennessee Total Ticks for counties. The following
table is the result. Totals greater than 100 were included, and note that 34
birders listed TN counties.
1. 6993 Ron Hoff
2. 5804 Dollyann Myers
3. 5717 David C. Chaffin
4. 2696 Gail & Steve Clendenen
5. 2462 David Trently
6. 2018 Stephen Zipperer
7. 1798 Kevin Breault
8. 1189 Scott Somershoe
9. 1046 Mark Greene
10. 958 Thomas McNeil
11. 550 Francis Fekel
12. 469 Andrew Gilbert
13. 351 Bill Lotz
14. 293 Kevin Calhoon
15. 250 Terry Witt
16. 221 Rack Cross
17. 192 David Hollie
18. 165 Mike O’Malley
19. 155 Joshua Stevenson
21.-t 112 Joe Cox
21.-t 112 David Gibson
And you may be wondering who the leaders are in these 95 Tennessee counties of
ours. The following list includes the number of counties in which birders were
the number one birder in the county. So, for example, Ron Hoff is the number
one birder in 34 TN counties. (The overall total does not equal 95 because
there we ties, i.e., more than one person leading the county.)
1. 34 Ron Hoff
2. 20 David C. Chaffin
3. 14 Dollyann Myers
4. 7 David Trently
5. 5 Mark Greene
8.-t 4 Kevin Breault
8.-t 4 Thomas McNeil
8.-t 4 Stephen Zipperer
9. 3 Scott Somershoe
15.-t 1 Kevin Calhoon
15.-t 1 Gail & Steve Clendenen
15.-t 1 Rack Cross
15.-t 1 Francis Fekel
15.-t 1 Mike O’Malley
15.-t 1 Terry Witt
And, what are the highest totals across counties? Here, I only include birders
with at least 200 birds in a county.
1. 293 Kevin Calhoon, Hamilton County
2. 254 David C. Chaffin, Hamilton County
3. 250 Terry Witt, Rutherford County
4. 240 Mark Greene, Lake County
5. 236 Francis Fekel, Davidson County
6. 231 Scott Somershoe, Davidson County
7. 226 Ron Hoff, Anderson County
8. 225 Thomas McNeil, Carter County
9. 224 Scott Somershoe, Rutherford County
10. 221 Rack Cross, Sullivan County
11. 219 Dollyann Myers, Anderson County
12. 216 Mark Greene, Gibson County
14.-t 213 Ron Hoff, Rhoane County
14.-t 213 David Trently, Knox County
15. 212 Ron Hoff, Knox County
17.-t 210 Kevin Breault, Davidson County
17.-t 210 Gail & Steve Clendenen, Knox County
18. 209 Thomas McNeil, Washington County
19. 208 Stephen Zipperer, Rutherford County
20. 207 Thomas McNeil, Sullivan County
21. 205 David C. Chaffin, Bradley County
22. 201 Scott Somershoe, Lake County
A few more fun facts about Tennessee Total Tickers:
Three birders reported in all 95 Tennessee counties, Ron Hoff, Dollyann Myers,
and David C. Chaffin.
In two counties, Lewis and Wayne, the leading birders had only 24 birds, and in
Houston County the number one birder had 27 birds. Lewis and Wayne are adjacent
counties southwest of Nashville where the county seats are Hohenwald and
Waynesboro, respectively. Houston is a small county west of Dickson and south
of Stewart.
Ten counties had only three birders reporting results.
Lewis County had the fewest number of birds reported, 63.
A total of 113 county reports involved at least 100 birds.
Birders with the most county reports of at least 100 birds: Ron Hoff, 17; David
C. Chaffin, 16; Dollyann Myers and David Trently, 11; Gail & Steve Clendenen,
9; Kevin Breault, 8; Scott Somershoe and Stephen Zipperer, 6; and Mark Greene
and Thomas McNeil, 5.
Overall, there were 577 county reports for TN.
Finally, I asked myself, what if we had a ABA Area County Total Ticks? While I
don’t want to think about the work involved in just reporting those results, I
will say that because Tennessee has so many counties (we rank 10th on the list
of counties–e.g. Texas has 254, Georgia has 159), it might well be the case
that some of our high ranking Tennessee Total Tickers would also rank highly on
the ABA Area County Total Ticks. I know of birders who are beginning to report
county results all over the country, and since the ABA site went up more than
15,000 county reports have been entered. Yes, 15,000!
Well, that is it for the TBN 2013 report. Best of luck for 2014! Of course, I
apologuize in advance for any errors. Many numbers and calculations were
involved and the new ABA website is not the easiest to work with. If I’ve made
a mistake let me know and I’ll make the change next year. If I’ve made a big
mistake I’ll email the group asap! On a personal note I did want to again thank
all those who gave me camera recommendations. I got one over the holidays, a
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, with 11-55mm. I have not had an opportunity to use it much
(why do work responsibilities increase the closer you get to retirement?), but
if I end up liking it I’ll also buy the EF 100-400mm, and 2x Extender for
birding.
Now, as I always say, you can’t list your ABA totals unless you are a member of
the American Birding Association (http://www.americanbirding.org).
<http://www.americanbirding.org)./> (Although I would support a reduced fee
only for listing.) The Individual and Household membership is still $45 and
$52, respectively, and young people 23 and under can join for $25. With that
you get quite a bit, including a new magazine called the "Birder’s Guide
series" that takes on a specific topic in great detail every issue (travel,
gear, listing/taxonomy, etc.), and a much better interactive site for listing.
Always be good to birds and generous to birders of all stripes, totals and
ranks! Good birding and good totaling!
Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN
www.mtsu.edu/~kbreault
Other related posts:
- » [Bristol-Birds] Tom McNeil ranks in top 20 of Tennessee birders - Wallace Coffey
