The 2015 List Report, Big Day Report and 1992-2015 County Statistics are now
available on the Washington Birder website. This annual tradition, which began
as a 2 page List Report, was first published in Washington Birder newsletter,
Volume 1, 1993 and is now 22 years old.
For Ken and I, April to December 2015 was spent updating abundance codes for
all county checklists. Many code revisions were made that we hope will better
reflect the ever changing distributions of county birds, since our last
comprehensive revision, five years ago.
Utilizing a 9 year compilation of county sightings from Matt Bartels County
Yearlist Project, Washington Birds Records Committee data, and eBird records we
examined each county. In addition, we asked for help from Matt Bartels' County
Compilers. Many were willing to help, and in several cases they involved local
birders for assistance in developing code recommendations. We want to thank all
those individuals who were willing to help us with the project.
We always welcome your suggestions about code changes. Code 1, 2 and 3 species
are the most difficult to determine abundance changes in without the help of
those who regularly bird a county.
We also appreciate getting firsthand information about "County Firsts" and code
5 sightings. If you find a species that is not on a county checklist or that is
a code 5 species, we would love to get an email from you about the sighting at:
(info@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxx>)
Good Birding
Laurie Knittle
Washington Birder
Vancouver, WA
http://www.wabirder.com/index.html
