I think it’s a great idea. I set up my patch list yesterday. I don’t chase
birds more than an hour away much anymore.
I think Vjera’s 5MR reaches the eastern third of Fern Ridge.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon
www.alanlcontreras.com
http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe
On Jan 2, 2019, at 10:57 PM, David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx> wrote:
No one is necessarily trying to create a balanced or fair playing field here.
The point of this challenge is to generate more interest in birding close to
home more regularly and to get the checklists from these activities entered
into eBird. There is the obvious benefit of lowering our collective carbon
footprint and more importantly creating a better understanding of how birds
use landscapes close to where we live.
One of the ways that the playing field is sort of balanced is through
comparing the number of species found within each 5MR circle to the year end
list of all species eBirded in the county where the circle is centered. For
instance, in most years somewhere about 220 species are found and reported to
eBird in Washington Co. (where I live). The fact that Steve Nord now lives in
Arizona will surely take that down a bit. If Shawneen and I can tally say 160
species in our circle–should be doable given that our life list for the patch
is in the low 160's without any concerted effort to bird it regularly–we
would in effect see about 73% of all the species seen in the county during a
year. Let's say Phil Pickering chooses to play within his exceptionally juicy
slice of the Lincoln County Coast. He is going up against up against a base
of about 265 species (on average) reported in Lincoln County each year. To
match our percentage he would have to see 193 species in his patch alone, a
tally that would land in the top 5-8 county year lists (for the entire
county) in all of the last half dozen years or so.
Lane County patch birders are at a decided disadvantage on multiple fronts.
One you have a huge county with diverse habitats extending from the outer
coast to the crest of the Cascades. Secondly, in recent years slightly over
300 species per year have been reported to eBird in the county. I can't
imagine where one might center a patch where one might even see two-thirds of
that total. Given that most of the county's birders live in and around
Eugene, your patchers will not take in either the high mountains or the
coast. The best bet would be to live somewhere close enough to Fern Ridge
where both the dam and the end of Royal Ave. are inside your patch (along
with all the open country and woodlands in between), but I don't know of any
birder whose home is so situated. Mark Nikas' maybe?
I think the mostly lowland counties along the western edge of the Willamette
Valley and butting up against the foothills of the Coast Range (Washington,
Yamhill, Polk, and Benton) offer the best chances to rack up a patch total
that is 75+% of the county total for the year. Of the coast counties, Lincoln
is probably the best, because there are lots of good seawtaching vantage
points, a narrow outer coastal plain (open country birds that are easy in
other coastal counties are tough there), and comparatively low section of the
Coast Range, so there aren't a suite of inland higher elevation birds that
are easy to get. Obviously there are a bunch of counties east of Cascades
where birding a patch could yield a high percentage of the total for the
county, especially those counties where few venture to go birding.
It's mostly a fun game just to see what we can dig up on our local turf. On
day one Shawneen and I saw an American Bittern and two Canvasbacks on the
lake at Koll Center Wetlands. This site is less than a mile from our house
and we bird it all the time and yet both of these species were lifers for the
site for us. We also found at least two Swamp Sparrows in Greenway Park just
south of the main lake. I have only seen Swamp Sparrow there one other time.
There is obviously a direct correlation between effort and the total number
of species one might detect over time in a specific area. That combined with
the fact that several other really talented birders (like Craig Tumer, Jay
Withgott, and Dwight Porter to name a few) have patch circles that overlap
ours. We will benefit from their efforts and they will surely get some
species that we find inside their 5-mile radius patches. I fully expect that
we will team up to find some really interesting birds over the next 12 months
and learn more about the common birds that live in our midst.
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> on behalf of
Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 2, 2019 6:52 PM
To: philliplc@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:philliplc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] Re: January 1st 5-MR patch birds including 5 species of Heron
at Koll
The outer coast is a special case, though Vjera would have most of Fern Ridge
Reservoir, not a bad chunk of water.
Among we mere mortals, I have Spencer Butte, Skinner Butte, Meadowlark
Prairie, Delta Ponds, Willow Creek wetlands and, just barely, the Cantrell
Slime. Being at Malheur as HQ docent for seven weeks this spring might cramp
my Lane list a little, but it will have compensations. :-)
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
Eugene, Oregon
www.alanlcontreras.com <http://www.alanlcontreras.com/>
http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe ;
<http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe>
On Jan 2, 2019, at 10:41 AM, philliplc@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:philliplc@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My radius would pretty much be a truncated version
of the Lincoln City CBC circle. It would include
not only the ocean and all of Lincoln City south of
Roads End, but also all of Devil's Lake, all of Siletz
Bay including the Salishan nature trail, as well as
numerous accessible clear cuts in the lower coast
range. Sort of a stacked deck.
Phil
An interesting idea. Living in southwest
Eugene my radius might be pretty good.
