I thought that was an interesting question, so took a stab at
answering it by crunching some ebird bar-chart data that I had
available (one caveat is I only looked at pre-2016 US data). After
playing with the numbers a bit, my definition of "most uniquely
Oregonian" turned out to be what one sees more easily in Oregon than
in any other state.
I first queried which birds appear on Oregon lists more frequently
than on lists from any other US state and came up with:
species | % Oregon lists
------------------------------------------
White-capped Albatross | 0.00032809
Red-breasted Goose | 0.00032815
Wandering Albatross | 0.00065618
Murphy's Petrel | 0.018373
Tundra Bean-Goose | 0.085978
Northern Pygmy-Owl | 0.70303
Olive-sided Flycatcher | 1.9213
Hermit Warbler | 2.5235
Vaux's Swift | 4.7247
Red-breasted Sapsucker | 5.1729
Swainson's Thrush | 6.5426
Western Tanager | 7.2922
Cackling Goose | 7.3949
Brown Creeper | 8.169
Black-headed Grosbeak | 9.2638
Steller's Jay | 23.274
Spotted Towhee | 28.436
Dark-eyed Junco | 32.392
The number of ebird lists that White-capped Albatross, Red-breasted
Goose, Wandering Albatross or Murphy's Petrel appear on is really low,
so I didn't bother with them anymore.
Similarly, the Tundra Bean-Goose was a one season wonder.
The other species seemed like legitimate contenders, so I thought I
would look at how often they appear on the lists of the other states
where they are most frequently reported and compare the percentage of
lists in Oregon with the percentage of lists of the next closest
state. (That data begins below after the next paragraph).
Of species that breed in Oregon, Hermit Warbler is seen almost twice
as often in Oregon as in any other state. Of species that winter in
Oregon, Cackling Goose is seen 1.71 times as often as in any other
state. And of the residents, Northern Pygmy-Owl appears on 1.60 times
as many lists as any other state. Honorable mention in the breeding
category goes to Vaux's Swift (1.73), and to Red-breasted Sapsucker in
the resident category (1.47).
Dark-eyed Junco
Oregon | 32.392
Washington | 31.344
Indiana | 25.385
New Mexico | 24.734
Missouri | 24.103
------
Oregon lists:Washington lists = 1.03:1
Spotted Towhee
Oregon | 28.436
Washington | 27.282
California | 20.928
New Mexico | 20.665
Nevada | 11.513
-----
1.04:1
So Dark-eyed Juncos and Spotted Towhees are reported more often in
Oregon than in any other states, but they are still quite common in
other states, so don't seem uniquely Oregonian.
Steller's Jay
Oregon | 23.274
Washington | 19.728
California | 12.399
Colorado | 9.9287
Nevada | 9.2062
------
1.18:1
Oregon's lead over Washington in Steller's Jay report concentration is
a little larger.
Black-headed Grosbeak
Oregon | 9.2638
Arizona | 8.0683
New Mexico | 7.7892
Washington | 6.8255
California | 6.7033
-----
1.15:1
Brown Creeper
Oregon | 8.169
Washington | 6.3031
New Hampshire | 5.9753
Vermont | 4.9041
Indiana | 4.454
------
1.30:1
The Brown Creeper lead over Washington is larger still.
Cackling Goose
Oregon | 7.3949
Kansas | 4.3292
Alaska | 3.493
Washington | 3.4408
Colorado | 3.44
------
1.71:1
And the Cackling Goose margin is the largest yet. Of course, they
don't breed here...
Western Tanager
Oregon | 7.2922
Nevada | 6.5454
Idaho | 6.4213
New Mexico | 5.9798
Arizona | 5.9399
------
1.11:1
Swainson's Thrush
Oregon | 6.5426
Washington | 5.4059
North Dakota | 5.1758
Montana | 4.7796
Washington, D.C | 4.7094
------
1.21:1
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Oregon | 5.1729
Washington | 3.5169
California | 2.5278
Alaska | 2.3146
Nevada | 1.2186
------
1.47:1
Vaux's Swift
Oregon | 4.7247
Washington | 2.7276
Montana | 1.3331
California | 1.1029
Idaho | 0.9591
------
1.73:1
Hermit Warbler
Oregon | 2.5235
California | 1.2696
Arizona | 0.9556
Nevada | 0.3004
Washington | 0.1395
------
1.99:1
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Oregon | 1.9213
Washington | 1.7754
California | 1.6761
Nevada | 1.4354
New Mexico | 1.2043
------
1.08:1
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Oregon | 0.70303
Arizona | 0.43926
Washington | 0.4327
Idaho | 0.42127
Montana | 0.38754
------
1.60:1
That's my approach.
Tait
Portland
----- Original Message -----
From:
jonathan@xxxxxxxxxx
To:
<obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc:
Sent:
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:16:33 -0700
Subject:
[obol] Re: The most Oregonian bird?
PS: I just wanted to add that this is purely an academic question,
not a political one – nothing to do with our official state bird.
FROM: Jonathan Ley [mailto:jonathan@xxxxxxxxxx] ;
SENT: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 7:31 PM
TO: 'obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
SUBJECT: The most Oregonian bird?
Greetings… I’m new to this list, and had a question.
The recent story about changing the state bird of Oregon got me
wondering – which bird would be the most “uniquely Oregon”?
Ideally, by my measure that’d be a bird with a full-year range
exactly matching the border of Oregon. Since that doesn’t exist,
which is the closest to it?
I was thinking perhaps a Wrentit, or “Oregon” Dark-eyed Junco,
maybe Red-breasted Sapsucker… White-headed Woodpecker… Anyone have
ideas?
Jonathan Ley
Portland
