JoAnn and Texbirders,
I do not read through the long birdlists from bird walks at Santa Ana very
often but when I do I have noticed that very often many of the reported species
- or better said the counted numbers of many of the reported species - do not
match at all with my personal experience when birding those areas. So often I
see the number 1 listed for species that are quite common there.
1 Ruddy Duck, 1 Common Gallinule, 1 Turkey Vulture, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 1 Common Yellowthroat ….
during many hours of birding with numerous people.
I didn’t say anything about this so far because I don’t want to be critical of
volunteers who go through the effort of leading these walks and reporting their
findings but today - when the special comment read “many small wrens in the
foliage” - and I saw 1 House Wren and 1 Carolina Wren listed (the 1 Marsh Wren
would not have been in the foliage) - I just am curious enough to ask about it.
What is going on with those unusually low numbers? Is the “1” just used as a
place holder for a species that was seen in any kind of number during the walk?
That would really distort the effort calculations in ebird, I suppose. But that
is likely not the case since other bird species are reported with slightly
higher numbers but still lower than I would expect.
Petra Hockey
Port O’Connor, Calhoun Co.
From: JoAnn Soeder <joannsoeder@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:joannsoeder@xxxxxxxxx>>
Subject: [texbirds] Santa Ana Birdwalk 1/31/2020
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2020 13:51:17 -0600
Birding on cloudy but dry friday morning after the night’s rainfall. Many
small wrens in the foliage. Come join us daily at 8:30 AM except Sundays.
JoAnn & Max USFWS volunteers
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
Jan 31, 2020 8:30 AM
58 species
Cinnamon Teal 4
Northern Shoveler 6
Gadwall 6
Mottled Duck 2
Northern Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 4
Lesser Scaup 2
Bufflehead 2
Ruddy Duck 1
Least Grebe 6
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 30
Inca Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 2
Common Pauraque 1
Common Gallinule 1
American Coot 10
Black-necked Stilt 8
Killdeer 2
Least Sandpiper 6
Long-billed Dowitcher 10
Wilson's Snipe 10
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Neotropic Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 4
White Ibis 12
White-faced Ibis 12
Roseate Spoonbill 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 3
Harris's Hawk 1
Green Kingfisher 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
American Kestrel 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Vermilion Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 3
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Green Jay 4
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 1
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Olive Sparrow 1
Altamira Oriole 2
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Great-tailed Grackle 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Northern Cardinal 4
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