[TN-Bird] GBBC summary

From: kde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Tennessee Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:42:33 -0400 (EDT)
The KTOS President, Billie Cantwell, asked if I would put together a 
summary of the Great Backyard Bird Count held in mid-February.  Thought I 
would go ahead and send to TN-Bird as well.  Notes are slanted toward a 
Knoxville audience.  More GBBC results are available online.

Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN



First, a big thank you from myself, Dick Preston, and the GBBC team to 
everyone that participated and that patiently answered our requests for 
additional details on unusual reports.

I would be hesitant to say either of the competitive aspects are actually 
important other than for fostering enthusiasm and participation.  Having 
said that, in some ways, they really are important.  

Number of species can provide insight into bird diversity and quality of 
habitat in an area.  However, geography plays a huge role here as well.  
Memphis should (and did) beat Knoxville in this category just due to 
differences in habitat and location along a major migration corridor.

Number of checklists can provide some indication of local interest in 
nature and conservation and ability to engage the community in these 
interests.  That can obviously be a huge benefit to conservation efforts 
in a given area.  

The GBBC primarily identifies locations by zip code so "Knoxville" 
includes Farragut, Karns, etc.  Knoxville finished 3rd in number of 
species reported (81) behind Memphis (93) and Cookeville (86) and ahead of 
Nashville (79) and Paris (72).  Other local areas of note include Maryville 
(66) in 8th, Louisville (61) in 14th, and Oak Ridge (60) in 15th.

As for number of checklists submitted, Knoxville finished first with 173 
beating out Memphis (153), Nashville (128), and Cookeville (69).  
Maryville was 6th with 62 checklists.

One thing that is re-inforced in these results... if you want to see a lot 
of birds around Knoxville, go to Louisville...  61 species (14th highest 
in the state) with only 7 checklists submitted.

On a state level, 162,403 birds were counted, 141 species were reported, 
and 2036 checklists submitted.  

Top 10 species in TN by number of individual birds reported:
17,134 European Starling
15,646 Sandhill Crane
10,167 American Robin
 9,069 Northern Cardinal
 7,619 Lesser Scaup
 7,369 American Goldfinch
 6,375 Mourning Dove
 5,594 American Crow
 4,716 Mallard
 4,385 Canada Goose

Top 10 species in TN by number of checklists reporting that species:
1,501 Northern Cardinal
1,256 Mourning Dove
1,246 Carolina Chickadee
1,170 Tufted Titmouse
  984 Downy Woodpecker
  944 Blue Jay
  922 American Robin
  833 Carolina Wren
  817 American Goldfinch
  811 American Crow (tie)
  811 House Finch (tie)

Noteworthy species reported in TN:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 42 in Memphis
Northern Bobwhite, only 29 reported in the entire state
Osprey, 2 (early migrants)
Whooping Crane, 2 (KTOS boat trip)
Greater Yellowlegs, 1 (reported 3 times) early migrant in Knoxville
Lesser Yellowlegs, 1
Rufous Hummingbird, 1 from Knoxville
Say's Phoebe, 1 at Hatchie NWR
Loggerhead Shrike, only 10 reported in the entire state
Blue-headed Vireo, 1 (early migrant)
Purple Martin, 3 (early migrants)
Tree Swallow, 6 (early migrants)
Rusty Blackbird, 215
Common Redpoll, 1 in Nashville (a 2nd bird was present in TN but not 
reported on GBBC)




=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
               --------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
                        Clemson, SC
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                       MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________
[TN-Bird] GBBC summary

Other related posts:
