[va_co_birding] playing with number
- From: Susan Heath <sheath@xxxxxxx>
- To: VA County Birds <va_co_birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 21:39:10 -0400
Hey County Birders,
Do we still exist? I created a rather elaborate set of spreadsheets to
keep track of which counties and cities I have birds in and now I can
tell with the flip a mouse how many birds I have and where. At least
until I forget to update them and they get all out of whack. Anyway,
that led to playing around with some numbers. I have bird lists for 40
counties and 11 cities so let's say 51 "areas". I made a list of birds
which I have in 30 or more in those 51 areas and I found the list of
species to be interesting. I eliminated starling, rock pigeon, and
house sparrow from the mix and used native species only. Naturally the
list is comprised of mostly resident birds but four neotropical migrants
made the cut - Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, Indigo Bunting, and Red-eyed
Vireo. These four are hard to miss if you're looking (or listening in
the case of the latter two) in spring and summer so I guess that makes
sense. This list could be skewed a little bit by the fact that I have
not birded at all in the southwestern part of the state. Some night
when I'm bored again, I'll go through and see where some other neotrops
lie in the order of things. Interesting, this little game. Here is the
list in order of abundance from highest to lowest (this is counties and
cities combined but the order changes very little if I do counties only):
Common Grackle
Mourning Dove
Barn Swallow
Chimney Swift
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Canada Goose
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Turkey Vulture
American Crow
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
Song Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Black Vulture
Indigo Bunting
Great Blue Heron
Red-eyed Vireo
Sue
--
Susan A. Heath
George Mason University
Environmental Science Department
Fairfax, VA
Secretary, Virginia Avian Records Committee
Keeper, Virginia Comp List at www.virginiabirding.org
va_co_birding is hosted by FreeLists. To change your settings or unsubscribe,
visit www.freelists.org To post to the list (subscribers only), send email to
va_co_birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Other related posts:
