[wisb] Re: 9,053 gulls in Milwaukee Harbor? Is this realistic?
- From: John Idzikowski <idzikoj@xxxxxxx>
- To: bgsloan2@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:11:02 -0600 (CST)
On the 12th of Feb there were probably close to 15,000 large gulls in the
harbor. In October when adult and subadult Herring Gulls stage in the Milwaukee
embayment on their way south one can often estimate over 25 thousand birds. I
had been using a counting method sort of like Bernie's method for many years.
One can count the number of birds that are present between the stanchions on
the breakwater assuming even distribution of gulls then multiply by the known
number of stanchion spaces on a section of breakwater. The problem now with
this is that the breakwater has been widened and crowned in the last 15 years
and now one can see only about half the gulls loafing there.
John Idzikowski
Milwaukee
----- Original Message -----
From: "B.G. Sloan"
To: "wisbirdn" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 1:04:37 PM
Subject: [wisb] 9,053 gulls in Milwaukee Harbor? Is this realistic?
9,053 gulls in Milwaukee Harbor? Is this realistic?
OK, I'm getting ready to submit my Great Back the adultard Bird Count report
from Friday. I've finally found the time to estimate the number of gulls I saw
on an ice shelf that was out by the breakwall in Milwaukee Harbor (the part of
the breakwall that runs from near McKinley Marina to the main entrance of the
harbor). I came up with an estimate of 9,053 gulls. Does this at all seem
realistic? I don't want to enter this number into GBBC if it seems unrealistic.
Here's my math:
1. This section of the breakwall is about 3600 feet long (I looked at a map
online).
2. The gulls were fairly evenly distributed along one-half to two-thirds of
this ice shelf. Let's say 2100 feet.
3. I took a photo of a representative section of the ice. It covers about 45
feet of the ice.
4. I counted 194 gulls in the photo (some birds were on the edge of the ice,
and there were other groups away from the edge).
5. There are 46.67 45-foot-wide sections in 2100 feet.
6. Multiply these 46.67 sections by 194 gulls and you get 9,053 gulls.
Does this sound within the realm of possibility? It seems like an awful lot of
gulls!
Thanks!
Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee
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