I’ve just had a look at the national totals of species observed – http://ebird.org/ebird/gbbc/places?yr=all&m= The United States has the most species – 578 on the back of 34,000 lists India is second with 434 species from just 893 lists Australia is third with 430 species from only 396 lists. If we can get lists in from around Australia (including the external territories) and from any pelagic trips run this weekend, it is quite conceivable that Australia could top the species count. Now that would be something. Regards, Laurie. On 16/02/2014, at 2:21 PM, Laurie Knight wrote: > So far about 31,000 checklists have been submitted today. (I put in > two for my neighbourhood). If you look at the map (http://ebird.org/ebird/gbbc/livesubs?siteLanguage=en > ), you can see the checklists being submitted in real time – > obviously a lot coming in from the USA. There is fairly good > coverage of NZ and southern India, but outback Aus observations are > few and far between. > > The number of species reported is currently 2713, so they are a fair > bit behind last year’s total of 4258 species. I suspect there are > over 200 Australian species that could easily be added to the list > by people who have been out this weekend (any pelagics?) > > The one question I have is why did the Audubon society choose > February (the depths of winter in the northern hemisphere) for its > annual birdcount? Perhaps they were hoping for strong participation > rates from southern observers? > > Regards, Laurie. > > > On 13/02/2014, at 6:19 PM, Laurie Knight wrote: > >> The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 14-17. According to the >> following article, birders in 100 countries will be participating … >> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/global-backyard-bird-count/5233847/ >> >> The deal is that participants do 15+ min bird list for a geographic >> location and load their sightings on www.birdcount.org >> >> Regards, Laurie. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Birding-Aus mailing list >> Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org >> To change settings or unsubscribe visit: >> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org > _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
Well, at the close of day 3 in Aus, The USA has 590 from 34,925 lists India has 481 species from 1,072 lists Australia has 442 species from 496 lists The USA will probably have another 10,000+ lists by this time tomorrow, but probably not a lot more additional species. The distribution of Australian lists doesn’t match the distribution of species in Aus – we don’t have much participation outside of the eastern sea board. Interestingly, there appears to be little participation in South America, Africa and northern Europe. Regards, Laurie. On 16/02/2014, at 2:39 PM, Laurie Knight wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
I was similarly perplexed (maybe I should have read the rules?), but I suppose if you lived, for example, on the east side of Pittwater Rd at Collaroy in Sydney then you could see pelagic species from your backyard? From landlocked Turramurra, much harder. Cheers Tom Wilson —– Original Message —– From: Philip Veerman To: ‘Laurie Knight’ ; birding-aus@birding-aus.org Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 6:27 PM Subject: [Birding-Aus] Could Australia top the Great Backyard Bird Count? I am the author of I believe the most comprehensive account of an urban bird population study in Australia, for Canberra (that also lists literature available at the time from other cities), so that is a basis for writing something. I am a little lost at the suggestion here of including pelagic species in a comparison to a Great Backyard Bird Count. Philip —–Original Message—– From: Birding-Aus [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of Laurie Knight Sent: Sunday, 16 February 2014 3:40 PM To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: [Birding-Aus] Could Australia top the Great Backyard Bird Count? I’ve just had a look at the national totals of species observed – http://ebird.org/ebird/gbbc/places?yr=all&m= The United States has the most species – 578 on the back of 34,000 lists India is second with 434 species from just 893 lists Australia is third with 430 species from only 396 lists. If we can get lists in from around Australia (including the external territories) and from any pelagic trips run this weekend, it is quite conceivable that Australia could top the species count. Now that would be something. Regards, Laurie. On 16/02/2014, at 2:21 PM, Laurie Knight wrote: > So far about 31,000 checklists have been submitted today. (I put in > two for my neighbourhood). If you look at the map (http://ebird.org/ebird/gbbc/livesubs?siteLanguage=en > ), you can see the checklists being submitted in real time – > obviously a lot coming in from the USA. There is fairly good > coverage of NZ and southern India, but outback Aus observations are > few and far between. > > The number of species reported is currently 2713, so they are a fair > bit behind last year’s total of 4258 species. I suspect there are > over 200 Australian species that could easily be added to the list > by people who have been out this weekend (any pelagics?) > > The one question I have is why did the Audubon society choose > February (the depths of winter in the northern hemisphere) for its > annual birdcount? Perhaps they were hoping for strong participation > rates from southern observers? > > Regards, Laurie. > > > On 13/02/2014, at 6:19 PM, Laurie Knight wrote: > >> The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 14-17. According to the >> following article, birders in 100 countries will be participating … >> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/global-backyard-bird-co unt/5233847/ >> >> The deal is that participants do 15+ min bird list for a geographic >> location and load their sightings on http://www.birdcount.org >> >> Regards, Laurie. _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
Simple Philip If you visit the website you will see that the count is not limited to backyards. The name is a misnomer. Regards, Laurie. On 16/02/2014, at 5:27 PM, Philip Veerman wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org