[Birdtalk] Posting sightings

[Colby Neuman]

Hi all,

Admittedly, I'm guilty of this occasionally either because time is an issue,
or unfortunately, pure laziness kicks in (like me birding Garr Ranch
yesterday).  However, I do want to stress the importance of posting some
sort of summary of your sightings to birdtalk when you go out birding
anywhere in this state.  Most of the time when we go birding we do not see
anything 'rare/accidental' according to the state checklist.  However,
this does not mean we did not see anything unusual for a particular
location, or for that matter, our report is any less valuable.  In fact, I
really see a thorough summary of someone's sightings from a location far
more valuable than somebody reporting an individual bird that has been seen
in the state a few times (or even never).  With that said...when time is an
issue, it's much easier to report "I saw 'blah blah' at Garr Ranch" then
type up a list of migrants seen at Garr Ranch so I don't want to devalue
that kind of report, but more emphasize if you have the time, there are a
lot of us that would enjoy a thorough summary of your day's sightings!
Reasons are below for myself...

Migration patterns and even breeding distributions of most Utah birds are
not really that well understood.  Programs like breeding bird surveys, the
Utah Breeding Bird Atlas, banding programs, etc. have helped (and continue
to do so or will) in this understanding, but they have not gone far enough.
For example, here are some simple questions to demonstrate my point...do
Pinyon Jays, Scott's Orioles, Bewick's Wrens, etc. breed or migrate
through the juniper habitat in the SW part of the Salt Lake Valley annually,
sporadically or not at all?  When are the expected migration windows for
lets say the different empids in this state?  By this I mean, what are the
likely candidates if you see an empid at a migrant trap in mid-August vs.
mid-October.  Do some empid species migrate mostly from one mountain range
to another or do they all primarily use the lowland areas during
migration?...or does this change from July to October?  I have ideas for a
lot of these questions, but I certainly don't have definitive answers to all
of them.  And I don't know if there are very many birders in this state that
have definitive answers to these and numerous other questions I have.  This
is not to belittle birders in this state, but more it's an acknowledgement
of the fact that we have a lot to learn about bird distributions and bird
movements throughout our state.

Another reason for posting a summary of what you see at lets say Garr Ranch,
River Lane or any place for that matter is that all of us can compare the
turnover rates at each location.  That way if somebody else goes there the
next day and sees a completely new set of birds (high turnover) then that
place might be worth checking again in the short term.  Or vice versa, if
someone goes to Garr Ranch and reports seeing 2 female Townsend's, 1 male
Black-throated Gray and 1 Nashville Warblers, and birders go there 5 days
later and see the same birds then there obviously has been
little turnover...then maybe someone going out the next day can plan
accordingly.  I think what we'll find is that there is a much higher
turnover rate than most of us would guess...even within the same day at some
locations (i.e. especially at wetland/mudflats like Lincoln Beach, Lee Kay
Ponds, Glover Lane, Antelope Island, etc.).  This same concept could be
applied on an annual basis for breeding birds in select locations.

For all the reasons above, I think birdtalk (and http://www.ebird.org) have
the tremendous potential to benefit our knowledge, and ultimately the
preservation of the birds and their habitat!

For those still reading...thanks!

Colby




On 10/16/06, Carol Gwynn <cgwynn at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I agree with Tim. We need to post our sightings, even if we consider
> them to be ordinary. For example, I might have missed the posting, but
> i didn't hear about the Least Flycatcher at Garr Ranch until 2 weeks
> after the event. That would have been a lifer bird for me, so I was
> very disappointed that either it wasn't posted until the SLB newsletter
> came out, or perhaps I missed the post.
>
> Carol Gwynn
>
> P.S. Thanks, Kris Purdy, for being so diligent in posting what you
> find.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Birdtalk mailing list
> Birdtalk at utahbirds.org
> http://utahbirds.org/mailman/listinfo/birdtalk
>
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