Re: RE: [cayugabirds-l] FW: [GeneseeBirds-L] Chipping Sparrow

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:01:40 -0700

There may have been a wave of Chipping Sparrows arriving on 30 March, but I think the other March reports were also new arrivals, not overwintering birds. Those eBirders are observant and diligent, particularly Tom Schulenberg, who I suspect eBirds every bird he finds daily at his home and on his walk to the Lab, and he suddenly made a series of 5 single bird eBird reports in those locations starting on 25 March. There were no overwintering Chipping Sparrows eBirded or reported to Cayugabirds-L. I checked out an earlier report at a Cayuga Bird Club meeting and am convinced by meeting the birder at the feeder with the birds in question that it was a beginner misidentifying American Tree Sparrows. 

I looked at Matt Medler's spring arrival chart 2000-2009, which is also on the Cayuga Bird Club website here:
http://www.cayugabirdclub.org/Resources/cayuga-lake-basin-first-records
and found that for Chipping Sparrow the median is 4 April, the mean is 3 April, and the standard deviation is 3 days. In other words Chipping Sparrows are pretty consistent when they arrive, and even 30 March is surprisingly early. Five or ten days before that is a big surprise. Why did the eBirders not get excited enough to post to Cayugabirds-L? Maybe because the early arrival, while noted by some of them on eBird, was little surprise in the context of the ridiculously warm weather and south winds we'd been having, and Chipping Sparrows would be plentiful anyway in another few days. If these diligent eBirders also posted their every new discovery they might be overwhelmed. By the way, I am not criticizing either group, I'm just intrigued by an apparent difference in observation &/or reporting. I am grateful to people who do either or both form of reporting. I see great value in eBird, and use other people's data far more than I enter my own. If I can train myself to consciously start and stop birding, noting the time at individual locations, and become comfortable with numerical estimates, I can become a good eBirder. 
--Dave Nutter





On Mar 30, 2012, at 08:32 PM, Meena Haribal <m...@cornell.edu> wrote:

So the real question is, why did people first decide to report to several listservs on one day, but quietly report to eBird for a couple weeks?

 

Dave,

My guess is that when lot of people from different list serve report on one particular day, that day a big wave of birds arrived, so many people record them. When individual birds are seen, they are either overwintering birds or may  be small contingent of them may come at earlier dates but do not get noticed so easily and do not get reported.

 

As for reporting to e-bird list or to listserve or to both, which many do are individual reporters choices.

Meena 

 

 

Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850

From: bounce-43804163-3493...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-43804163-3493...@listcornell.edu] on behalf of Dave Nutter [nutter.d...@me.com]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 7:55 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] FW: [GeneseeBirds-L] Chipping Sparrow


I thought Lisa Wood's Chipping Sparrow might have been a first arrival, but I try to remember to check eBird records before I revise the list of first arrivals to the Cayuga Lake Basin which is on the Cayuga Bird Club website here:

http://www.cayugabirdclub.org/Resources/cayuga-lake-basin-first-records

Anyway, eBird surprised me. The earliest local report was one heard by Jane Graves on Warren Rd on 20 March, and Tom Schulenberg had one at his place on Hanshaw Rd by the 25th. Outside the basin, Dave Spier had one northwest of us in Clifton Springs on the 21st, and southwest of us in Horseheads Mike Powers had one on the 15th and Jan Murphey had one on the 11th!

So the real question is, why did people first decide to report to several listservs on one day, but quietly report to eBird for a couple weeks?

--Dave Nutter

On Mar 30, 2012, at 06:56 PM, Meena Haribal <m...@cornell.edu> wrote:

So looks like Chipping sparrows have reached our latitude on same day!  In last several years, I have found that first arrival of same species are reported on same day to Cayugabirds, Geneseebirds and Oniedabirds often. 

 

It is really interesting to see that they move approximately same distances north.  What causes them to stop and not go further anymore?

 

Meena 

 

 

 

Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850

From: geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu [geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu] on behalf of Michael and Joann Tetlow [mjtet...@frontiernet.net]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 5:38 PM
To: geneseebird...@geneseo.edu
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] Chipping Sparrow


A Chipping Sparrow just arrived at our yard feeder in Fairport.  Our previous earliest was April 7th last year. In the past we would normally expect one around the 10th. Mike and Joann Tetlow

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