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ABA Big Year 2017 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Paul Chapman
- Start date
dantheman
Bah humbug
A rubbish idea ... 
Perhaps the best chance (and the easiest/cheapest way of doing it) of reaching the highest % would thus go to those attempting a Big Year in the year in which the least vagrants occurred; or at least the easiest to connect with, thus minimising dips.
Brings it down to the lowest common denominator.
In reality too our brains work more intuitively with numbers than percentages.
Perhaps the best chance (and the easiest/cheapest way of doing it) of reaching the highest % would thus go to those attempting a Big Year in the year in which the least vagrants occurred; or at least the easiest to connect with, thus minimising dips.
Brings it down to the lowest common denominator.
In reality too our brains work more intuitively with numbers than percentages.
Mysticete
Well-known member
Again, you would probably have to dump all the existing records, since that data is absent. Honestly, if you want this sort of system to exist, it really needed to be created back in the 70's (and even what exactly constitutes a field identifiable form could be debated).
Exotics should be left in, if only because in the states, more so than I think Europe, there is weird snobbery towards exotics which has actually hindered science. For instance, Ebird reviewers in some parts (especially California) intentionally remove records of exotic birds from ebay, which in turn damages the best source of data for tracking the spread of potentially invasive species. I've definitely done a xmas bird count where people attempted to route AROUND places where they know they would encounter starlings and pigeons, as another example.
Wouldn't really influence Hawaii at all either. the exotics are for the most part relatively easy and would be picked up over the course of a normal birding trip. The difficult logistics are all around the endemics, which are often in remote and inaccessible/limited access areas, or which require pelagics, which are not offered to the same degree as they are offered off North Carolina or California.
guy_incognito
Well-known member
Yve and the Deans already had it from Alaska. Doesn't look like the Stolls have gotten it yet.
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
Vague Bird News
News you can't trust from the team you don't know.
I see that our 2016 hero Olaf has bagged himself a SIBERIAN-HEADED CHICKATIT!
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/tit-for-tat.html?m=1
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/tit-for-tat.html?m=1
DMW
Well-known member
Seems he also got the long-staying American Bitterness too :smoke:
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Interesting to see Bradley/Olaf not far short of 800:-
http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=aba&year=AAAA
I still really don't see the bitterness in his 'warts and all' writing style but having been branded as a cheerleader by 'he who should not be questioned', I don't suppose that is a surprise to anyone.
All the best
DMW
Well-known member
I was referring to his rather barbed comments about "another person" (aka JW) claiming to have seen Gray-headed Chickadee last year, and the rather obvious insinuation that he strung it.
JW: "774 9-Nov Gray-headed Chickadee Noatak National Preserve, Brooks Range, Alaska"
OD: "I did not see this bird in 2016. One person reported it un-witnessed where the Boreal chickadee also lives in western Alaska and two weeks later in November it was reported again by another person again unwitnessed and nobody produced a single photo. It wasn’t worth my effort to try that for a five figure bird (more than $10 grand to get it), that in some likelihood was not even a GHCH."
JW: "774 9-Nov Gray-headed Chickadee Noatak National Preserve, Brooks Range, Alaska"
OD: "I did not see this bird in 2016. One person reported it un-witnessed where the Boreal chickadee also lives in western Alaska and two weeks later in November it was reported again by another person again unwitnessed and nobody produced a single photo. It wasn’t worth my effort to try that for a five figure bird (more than $10 grand to get it), that in some likelihood was not even a GHCH."
Vague Bird News
News you can't trust from the team you don't know.
Actually Bradley is one behind Olaf - they fell out on St Paul and Olaf refused to provide directions to the Mottled Petrel that he saw fly past.
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Yes - I remember it well:-
http://www.birdingfordevils.com/2016/11/mid-november.html
You are drawing the insinuation but in fairness, he does rather lead you to that. He uses 'reported', 'unwitnessed' & 'nobody produced a single photo'. I struggle with the meaning of unwitnessed.
I heard that Bradley stormed off never to be seen again. :king:
All the best
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The Deans picked up Barnacle Goose (the first of the 2017 Big Year birders to get it), and Yve added two today to move up into a ties with the Stolls at 803 apiece. She's probably still birding as I type this!
Next up on my (incredibly unofficial) list is Laura with 818.
As I mentioned, I won't put my "with Hawaii" list out there until after ABA releases the new list. However, what's fascinating to me is how similar the number of species of Hawaiian birds are for all of them. Yve is about to blow past them all, but as of today all six birders have either 55 or 56 Hawaiian species on my list. Some are species only found on the islands; some are like Yve's Black Noddy, a bird already on the ABA list that she added out there. Some species may not make the cut (Olaf's Mitred Parakeet and Yve's Burrowing Parakeet have already been removed from my tally based on info from the recent ABA publication), but I highly doubt that any further additions to my list will be forthcoming (other than Yve's additions, of course).
Joe
Next up on my (incredibly unofficial) list is Laura with 818.
As I mentioned, I won't put my "with Hawaii" list out there until after ABA releases the new list. However, what's fascinating to me is how similar the number of species of Hawaiian birds are for all of them. Yve is about to blow past them all, but as of today all six birders have either 55 or 56 Hawaiian species on my list. Some are species only found on the islands; some are like Yve's Black Noddy, a bird already on the ABA list that she added out there. Some species may not make the cut (Olaf's Mitred Parakeet and Yve's Burrowing Parakeet have already been removed from my tally based on info from the recent ABA publication), but I highly doubt that any further additions to my list will be forthcoming (other than Yve's additions, of course).
Joe
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