Measuring British Rarity interest by Views (2 Viewers)

[wolfbirder]

Its been a fascinating, wonderful autumn for British birders, but I was surprised to see which rarity attracted most views on the Birdforum rare bird threads. Of course the totals are influenced by discussion such as identity questions, but still here we go, in ascending order: -

Black and White Warbler 1,000 views
Ovenbird 1,000 views
Parula 1,000 views
Yellow Warbler 1,000 views
Bobolink 2,000 views
Philadelphia Vireo 4,000 views
Alder Fly 5,000 views
Canada Warbler 5,000 views
Bay-breasted Warbler 8,000 views
Magnolia Warbler 8,000 views
Cape May Warbler 11,000 views
Great-tailed Grackle 21,000 views

Quite surprising that a bird that has no chance of counting attracted so much interest.

 

[Phil Andrews]

Its been a fascinating, wonderful autumn for British birders, but I was surprised to see which rarity attracted most views on the Birdforum rare bird threads. Of course the totals are influenced by discussion such as identity questions, but still here we go, in ascending order: -

Black and White Warbler 1,000 views
Ovenbird 1,000 views
Parula 1,000 views
Yellow Warbler 1,000 views
Bobolink 2,000 views
Philadelphia Vireo 4,000 views
Alder Fly 5,000 views
Canada Warbler 5,000 views
Bay-breasted Warbler 8,000 views
Magnolia Warbler 8,000 views
Cape May Warbler 11,000 views
Great-tailed Grackle 21,000 views

Quite surprising that a bird that has no chance of counting attracted so much interest.

I suspect there are a number of factors at play here including (but not limited to):

• Scarcity of the bird
• Gettability of the bird (location / length of stay)
• Number of pretty pictures
• Discussion re identity
• Discussion on overall occurence / influx (eg three individual threads re three sightings of BWW on Bardesy may not generate as many looks as one comprehensive thread?)
• Wildcard 1: is the thread linked elsewhere especially on FB, Twitter, WhatsApp etc?
• Wildcard 2: what other subjects does the thread wormhole into!

 

[Farnboro John]

I imagine countability generates both posts and views.

John

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

I would think controversy is a big factor.
After all a Black and White Warbler is still just another Black and White Warbler, however nice it may be.
A bird that is of less regular occurrence will generate more discussion as people discuss going for it and logistics etc.
A first for Britain will likewise be even more popular.
A first for Britain that may or may not get counted will have a lot more discussion around it.

 

[Xenospiza]

The Great-tailed Grackle had an identifcation challenge, but the most significant detail was the countability discussion.
This will always generate far more discussion (and therefore views) than a slam-dunk A-list mega.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Canvasback 11,000 views. Two contrary opinions and no current proof either way is always good for keeping a thread going strong.

As Phil has already touched on there have been three Black and White Warblers and three Yellow Warblers this autumn - have you amalgamated threads in your totals?

 

[wolfbirder]

No and it was admittedly a rudimentary measure that also acknowledged identification issues influenced it, nevertheless I was still surprised to see that it generated 21 k views.

The accumulation of Black and White Warblers totalled about 6,000.

I know it doesn’t tell us anything anyway but personally I think it highlights that British birders are not just interested in birds that meet certain criteria but are just as interested in wild birds that don’t. Pleasantly enlightening I personally felt.

For me, the Grackle was one of the best birds of autumn, but maybe that’s just me!

Not that these figures really mean anything really 🤪

 

[Paul Chapman]

I suspect there are a number of factors at play here including (but not limited to):

• Scarcity of the bird
• Gettability of the bird (location / length of stay)
• Number of pretty pictures
• Discussion re identity
• Discussion on overall occurence / influx (eg three individual threads re three sightings of BWW on Bardesy may not generate as many looks as one comprehensive thread?)
• Wildcard 1: is the thread linked elsewhere especially on FB, Twitter, WhatsApp etc?
• Wildcard 2: what other subjects does the thread wormhole into!

Is not the single most obvious factor the number of posts? If there are 20 posts, I will probably view a thread less than if there are 200 posts? So this should be a division of views by posts?

All the best

Paul