You are invited to join in the eighth annual Birdforum joint lists for 1st January. The idea is that those who want to take part provide a list of what they've seen or heard on 1 January and we produce joint lists for areas such as the UK, the USA, Europe, Australia, or wherever we get enough people interested.
The rules are simple - birds can be seen or heard, as long as the ID is firm. "Cat C" birds (that's UK jargon for introduced species with self-sustaining breeding populations) are OK as long as the bird was from the self-sustaining population. No escapes or captive birds, obviously. Birds must be encountered between midnight and midnight on 1 Jan, local time.
For this year there's an extra rule - please follow whatever Covid safety procedures you would follow on any other day. This is just a bit of fun, not something to take risks for.
Each year we've done this, we've had some surprising relatively common omissions, so there's scope for everyone to contribute, even if you're only going out for a short walk or even just watching from your window. The aim is to use the wide spread of Birdforum members around the various countries to increase the total by seeing species where they're easy.
It's supposed to be a bit of innocent fun, don't change your plans specially. Having said which, if we can encourage one or two people to go out rather than stay in, great.
Here's a link to last year's thread so you can see how it works. Each year's thread has a link to the previous year in its first post.
Last year's totals: North America 130 (USA 116, Canada 14, Barbados 8), Europe 196 (UK 170, rest of Europe 129)
Plus single lists of: Costa Rica 44, New Zealand 49, Falklands 23, Hong Kong 74.
2019 figures: USA 227, Europe 205 (UK 176, Rest of Europe 126), Australia 85, East Asia 84
2018 figures: USA 120, Europe 194 (UK 163, Rest of Europe 115)
2017 figures: USA 172, Europe 197 (UK 156, Rest of Europe 127), East Asia 87, Canada 16 (North America 180)
2016 figures: USA 205, Europe 167 (UK 150, rest of Europe 94), Australia 43.
2015 figures: USA 158, Europe 175 (UK 145, rest of Europe 119), Australia 89.
2014 figures: USA 185, UK 155.
Whatever you see on 1 Jan, please post a list either of everything you've seen or (easier for me) everything you've seen that you think may not have been reported yet. I'm hoping to be out and about most of the day so if anyone's online during the day and fancies doing some running totals, that would be great. If not, I'll catch up once I'm back online.
The rules are simple - birds can be seen or heard, as long as the ID is firm. "Cat C" birds (that's UK jargon for introduced species with self-sustaining breeding populations) are OK as long as the bird was from the self-sustaining population. No escapes or captive birds, obviously. Birds must be encountered between midnight and midnight on 1 Jan, local time.
For this year there's an extra rule - please follow whatever Covid safety procedures you would follow on any other day. This is just a bit of fun, not something to take risks for.
Each year we've done this, we've had some surprising relatively common omissions, so there's scope for everyone to contribute, even if you're only going out for a short walk or even just watching from your window. The aim is to use the wide spread of Birdforum members around the various countries to increase the total by seeing species where they're easy.
It's supposed to be a bit of innocent fun, don't change your plans specially. Having said which, if we can encourage one or two people to go out rather than stay in, great.
Here's a link to last year's thread so you can see how it works. Each year's thread has a link to the previous year in its first post.
Last year's totals: North America 130 (USA 116, Canada 14, Barbados 8), Europe 196 (UK 170, rest of Europe 129)
Plus single lists of: Costa Rica 44, New Zealand 49, Falklands 23, Hong Kong 74.
2019 figures: USA 227, Europe 205 (UK 176, Rest of Europe 126), Australia 85, East Asia 84
2018 figures: USA 120, Europe 194 (UK 163, Rest of Europe 115)
2017 figures: USA 172, Europe 197 (UK 156, Rest of Europe 127), East Asia 87, Canada 16 (North America 180)
2016 figures: USA 205, Europe 167 (UK 150, rest of Europe 94), Australia 43.
2015 figures: USA 158, Europe 175 (UK 145, rest of Europe 119), Australia 89.
2014 figures: USA 185, UK 155.
Whatever you see on 1 Jan, please post a list either of everything you've seen or (easier for me) everything you've seen that you think may not have been reported yet. I'm hoping to be out and about most of the day so if anyone's online during the day and fancies doing some running totals, that would be great. If not, I'll catch up once I'm back online.
