[obol] A good model of a migration count

[Greg Gillson]

Alan Contreras summed up a good count:
"There is nothing to prevent Oregon birders from developing our own protocol
that results in a meaningful movement-over-time picture for Oregon in spring
and fall.  Such a survey need not even require that all observers use the
same dates, because it is a survey of movement peaks, not of population size
in a location.
"Most birders, myself included, rarely keep track of numbers of what we see
in the field, except for more unusual species or those that interest us.  It
is the "count" aspect of these events that provides useful data, and it is
counting that is largely a matter of habit."

Oregon has a wonderful example of a simple, valueable, fun, long-term  
population monitoring project for a small location... Wink Gross's  
Weekly Dog Walk Summary from Pittock Mansion.

Search the OBOL archives  
(http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/private/obol/) to read them for  
the past several years.

Here's the most recent:
http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/private/obol/2006-September/035293.html

At first glance, this doesn't appear to be "science," but it is. It's  
repeatable and controlled. His results show migratory peaks, first  
dates, last dates, and the population of resident birds as well. The  
data spans several years.

Anyone can do it. I bet Wink doesn't think of these dog walks as  
"difficult science"... after all, he's just walking his dog and  
keeping track of the birds he sees!

This is a great model for others to emulate.

Greg Gillson
Hillsboro, Oregon
greg at thebirdguide.com
http://thebirdguide.com