Hi Everyone,
After a bit of a hiatus, I've udpated the 2012 MD Compreshensive Bird list
through today. By my estimate, MD birders have tallied 333 species so far
in 2012. As expected, its been pretty slow for rarities with perhaps the
Eurasian collared-doves and a white morph great blue heron being the
highlights since early spring. You can find the entire list as well as
monthly MD tallies at http://www.billhubick.com/docs/MD_Comp_List_2012.pdf.
Overall total monthly species observed have been declining since peaking in
May at 274, with 245 and 226 species in June and July, respectively. Since
we've past the halfway point in 2012, I've also done some basic analyses on
monthly patterns to date. Besides the start of the new year in January,
April brought the highest number of new species for 2012 with 63. July was
the first month where zero new species were added. Surprisingly, May
brought only 26 new species for the year. Many species typically
associated with spring migration where observed earlier in the year as
single individuals or in very low numbers (e.g., sightings of yellow
warbler and northern parula in January). Finally, a look at the number of
months each species has been observed indicates that 37% of the 333 species
observed so far have been observed at least once each month so far. That
percentage really drops as you look at fewer than seven months, with 15% of
species being observed in four and five different months, and down to
approximately 8% for the remaining number of months.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are some errors or missing data in the
tallies, so please let me know if you find any! As usual, if you observe a
species that is senstitive or on private property and are hesitant to post
widely, let me know and I'll include them in the list with only limited
location information.
Cheers,
Dave
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David Kidwell
Glenn Dale, MD
<harps4me...>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmkidwell/
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