Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 17:58:34 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Keith Rutter Subject: Counting Birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi, My name is Jordan Rutter and I am in sixth grade. I recently had my field notebook judged. The most common criticism was that in my list I didn't say how many of each type of bird I saw. Now I know that you often need to estimate the number, but still this seems very difficult. I recently went to Black Water and saw hundreds of Canada Geese. I also saw big black clouds of Starlings and huge flocks of Red-winged Black Birds. My group also encountered two Golden Eagles flying. Later, after driving in the direction the birds were flying, we saw a Golden Eagle on the ground eating a duck. I am looking for guidance. How do you accurately estimate very large numbers of birds? Is there a good rule of thumb? Are there Christmas Bird Count guidelines? My dad said that we may have to count a portion of the flock, for example one quarter or one tenth, and then calculate from there. This seems both difficult - especially when they are in flight - and could be way off. And, what do you do when you think you may have seen the same bird twice? Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance Sincerely, Jordan Rutter Wheaton, MD -- _______________________________ http://www.pogo.org Project On Government Oversight POGO investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. POGO is a politically-independent, nonprofit watchdog that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================