County List totals
Miliff@aol.com
Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:17:01 EST
Hello Ospreyers,
Phil Davis, in prep for his upcoming summay of county lister's totals in The
Yellowthroat, has asked me for the totals which I have volunteered to maintain
in a computer file. Much (all) of the credit for the initial creation of the
file goes to Jim Stasz, though I have been the custodian of it for a while and
have intermittently tried to upkeep it.
It is laid out in a Quattro Pro spreadsheet. Species (and races, forms
etc...) run down the rows in taxonomic order while the 23 MD counties run
across the top. There are also columns for the "pelagic zone" (6-200 mi
offshore) and the MD state total. Our starting point was the Yellow Book
(Field List of the Birds of Maryland by Iliff, Ringler, Stasz 1996). All
species for which there was a believable report were given a "1" (including
extinct and extirpated species).
For MD/DCRC reviewable species, only accepted records for the county/state are
included - hence, the county list totals are much lower than what has actually
been seen. Many old reports were undocumented or poorly documented and hence
have either been deemed "unreviewable" by the MD/DCRC or rejected, usually
based on the lack of documentation written at the time (not in any inherent
weakness in the report). For non-MD/DCRC species, it has been a judgement
call on what has been included or not. The list is not entirely current for
recent decisions by the MD/DCRC but is close. For a few records which were
widely seen, obvious, and well-documented (i.e. Wood Stork at Pt. Lookout,
Franklin's Gull in Calvert and Worcester, Anhinga in Charles, etc...) I have
"jumped the gun" and included them before the MDDCRC has reacheda decision.
Where there is any question though (i.e. Kelp Gull, Cinnamon Teal in Kent,
etc...) I have erred on the side of caution.
Some things I noticed in reviewing this might be of interest, especially for
those who do county listing (the two letter County codes are those used in the
Yellow Book).
* Only the two Westernmost counties still need a record for "Richardson's"
Goose (small race Canada Goose)
* the only missing scoter record is Black Scoter in FR, many scoter county
records are quite recent (e.g. BlSc in AL, BlSc and SuSc in CN, BlSc in both
HA and CE...)
* With the recent removal of Mississippi Kite from the MD/DCRC review list we
can claim records in 12 counties. Frederick and Worcester will be the next to
fall, I predict, followed by Washington and Carroll.
* Carroll County is now the only county w/o a Golden Eagle record and only
Caroline needs Goshawk
* Washington County needs a Western Sandpiper (this could be an error)
* Alder Flycatcher has not been identified conclusively very often on the
Eastern Shore - only QA, KE, and WO have records (Calvert also needs one!)
* Bicknell's Thrush has been conclusively IDed in only 8 counties so far - FR,
MO, PG, BA, WO, AA, SM, KE
* Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow has not yet been conclusively IDed in WA,
Carroll, Caroline, TA, WI, CE, HA, CH, KE
* Both Saltmarsh and Seaside sparrows are needed in Caroline County (might
stray up Choptank in spring...)
The totals listed below are current through today and to the best of my
knowledge. I hope that those that keep track of sych numbers (Jo Solem, Mark
Hoffman, and others) might check my numbers and see how close we are. There
will be some points of discrepancy surely (mostly with MD/DCRC species not
being included), but I hope the totals are close. If anyone would like a copy
of the file I would be glad to send one and if anyone would be willing to
check my totals for a given county I would be most grateful. Changes won't
make it in to this Yellowthroat to be sure, but maybe by the next one this
will be error free!
Best,
Marshall Iliff
MD state -416
GA - 275
AL - 284
WA - 260
FR - 287
CA - 277
MO - 309
HO - 291
BA - 332
HA - 296
CE - 292
PG - 318
AA - 332
CT - 302
CH - 280
SM - 313
KE - 300
QA - 298
CN - 288
TA - 311
DO - 315
WI - 288
SO - 302
WO - 359 + 14 PELAGIC ONLY = 373
PELAGIC - 127