Forum Role: Participant
Active Since: October 19, 2021
Topics Started: 0
Replies Created: 6

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    We read through the comments. People are doing lots of wonderful things to help birds. We do have some commentary, however, about the science. We are also behavioral scientists. We wonder how the numbers are determined to compare current populations with those of 50 years ago. And, how would you actually gather data to know that a billion birds are killed by cats. Is that extrapolation? And what might that process  be..statistically? It is great to use citizen scientist, but aren't there serious concerns about the reliability and validity of the data collection? Are there psychometrically sound integrity checks? It would be interesting to hear about the actual science--data collection techniques etc. For example, when we lived in Mississippi, there was )(still is as far as we know) a hummingbird sanctuary. Every year, there was tagging, monitoring, measuring etc. real science. It's just that sometimes when they authors write that the numbers are based on citizen science, we sort of, in a very friendly way, have questions about the veracity.   We do really like Dr. Kevin McGowan. He is our favorite ornithologist. Ok, he's the only one we know. But, we bet he would still be our favorite! His love of birds and the science of ornithology is incredibly infectious.
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    Activity Two- As far as I can see, we do not have any chapters near us. We would love to connect with people (via seeing their submissions) we see on the ebird site for our remote NY state county. Does anyone know how to do that? We've asked before. We also participate in the Backyard Count and have signed up for the Audubon Christmas count. We did not know about the feeder count. That sounds very interesting.
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    Activity One: We live in the Adirondack Mountains. The main habitats are woods and water. The woods are primarily songbirds (and turkeys!--just saw some tiny babies a few days ago) and water for us means lakes and ponds. There you see lots of water fowl like loons, mallards, swans, geese etc.. Activity  Two: We agree with all that has been written. Big takeaway for us was the number of completed checklists in Arizona compared to England, esp central London. Arizona wins!
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    First, thank you to everyone who takes the time to write. Very enjoyable. Second, a query. Via ebird, we have been noticing a local who does a lot of birding. We would love to make a connection with her. Is there any way to contact people you find in your county. We live in Franklin County, NY--very rural (not a lot of birding organizations) in the Adirondacks. This person also seems more experienced but is walking in the same remote areas we walk. Any ideas? We wrote Cornell lab but heard nothing..Yet! Activity 1 We have feeders all over the place. We notice the chickadees who are there all winter, are gone.  Lots of mourning doves, red winged blackbirds, robins, and a dark blue headed blackbird--name? etc.. Interestingly, and this happens every year, we generally only get 1 hummingbird (at a time) at the feeders. Activity 2-We have suet in the backyard; we changed because something (raccoon) carried the whole thing away in the front yard (at least we cannot find the container). For us, it is interesting to see how the birds eat that suet--knocking a bit to the ground and then eating. Also, in the past, the black-capped chickadee is so interesting how they take the seed in their feet and then turn around to eat on the feeder. Chickadees also seem fearless! Activity 3-We used Merlin in the woods behind out house (live on 20 acres). Merlin identified Red-eyed vireo and eastern  wood-peewee two birds of which we were unaware. Finally, and sorry so long, here is a pic of the first loons we have seen of the season. Kayak trip on Mountain Pond in the Adirondacks near out house. Loons Mountain Pond 6-11-2022
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    We live in the Adirondacks. Our favorite spots are Little Green Pond and Mountain Pond June through October as the Loons are there and it is breeding time. Also, no Goldfinch pictures today.
  • Angeleque
    Participant
    Note that the Northern Cardinal abundance animation is not available today, June 6, 2022.
Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)