Bird Data

Thanks to Melinda Meade, keen observer and relentless note-taker, we have a detailed record of Christmas and Spring bird counts dating back to 1988.  I have had the privilege of combing through this data, and am far enough along to share a couple of things.

The data I have worked through, back to 2000 with a few omissions, is summarized like so (hover with your mouse for details):


As Darwin said, most species are rare, and Meade's records bear this out.  Just a dozen species (of 116) account for half of all the 6929 sightings on count days.  In order of incidence:

1. Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco
2. Northern Cardinal
3. American Robin
4. American Crow
5. House Finch
6. American Goldfinch
7. Eastern Bluebird
8. White-throated Sparrow
9. Northern Mockingbird
10. Carolina Wren
11. Cedar Waxwing
12. Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler

Here is a chart showing striking confirmation at Fearrington of Darwin's observation (hover with your mouse for details):

If you have a hankering to browse the complete dataset, find it here.  I'll be adding more.

I admit to being a little surprised that the most frequently seen species (those seen on 23 of 23 outings) are not exactly the same as the species with the highest numbers.  Those seen on every outing are:

1. Blue Jay*
2. American Crow
3. Tufted Titmouse*
4. Carolina Wren
5. Eastern Bluebird
6. Northern Mockingbird
7. Eastern Towhee*
8. Northern Cardinal

* not on the highest incidence list.

Think Passenger Pigeons, I guess.

Finally, here's a hierarchical view of incidence where the size of the square represents the total individual sightings.  Click on a heading to expand.  Right-click to collapse.