I've asked eBird at Cornell for their records of birds in Nova Scotia, and I was either blessed or cursed to receive records of 51 million birds, dating back to before 1900. Contemporary birders use the eBird App, but someone has gone back to early, written sources like Robie W. Tufts, newspapers and weather records, hand entering the numbers.
- 1254 Birders submitting lists
- 391 species (plus 61 genus only)
- 7,129,451 individual birds (7,265,567 with genus)
There is lots of surprising data, and I'll report what seems interesting. For the record, each entry in the huge database represents the number you would write next to a species on your checklist. If the line says "American Crow 25", it creates one record. If your list has 46 species for your day's outing, 46 records. If another birder sees the same 25 crows, another record is created. (I think). Here are all 452 species. Click a heading to sort:
1. THE BIRDS
2. TREEMAP (species with more than 1,000 individuals, residents are seen 11 or 12 months) Click here to open in a new window
3. THE EARLY WORM
It's the birders we really care about, don't we, and in this table you can see who's been the most dedicated (365 days last year for eight hardy souls) and most successful (more than 70,000 individuals observed). Click a heading to sort:
4. RARITIES
And here is the treemap for species with 1,000 individuals or less
The Auk, a thoroughgoing publication dating to 1882, has many references to Nova Scotia. It confirms the lasting appeal of ornithology. Here is a report by Harry Piers from 1897 about 8 unusual sightings in Nova Scotia. Click an icon for text.
More soon.....
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