RE: [nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs
Hi Steve, Of course we get points for these things! But just as the birds in question were not made visible to us, the points we accrue in this way must never be visible to others. We may relish them privately, sometimes for years, perhaps sharing the pain from time to time with those who also tried but missed the birds. And then there is the special category of birds that were in the circle but never detected at all! Obviously, we don't don't a lot about these mysterious birds, but we do know that they exist. I've played around with curves plotting species accumulation against effort on CBCs and compared counts where effort imploded, due to the discovery of a rarity on count day, against controls, where the effort unfolded normally. I can't remember the details right now, but on counts with high species totals, the cost of one Grace's Warbler or Harris's Sparrow is the loss of at least several species that would have been found, but which instead must be banked in a special place, along with points like those you describe. Shai Mitra Bay Shre From: bounce-122147629-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-122147629-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Steve Walter [swalte...@verizon.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 4:33 PM To: nysbird...@list.cornell.edu Subject: [nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs Eric Miller found a Cackling Goose this afternoon on Alley Pond (the pond at the intersection of the LIE and Cross Island Pkwy in Queens). Canada Goose numbers there were much higher than they had been up until now. So quite possibly these are new arrivals, making it excusable that the Cackling was missed on Sunday’s count. But it is squeezed into count week at nearly the last minute. In an odd twist to this story, I was just out doing work in my backyard, where I watched two small groups of geese fly over. These were coming from the direction of Alley Pond, which is rather close to me. One of the groups contained a noticeably smaller goose at the tail end of one of the V’s. Also seen at Alley Pond was the long lingering Lesser Yellowlegs, which stayed out of sight on count day. It makes that CBC thing seem less like an accurate survey and more like a game (like Hide and Seek). I think we should get bonus points or something to denote that it was actually in the count circle all along, as opposed to leaving after the first day of count week. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
RE: [nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs
Hi Steve, Of course we get points for these things! But just as the birds in question were not made visible to us, the points we accrue in this way must never be visible to others. We may relish them privately, sometimes for years, perhaps sharing the pain from time to time with those who also tried but missed the birds. And then there is the special category of birds that were in the circle but never detected at all! Obviously, we don't don't a lot about these mysterious birds, but we do know that they exist. I've played around with curves plotting species accumulation against effort on CBCs and compared counts where effort imploded, due to the discovery of a rarity on count day, against controls, where the effort unfolded normally. I can't remember the details right now, but on counts with high species totals, the cost of one Grace's Warbler or Harris's Sparrow is the loss of at least several species that would have been found, but which instead must be banked in a special place, along with points like those you describe. Shai Mitra Bay Shre From: bounce-122147629-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-122147629-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Steve Walter [swalte...@verizon.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 4:33 PM To: nysbird...@list.cornell.edu Subject: [nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs Eric Miller found a Cackling Goose this afternoon on Alley Pond (the pond at the intersection of the LIE and Cross Island Pkwy in Queens). Canada Goose numbers there were much higher than they had been up until now. So quite possibly these are new arrivals, making it excusable that the Cackling was missed on Sunday’s count. But it is squeezed into count week at nearly the last minute. In an odd twist to this story, I was just out doing work in my backyard, where I watched two small groups of geese fly over. These were coming from the direction of Alley Pond, which is rather close to me. One of the groups contained a noticeably smaller goose at the tail end of one of the V’s. Also seen at Alley Pond was the long lingering Lesser Yellowlegs, which stayed out of sight on count day. It makes that CBC thing seem less like an accurate survey and more like a game (like Hide and Seek). I think we should get bonus points or something to denote that it was actually in the count circle all along, as opposed to leaving after the first day of count week. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs
Eric Miller found a Cackling Goose this afternoon on Alley Pond (the pond at the intersection of the LIE and Cross Island Pkwy in Queens). Canada Goose numbers there were much higher than they had been up until now. So quite possibly these are new arrivals, making it excusable that the Cackling was missed on Sunday's count. But it is squeezed into count week at nearly the last minute. In an odd twist to this story, I was just out doing work in my backyard, where I watched two small groups of geese fly over. These were coming from the direction of Alley Pond, which is rather close to me. One of the groups contained a noticeably smaller goose at the tail end of one of the V's. Also seen at Alley Pond was the long lingering Lesser Yellowlegs, which stayed out of sight on count day. It makes that CBC thing seem less like an accurate survey and more like a game (like Hide and Seek). I think we should get bonus points or something to denote that it was actually in the count circle all along, as opposed to leaving after the first day of count week. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Alley Pond Cackling Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs
Eric Miller found a Cackling Goose this afternoon on Alley Pond (the pond at the intersection of the LIE and Cross Island Pkwy in Queens). Canada Goose numbers there were much higher than they had been up until now. So quite possibly these are new arrivals, making it excusable that the Cackling was missed on Sunday's count. But it is squeezed into count week at nearly the last minute. In an odd twist to this story, I was just out doing work in my backyard, where I watched two small groups of geese fly over. These were coming from the direction of Alley Pond, which is rather close to me. One of the groups contained a noticeably smaller goose at the tail end of one of the V's. Also seen at Alley Pond was the long lingering Lesser Yellowlegs, which stayed out of sight on count day. It makes that CBC thing seem less like an accurate survey and more like a game (like Hide and Seek). I think we should get bonus points or something to denote that it was actually in the count circle all along, as opposed to leaving after the first day of count week. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
