Jerry,

The data is "noisy," that's for sure, but most statistical analyses have
used "birds per party hour" in order to control somewhat for the extreme
variability of observer effort.

Gene Hunn.

At 03:23 PM 12/6/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Having been on tweeters only one year, my questions may have been hashed
>
>over many times in the past. If this is the case, please reply to me
>privately.
>
>I have been wondering about something--could someone enlighten me?
>
>On the NAS statement about the CBC under the title "WHY" they say "Birds
>
>are indicators of the overall health of our environment. Christmas Bird
>Count data over time in any given area can provide valuable insight into
>
>the long-term health of bird populations and the environment".
>
>My question: Does the manner in which the count is done provide the
>needed
>information accurately enough?
>
>I will use our CBC as an example. I am told that there was one year that
>
>there were only 6 people to cover 177 square miles. That is 29.5 square
>miles person. Last year there were 16, this year it appears there will
>be 10. Last year there were 81 in the Seattle CBC that is 2.18 square
>miles per person.
>
>
>How can a pattern be established when any given area is not getting
>*approximately* the same coverage. How is "valuable insight into the
>long-term health of the bird populations and the environment"
>established when all the area is covered one year--half another and hit
>and miss another?
>
>In my "newbie" way of thinking--wouldn't it be a little more accurate to
>
>have a more consistent number of people for any given area?
>
>What if there was a website that had all the CBC locations and dates in
>WA and other ajoining states, (opps and Providence's) and people could
>click on any given area that they wanted to go to for the CBC. The site
>would be continusly updated (interactive?). This would give everyone a
>chance to see how many people were going to each area and when. On a
>VOLUNTEER basis, someone may see that the area they were going to had
>enough people and could change to another area that had very few people.
>
>Please notice that I did say Volunteer.
>
>Sandy and I have run some numbers from last years CBC and if you want to
>see it go to:
>
>http://homepage.usr.com/c/composites/48071.shtml
>
>It would be interesting to have 10 people do an area, and have 40 other
>people do the same area at the same time to see the difference in
>numbers of species and total counts.
>
>Okey I am finally done. Fire away.
>
>Jerry Converse
>Grand Coulee, WA
>
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