Subject: Great Backyard Bird Count Hummingbirds
Date: Feb 20 07:55:08 2001
From: Mike Patterson - celata at pacifier.com


There is a way to extract some of the bird locations, if they
fall into the top 100 category (thank you, Wesley Stone).
But there is no way to validate these sightings. Those
from southern Oregon (Medford, Bandon, Jacksonville and Gold
Hill) could be Rufous Hummingbirds, but this is also where
Anna's Hummingbirds occur in the highest densities.

Medford, OR 5
Bandon, OR 3
Lake Oswego, OR 2
Eugene, OR 2
Corvallis, OR 1
Waldport, OR 1
Philomath, OR 1
Jacksonville, OR 1
Gold Hill, OR 1

Bellevue, WA 5
Seattle, WA 2

West Vancouver, BC 1
Vancouver, BC 1

It seems unlikely that Rufous Hummingbirds would be selectively
choosing the feeders of bird surveyors outside the loop (not
connected to the traditional networks). We have been unable to
confirm any of these sightings.

When the Great Backyard Bird Count was originally established
the list of birds being counted was very short and (I think)
deliberately designed to exclude ID challenges, but they
received many complaints because some observers felt their
yard was not being adequately represented (it was very east
coast biased as I recall).

At any rate, until we can connect the observer experience to
the databased the hummingbird records will probably have to
be filed under hummingbird spp.

--
Mike Patterson Alas, to wear the mantle of Galileo,
Astoria, OR it is not enough to be persecuted
celata at pacifier.com by an unkind establishment,
you must also be right.
---Robert Park
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html