Nancy, absolutely yes, obviously if you hear many then it is a guess, say
you hear a Crow for instance and then around a 100 start "caw cawing" then
it is a "guesstimate" but undoubtedly, you know the bird from it's call, it
is a valid identification. How often do you hear the call of a solitary
Spotted Towhee, I hear more than I see, I count them. You hear many
Starlings in a flock, you take a guesstimate on the decibels of the bird,
after all, if you get a visual on a large flock, this is a guess too, the
old theory of counting groups of 10 and multiplying is never accurate, but
obviously it is more accurate than hearing.

Counting a bird by ear is valid, anyway, is this for your records or a
birding group?



Regards



Martyn



Martyn Stewart

Birds Sounds Digitally Recorded at:

http://www.naturesound.org

N47.65543 W121.98428

Redmond. Washington. USA

Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!



The Spring is cum
The grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is?

The birdies on the wing!
Nah, that's absoid
D' wing is on d' boid!
.............................................................................
.........

_____

From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Nancy
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 7:03 AM
To: Tweets
Subject: birding counting questions



Tweeters-

I have a question about protocol. If you hear a bird and positively
identify the call but do not actually see the bird, does it count as a bird
count? (I suppose blind people do bird watch by the sound alone, but then
they would not know exactly how many birds there were.)



I am puzzled as to how anyone can count a group of 100 birds or more if they
are moving? What are the techniques for counting large groups of birds?

Nancy

Renton, WA.