The main table of results will use the standardized 4-letter bird species codes:
Standardized 4- and 6-letter Bird Species (“Alpha”) Codes
The results we want to get from this project will be counts (estimated numbers) of birds (especially gull species) in LIS waters. The main result (#1) will be counts at TWENTY+ coastal locations, on two different dates (3/25 and 4/9/2017). The companion result (#2) will be those same bird species counted almost every day this Spring at ONE coastal location, Stratford Point, CT.
#1) MAIN RESULT OF THIS SUPER SEAWATCH:
20+ LOCATIONS AT TWO POINTS IN TIME:
SNAPSHOT COUNTS ON TWO SINGLE DATES, AT 20+ LOCATIONS:
(20+ Locations at Two points in time = this Super Seawatch):
Our results will be a matrix and map, indicating how many of each bird species, in each location, on March 25 (and then again on April 9). Results will be published at this website, soon after the count(s).
#2) COMPANION RESULT: TIME SERIES DATA FOR CONTEXT:
ONE LOCATION, ACROSS 80 DAYS IN TIME:
BENCHMARK TIME SERIES AT ONE LOCATION:
(1 Location at every day in March & April = a related & complementary piece of work):
Thanks to S.Kruitbosch (RTPI), we will also have a time series of bird numbers and species in the waters off one particular location, Stratford Point, for context, showing changes throughout March and April, day by day (with some gaps), especially since it appears that Spring and the LIS plankton bloom may come early this year. This time series will show how the numbers change during the annual seasonal cycle.
Lets use Ring-billed Gulls as our indicator species, and use Scott's daily counts at Stratford Point as our reference location and data series. Here it is so far, for February 13, 14, 15 and 16 ::: 26, 57, 41 and 30 Ring-billed Gulls. These bird numbers will be displayed on the chart below, with a logarithmic vertical scale, and dates on the horizontal axis. Between now and March 25th we expect to see these numbers go up to several thousand birds in these waters. It will be interesting to see how these numbers climb and fluctuate from mid-February through end of April, probably partly in response to changes in the local plankton and fish...
NUMBER OF RING-BILLED GULLS AT STRATFORD PT., CT OVER TIME
Click on this image to enlarge it, and then press ESC key to return.
This daily data is courtesy of Scott Kruitbosch of RTPI.
Number of Ring-billed Gulls seen by S.Kruitbosch at Stratford Point:
26 on Feb.13.
57 on Feb.14.
41 on Feb.15.
30 on Feb.16.
2,900 on Feb.19.
172 on Feb.23.
380 on Feb.24.
450 on Feb.25.
90 on Feb.26.
210 on Feb.27.
89 on March3rd.
33 on March5th.
270 on March7th.
570 on March 13th.
8 on March 14th.
55 on March 18th.
800 on March 19th.
We have data which needs to be added in to this, to update it to be complete.
1,800 on March3. A very rough estimate by Patrick Comins (and 1,200 HERG).
more to come...
