A lesson in counting

The Canons Farm Linnet flock is not the easiest group of birds to count. They rarely combine together and prefer to feed in smaller groups spread across several adjacent fields, but every so often they do meet up and wheel across the skyline before breaking up once more. Such a ball of activity calls for snap judgement of numbers present - it is far easier to count the smaller aggregations, and as long as you keep your wits about you and do not double-count, add those figures up to get a (fairly) accurate count. Sometimes they do the right thing...

Yesterday afternoon the birds came together over Tarts Field, and whereas 150 peeled away and landed back on the stubble, the rest landed in a nearby tree. I took a picture of this gathering and then started to count the perched birds, but I was stymied by a continual procession of small flocks peeling off and disappearing into neighbouring fields. How many were there? I reckoned at least 200, maybe even 250. Don't cheat, what do you reckon?


This morning I put the image on a computer screen and methodically counted them, placing a colour square on each bird so as not to double-count. Each group of 100 were given a different colour. Some squares are on top of each other and cannot be seen as individual squares. The final number? 426.


426 must be a minimum as there will surely be hidden birds (behind other birds or branches). My overall count of 500 from yesterday now becomes a minimum of 575. They will soon break up, so I might be tempted back to have another count.

In other news: Spring migration felt as if it had really started on the farm yesterday, with a second calendar-year male Black Redstart and three Stonechats consorting together along the fence line at Reeds Rest Bottom, the former a dusky female-type plumaged bird exhibiting an obvious wing panel.

Comments

Derek Faulkner said…
Blimey Steve, you must be getting severely bored.
3 March 2020 at 14:24
Simon Douglas Thompson said…
Knocks the flocks of 30 odd birds I've seen into a cocked hat
3 March 2020 at 20:38
Dave Boyle said…
There's a count function in photoshop - you just click & it numbers what you click on & you can have different criteria of things you count, I've used it a lot for Black-billed Gulls where you're counting nests & individuals - its really handy!
4 March 2020 at 04:52
Steve Gale said…
Derek, not so much bored as plenty of spare time on my hands.
Simon - in some years 30 Linnets would be a good count here too.
Dave - I wasn’t aware of that function, thanks!
4 March 2020 at 08:53
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldfinches and Lavender

Image
We have three medium-sized Lavender bushes in our back garden. Throughout the summer the flowers (which last for several months) are a magnet for insects and give off a most restful aroma. As tempting as it is to cut the dead stems in the autumn, we always leave them, as we know that during the late winter we will get visitors to feed on the seed heads... This video was taken from the kitchen window this morning. We will normally see one or two birds over a few days, but have had up to 14 at once. We never tire of watching them. Lavender is a wonderful plant to have in the garden, with year round natural history benefits. So what are you waiting for? They are readily available at a garden centre close to you right now! There is an historic association with Lavender in this part of northern Surrey and south London. Lavender fields have been harvested for many years, with one particular field close to Woodmansterne being very popular with day trippers. A significant proportion o
Read more

To tell it like it is, or not...

Image
I am grateful to Gavin Haig (Not Quite Scilly) who drew my attention to an opinion piece, penned by Matt Phelps, which appeared in the November issue of 'Birdwatch' magazine, entitled 'Positive Approach', which I have now read. In it, he suggests that there is too much negativity being posted on social media regarding the state of our birding world, which is then acting as a deterrent towards a younger generation in adopting conservation and wildlife study. He also suggests that a lot of this negativity is being generated by older birders, and that these old timers keep banging on about the 'good old days' which isn't helpful in encouraging the youth to pick up a pair of binoculars and get out into the field. Does he have a point? Now, I am undeniably an older birder, and I am also guilty of having posted, blogged, written and spoken about the slump in bird and invertebrate numbers. I also like nothing better than to revisit my notebooks and share in the hi
Read more

Time to reflect

I normally come up with the title for a post after I have written it. If I'm feeling creative it will be some sort of play on words, or if I'm not then an all-encompassing word or two will do. As for this particular post, and with a few things to discuss, I've written the title first, inspired by having just read a feature about musicians who have used the title of an album as the starting point for their creative exercise. Here goes... Firstly, blogs - yes, this very medium that I am writing in and you are reading from. - what content they derive, the reason that the content exists and what the writer should (or should not) expect from any reader that visits the blog. This was brought into sharp focus by a series of posts to be found here, at Jono Lethbridge's excellent 'Wansted Birder'.   His blogging output has recently included detailed and entertaining reports on his recent overseas trips which have received a bit of flak from certain quarters. None of us b
Read more