Hi everyone,
I (like many others I guess) received my atlas kit last night. On a quick read
through it seems fairly straightforward
and interesting. A couple of points though which I noticed. First the grid
size seems to have gone back up to a 1
degree block for total coverage of Australia or have I read the introduction to
be kit incorrectly. I know that the
position data will be on a much finer scale so I guess Birds Australia are just
being cautious about the scale that they
will be able to achieve. However is it still true that the final grid size
will be smaller if they get a good enough
response?
Secondly I was wondering how the dissemination of bird sightings affects the
collection of data especially in regard to
the abundance of birds. I take it that the information from the 20 minute bird
searches will be used to determine bird
abundance, ie the more often a bird is recorded in a given block in 20 minute
searches then the more common it is
assumed to be in that area. However with rapid dissemination of sightings (eg
internet and other birding groups) will
this affect this data. For example I went to Heathcote on the weekend and
thanks to a previous email made sure to stop
in at the Costerfield Hall to see the Southern Whitefaces. Now if a number of
people were to use the same information
then we might get an inaccurate view of how common the Southern Whiteface is in
this block. This effect might be even
more pronounced for rare species. Is this a problem or am I not considering the
statistics correctly.
Best Wishes
John
Best Wishes
John Boyce
Department of Microbiology
Monash University
Clayton, 3168
Vic. Australia
phone: work: 9905 4838
home: 9376 6641
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