Summary of 2003 Upper Cumberland Region YardWatch Results

    In Table 1 (below), for each of 146 bird species the total number of YardWatch (YW) registrations—from monthly summary lists only—for each month of 2003 is listed, followed by the total number of registrations for the year (in the third column from the right).  The total number of yearly YW registrations for each species was then used to generate each species' YW frequency code (in the second column from the right in red) in the Upper Cumberland Region, based on the following scales ("best guess" scales, created before monthly data were combined for any species):

Permanent Residents (PR):

1–5 Registrations—Rare (R) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

6–10 Registrations—Very Uncommon (VU) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

11–30 Registrations—Uncommon (U) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

31–60 Registrations—Fairly Common (FC) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

61+ Registrations—Common (C) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

Summer Residents (SR), Winter Residents(WR), and Transients (TR):

1–5 Registrations—Rare (R) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

6–10 Registrations—Very Uncommon (VU) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

11–20 Registrations—Uncommon (U) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

21–40 Registrations—Fairly Common (FC) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

41+  Registrations—Common (C) in UCR yards/neighborhoods

    Note that the effort (i.e., number of lists submitted each month) varied over the course of the year, as more and more observers began to participate in the Yard Watch Project.  This source of variability probably skews some of the results a bit.

    As one means of judging the general accuracy of the status codes generated by the YW data, the status codes used for these species in the Birds of Putnam County, Tennessee (Stedman 1993) are also provided in the far right hand column for comparison.  However, such a comparison is fraught with the chance for error because the YW codes derive from a much smaller dataset than the datasets that led to the Putnam County codes; consequently, some degree of difference between the two sets of codes is to be expected, especially for species that occur in habitats not well represented in typical yards and neighborhoods.

    A table of results for the 2004 YardWatch data may be viewed by clicking on the underlined words in this sentence.

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Table 1. Results of 2003 YardWatch

Species                                    Status         YW Registrations by Month and Year                          Codes

    If you are familiar with the bar graphs that are used in many bird books to depict simultaneously the period of occurrence and frequency of occurrence (or abundance) of bird species, you can see that the above data represent an important step toward the creation of such graphs for the Upper Cumberland Region.  With another year's worth of data added to what is already in hand, the job of bar-graph creation ought to be close to complete for about half the species occurring in the Region.

    I want to continue the YardWatch Project during 2004.  However, I want to limit the data that are collected to monthly check-lists only.  I hope this change will not work a hardship on anyone who participated during 2003.

Acknowledgments

    Thanks are due to the following observers for their dedicated participation in this small project during 2003.  Their submission of bird data for one or more months during the past year has helped to determine accurate frequency classifications and periods of occurrence for many species of birds occurring in yards and neighborhoods in the Upper Cumberland Region.

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Literature Cited:

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