Personally, I did something along this line in 2011. I called it my
"Moderate Year." My rules were pretty stringent. I could not divert
significantly from the path my activities otherwise took me. So, no trips
whatsoever to the North Coast. No chasing.

Since I consider birds to be part of my general awareness of the natural
world, and since I am a field scientist who is reasonably wide-ranging, it
did include some excursions into diverse habitats, but none to Lake Erie.
This was a North American list, since my business travels took me to
southern California, LA, Orange and San Diego Counties. I also visited the
Gulf Coast of Florida on a family trip. But my database includes an Ohio
component, and the number is recorded. My idea was to figure out how many
species of birds the average Joe encounters, without actually doing any
real birding, but I couldn't completely resist looking.

You will consider the list paltry, although the average Joes, who only
think along the lines of sparrow, hawk, gull, blackbird, duck, maybe
cardinal or blue jay, still find it amazing.

I tallied 176 species total, 109 of them in Ohio.

In browsing through my database I find it incredible that I did not tally
certain species in Ohio, so undedicated were my non-efforts. So, honest
reflection leads me to believe that the Ohio number should be a couple
dozen species higher.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County



On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 7:56 AM, Haans Petruschke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Back in the 1990's Vic Fazio and I estimated about 250 or so just being
> dedicated  and going to appropriate locations. A good way to estimate is to
> look at a resource like "Birds of the Cleveland Region" 2004- Rosche, ed.
> and start counting.  Given enough time in the field you will likely find
> all the common and uncommon species. Plus some rare ones.  Also that
> reference is old so some birds have changed in status over the past
> decade.  Mostly increasing in numbers and occurrence with one or two
> exceptions like Rusty Blackbird.  So you are far more likely to find a
> Sandhill Crane or Merlin today than 10 years ago.
>
> Haans
>
> On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 7:05 AM, Jon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > To say that I have spent a lot of hours driving with my friends Kent and
> > Ben over the past 2 years would be an understatement.  During those
> drives
> > we have talked about birds, family, life, and everything in between.
> Here
> > is a subject that we began kicking around a few months ago and I thought
> it
> > might make for some interesting conversation here.  If you would rather
> > just chase reports of birds, then you can hit the delete button now.
> >
> > We started pondering this question:  How many birds could a person see in
> > Ohio in a calendar year WITHOUT using any outside resources?  Think of it
> > as a “Pure Big Year”.  Outside resources would include this listserv, all
> > social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), phone “hotlines” (yes, some still
> > exist), or information gained in any way outside of your own finding of a
> > bird.  If you aren’t the one who literally finds the bird on your own, it
> > does not count.  NO CHASING.  We think that historical resources such as
> > the Annotated Checklist, or Peterjohn’s Birds of Ohio would be perfectly
> > appropriate as this constitutes doing research in order to develop a game
> > plan.
> >
> > We often see folks getting over 300 birds in Ohio lately, which is a
> > pretty remarkable number.  Clearly a HUGE part of that is the ability to
> > chase the reports of birds found by others.
> >
> > So the question is:  How many species of birds do you think that an
> > experienced birder could locate in a year without ANY kind of outside
> help?
> >
> > Clearly, those who have been birding in Ohio for years would have the
> > advantage of knowing where and when to seek out species to increase their
> > odds, but that is what I mean by an experienced birder.  During our
> > conversations about this subject we have tossed around a few numbers that
> > we think would be possible, but I will not share them here so as to
> > encourage others to weigh in without undue influence.  There have been
> > county efforts that may be a good reflection of what would be possible
> > state-wide (like Jen Brumfield’s Cuyahoga effort).
> >
> > I am also interested to hear what kinds of pitfalls you can imagine for
> > such an endeavor.  For instance, how would you handle a trip to the
> > boardwalk at Magee Marsh in May?  How could you NOT be using the efforts
> of
> > others (clogs on the boardwalk around a Mourning Warbler) in that circus
> of
> > people?  How would a person cope with the psychological challenges
> > (loneliness, mental fatigue) of undergoing such a difficult endeavor?
> > Would photo documentation be required to make the tally “legitimate?"
> >
> > I truly hope that some of the excellent birders who call Ohio home will
> > weigh in on this thoughtfully.  I wonder if anyone would attempt such a
> > challenge?  I wonder if an optics or other birding-related company would
> > consider sponsoring such an endeavor?
> >
> >
> > Jon Cefus
> > Cuyahoga Falls
> >
> >
> > “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from
> > the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent
> > disinclination to do so.”
> > -Douglas Adams
> >
> >
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