Explanation of state statistics

EXPLANATION OF STATE & REGIONAL STATISTICS
Everything you never wanted to know about these lists

The statistics compiled on these pages are constantly changing. Although efforts have been made to assure accuracy, mistakes or omissions will occur. Readers should consider the information as reasonably approximate only. If you find a material mistake or have an update, please forward it to the compiler of these statistics, Don Roberson, at creagrus@montereybay.com. With these caveats in mind, the following general principles were used in compiling the statistics.

STATE & REGIONAL BOUNDARIES: California includes the mainland and all islands assigned to the state and offshore waters extending to 200 nautical miles from the nearest point of land. Note that waters nearer to Mexico or Mexican islands than they are to California are considered Mexico under international law, even when directly west of San Diego; see my discussion of offshore boundaries on the California Birds Records Committee (CBRC) web site.
    Northern California is composed of the 47 counties north of the line that extends across the southern boundary of Monterey, Kings, Tulare, and Inyo counties, excepting Inyo County, and the offshore waters assignable to each such county on the basis of nearest point of land to 200 n.mi. offshore. Inyo County is assigned to southern California for habitat and historic reasons. This Region corresponds to the area covered by the Middle Pacific Coast Region in North American Birds.
    Southern California is composed of the 11 counties not assigned to northern California, and the offshore waters assignable to each such county on the basis of nearest point of land to 200 n.mi. offshore. These are the southernmost ten counties plus Inyo County. This Region corresponds to the area covered by the Southern Pacific Coast Region in in North American Birds.
    A listing of California counties and their standard abbreviations is on the CBRC web site. These standard county abbreviations are used throughout these pages.

STATE & REGIONAL LISTS: These totals are derived from the official state list published by the CBRC (2000) in California Fish & Game 86: 186-207, the decisions of the California Bird Records Committee (CBRC) and, for non-CBRC-review species, records accepted in the seasonal reports in North American Birds and predecessors. The totals thus include:

605 native species shown on the main and the supplemental lists in California Fish & Game paper (published in summer 2000),
8 non-native species considered established in the state in that same publication (Chukar, Ring-necked Pheasant, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Wild Turkey, Rock Dove, European Starling, and House Sparrow).
1 additional species accepted by CBRC since that paper (Shy Albatross), and
4 additional species that this compiler considers non controversial as of this writing (5 July 2001) and thus very likely to be added to the official state list in due course (Glossy Ibis, Greater Sandplover, Nutting's Flycatcher, Eye-browed Thrush).

TOP COUNTY LISTER: This is the highest current believable list after consulting local experts but it is possible that a higher list in northern California was overlooked. All claims of rarities included within the lister's total have been published in North American Birds or predecessors.

BIG YEARS: A "Big Year" is an effort to locate and identify as many species within a given county in a single calendar year as possible. Records of Big Years compiled here have been provided by local contacts and are believed to represent records but it is possible that higher lists were overlooked. Any corrections are desired. Whenever possible, the taxonomy of older efforts has been updated to current taxonomy when evidence exists that additional taxa, previously considered only subspecies, were actually identified by the lister during the year in question. As with other lists, all claims of rarities included within the lister's total should have been published in North American Birds or predecessors.
No one to date has actually done a "Northern California" or "Southern California" Big Year. The statistics used as current "Big Year" records were gleaned from either a statewide Big Year (the "Southern California" year just happened to be those recorded in the south during a statewide effort) or an expanded county effort (the "Northern California" year is actually a county Big Year with a very few happenstance N CA additions found in the observer's notes).

BIG DAYS: A "Big Day" is an effort to locate and identify as many species within a given county in a single calendar day as possible. Records of Big Days listed here have been conducted under the American Birding Association (ABA) established ABA Big Day rules. These are published annually in ABA publications. In essence, the official Big Day rules require that there be a team that travels together and stays within voice contact distance at all times (except during "time outs" when no birds may be counted). Whenever any member of the team sees or hears a new species for the day, he or she informs the team and all team members must attempt to confirm that identification. In other words, everybody tries to confirm every bird claimed by the team and, at the end of the day, 95% of all species recorded by the team must have been recorded by every team member (this assures higher accuracy by a quick-moving team). No prearranged meetings with other birders are allowed during the day (in other words, a team cannot have folks "staking out" birds for them) nor may the team receive information during the day about where a bird is (unless it happens totally by accident). Staking out birds and getting information must all take place before the effort begins. The records listed here include both airplane and non-airplane Big Days.

"BEST BIRD": This is the compiler's idiosyncratic choice but often aided by the nominations received from local birders. Unlike the "best bird" on various county pages on this web site, the choice was not simply based on comparative rarity alone. I also considered how impressive or spectacular a species was (unique species preferred over difficult i.d. problems; thus great species like Nutting's Flycatcher or Couch's Kingbird were not seriously considered), whether it was "expected" or not when discovered, and the surrounding circumstances. Although some very impressive birds have been documented by a few lucky birders as the bird flew by, I preferred those that were documented by many or with photos. I also preferred those birds discovered and identified in the field as opposed to caught in a net at a banding station. No disrespect to the fabulous work of banding stations in the state but I felt that the "best bird" for the state or the two big regions should be a real "WOW!" in-the-field experience rather than a difficult-to-identify little brown warbler in the hand. I added these other inexplicable and totally idiosyncratic requirements:

the "best bird" in the State must be a different species than the "best bird" in either Northern or Southern California. This way there were required to be three different "bird birds;"
the "best bird" in Northern California should come from some place well to the south, and the "best bird" in Southern California should come from some place well to the north, unless a species from east or west was overwhelming compelling. It just seemed more impressive to me that some far northern species have shown up only in Southern California, and some very southern birds have appeared only in Northern California;
in general, the "best bird" would be impressive not just on a state level but on a continental level as well; and
I placed less emphasis on whether there was just one record than might initially have been anticipated. Therefore the fact that a species had 2 or 3 records was not entitled to much weight in this evaluation. I think there is really no such thing as an "accidental" bird that will never occur again. Vagrants reach California for reasons and under conditions we are understanding better and better all the time (mirror-image misorientation, random dispersal mechanisms in migratory species, major weather events such as El Niños) and which conditions will occur again. Whether a super-vagrant currently has 1 or 2 or 3 or so records is primarily a matter of luck. Obviously the most impressive vagrants in the State will have occurred very few times but the "one record only" criteria means rather little. Had this criteria been primary a "best bird" choice could become redundant the day after it was chosen.

Candidates seriously considered were these:

In Northern California: Light-mantled Albatross, Shy Albatross, Wandering Albatross, Greater Sandplover, Terek Sandpiper, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Swallow-tailed Gull, White-winged Tern, White-collared Swift, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Brown Shrike, Lanceolated Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail, Gray Wagtail, Golden-cheeked Warbler.
In Southern California: White-tailed Tropicbird, American Woodcock, Red-legged Kittiwake, Ivory Gull, Kittlitz's Murrelet, Xantus's Hummingbird, Eye-browed Thrush, Little Bunting.
For California as a whole: all of the above plus Little Curlew, the only species seriously considered that has been recorded in both Northern and Southern California regions as of this writing.

Any of the above would have been a good choice. In the end it came down to my evaluation of Ivory Gull vs. Eye-browed Thrush vs. Little Bunting for Southern California, down to five for northern California (Light-mantled Albatross, Swallow-tailed Gull, Greater Sandplover, Lanceolated Warbler, Golden-cheeked Warbler), and between these 8 plus Little Curlew for the State. The fact the two warblers were net-only birds on the Farallones detracted from them slightly, and despite the sandplover's status as a first New World record, it really isn't all that impressive of a species (esp. vis-a-vis Lesser Sandpiper/Mongolian Plover that it closely resembles). Both the albatross and the Swallow-tailed Gull were totally unexpected and incredibly impressive & unique birds but in the end I tipped to the longer distance the albatross must have traveled to become a first Northern Hemisphere record, leaving the gull as the choice for Northern California. The choice in Southern California is a virtual tie but for now I lean to the bunting because of its rarity in the entire New World (just 3 Alaska records) although it is admitted that the unbelievable timing of the thrush (late May instead of late November) weighs in its favor and it is acknowledged that the Ivory Gull is an exceptionally unique species.

Statistics and choices compiled by Don Roberson [ creagrus@montereybay.com ]. I thank Rita Carratello, Richard A. Erickson, Tom & Jo Heindel, Al Jaramillo, Joe Morlan, Dan Singer and others for nominations and discussions on these topics.

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