[mou] more on Median Arrival Dates

[Watson, Alexander Robert]

Chuck,

In my spare time I am working on a draft from dates in the loon as per Paul Hertzels suggestion.  I can send you a copy of the spreadsheet.  I hope to have the spring arrival dates done before major passerine movements start in April-May.  I'm going to start with Warblers, then Sparrows, then Ducks, then other passerines and Shorebirds.  I'm planning on only going back 10 years, this is what MORC uses for assigning casual and regular status and will save me a little time.  I don't know how useful the dates will be, but I do know it will be fun to have.  If you would like to help, I can send a blank spreadsheet and once a standard form is agreed upon, we can fill in dates and crunch the numbers.

I would like to add that I would never have had interest in any thing like this had a friend not pointed me to the MOU web site about 5 years ago.  It is truly amazing what the organization has built.  I consider myself very lucky to live here in Minnesota!!

Alex

________________________________________
From: Chuck Cole [cncole at earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:09 PM
To: Paul Budde; Watson, Alexander Robert; 'M.O.U.'
Subject: RE: [mou] more on Median Arrival Dates

Why not publish as a draft and enlist member help for corrections.  That
would make the basic info available and take a step towards completion.  Put
it on the we site and annotate with revision and update dates.  It might
take quite a while longer than since 1975 before MOU forms omnicient working
group to make and release a perfect version that isn't subject to some
uncertainty due to changing times.

Chuck



> -----Original Message-----
> From: mou-net-bounces at moumn.org [mailto:mou-net-bounces at moumn.org]On
> Behalf Of Paul Budde
> Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 11:34 AM
> To: 'Watson, Alexander Robert'; 'M.O.U.'
> Subject: Re: [mou] more on Median Arrival Dates
>
>
> Alex -
>
> Tthere is no desire to keep this kind of information "secret" within the
> MOU's committees.  The issues are that the dates need "scrubbing" and
> checking, and a report created.  With up to 400 species, split north and
> south, spring and fall, arrival and departure, over 20+ years
> ......there is
> a lot of data to manage!
>
> I am confident a report in some format will be published sometime
> by someone
> or some committee within the MOU, but I don't know when.
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mou-net-bounces at moumn.org
> [mailto:mou-net-bounces at moumn.org] On Behalf
> Of Watson, Alexander Robert
> Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 10:53 AM
> To: M.O.U.
> Subject: [mou] more on Median Arrival Dates
>
> Hello all,
>
> I attempted to calculate the median arrival dates from Bob Janssen's 1975
> printing of the Birds of Minnesota to compare them with what is printed in
> Minnesota Birding on the calendar occasionally (thank you to all who
> responded).  Since the dates given are early and late outliers, it did not
> match up well.  That or I calculated it wrong or the data is too old.
>
> Since I received about a half dozen e-mails after my earlier
> request to see
> median arrival data, I know there is a demand for such fun
> tid-bits of nerdy
> bird data.
>
> So, I implore the avian information committee to reconsider publishing
> either online or in one of the MOU publications a list of this data.  It
> would be fun to see!  I also think that greater awareness of arrival and
> departure data could inspire more to report first sightings to refine the
> data, and give important clues as to possible influences of global climate
> change.
>