Date: 10/27/24 10:13 am From: Dan Mullarkey <dmullarkey7...> Subject: Re: [NHBirds] November cometh
Looking forward to it Pam! I don’t think anything is logically wrong with
your original scoring metric, it’s just that some counties are historically
under-birded in November or at least under-reported in eBird. I don’t have
data on the percentage of part-time residents by county but certainly
wouldn’t surprise me if Lakes Region counties were high on the metric. Over
time, and driven by your inspired NCC project, scoring should even out.
Will be interesting to see how the 3 metrics compare this year.
As for Belknap County, we are going to need to redouble our efforts, no
doubt we have a target on our backs. I know the written word is both
powerful and at the same time can leave out the oral cues and information
that prevent misunderstandings. Having shared a semi-weekly pint with him,
I can say with certainty that my colleague Rob’s banter last year was
intended to spark your collective competitive spirit and get more people
out birding and reporting. And that he has great respect and admiration for
fellow birders. I’m fairly new to the NH birding scene so often ask him
about other birders. He typically replies that the person is an excellent
birder, what part of the state they frequent, and usually a rarity that
person found or perhaps an outing they were on together. That said, I can’t
promise that Pam’s changing of the rules and gentle provocations won’t fuel
his fire!
So here’s a callout to Belknap birders - we’re going to need a county-wide
effort. Hopefully Iain will find all kinds of great birds in the north of
the county. I’m hoping Ethan Ring and David Nelson will report often from
the southeast, Carol McCluskey from her favorite SW hotspots, Janice in the
west and NW. Rob and I will be roaming for sure and I’m enjoying scouting
out Gilford and Laconia hotspots. Rob needs to step up his recruiting
efforts too, so Matt Tarr, if you’re reading this, be forewarned! I hope to
meet some of you folks someday soon.
Best to all, and may you see lots of good birds next month,
Dan Mullarkey
Gilford
On Sat, Oct 26, 2024 at 6:02 AM Pam Hunt <biodiva...> wrote:
> I'm sure everyone has been wondering about the "November County
> Challenge," possibly even since last December 1, so rest assured it'll be
> back in just under a week!
>
> For the uninitiated, the NCC is a friendly (?) intra-state competition
> wherein each of NH's ten counties vies for bragging rights relative to the
> number of species tallied in eBird during the month of November.
> Historically the winner has been determined based on the percentage of each
> county's ALL TIME species total found during the month. Over the last four
> years, the flaws in this system have become apparent, since counties with
> lower all time totals have a mathematical advantage and have tended to
> dominate the competition. This has led to some grumbling on the part of the
> more species-rich counties and bravado on the part of the less diverse ones
> (which, to their credit, have pulled out all the stops). Attempts to come
> up with a different system of scoring have so far come up short, but I'm
> going to try a couple of new things things this year. Specifically, I'm
> going to score based on THREE metrics and see if any of them results in a
> more even playing field as the contest proceeds. These are as follows:
> 1) All time species total (from eBird, 10/26/24) - the status quo
> 2) Maximum count from 2000-2023 (duration of the NCC)
> 3) Average count from 2000-2023
>
> For reference, the table below lays out these numbers for each county:
>
> County All time Max (4) Ave (4)
> Belknap 141 106 93
> Carroll 155 107 100.25
> Cheshire 168 111 102
> Coos 140 94 87.5
> Grafton 172 111 99.75
> Hillsborough 172 112 108
> Merrimack 190 119 110.5
> Rockingham 273 177 170.5
> Strafford 187 123 113
> Sullivan 134 93 85.75
> Statewide 307 207 198.75
> There is just one core rule for the NCC: birds must be entered into eBird
> by the observer. In the past we've captured a few noteworthy records with a
> proxy, but I'd really like to avoid doing that in 2024. If you know some
> random person who finds a Common Eider in Coos County, for example, either
> go relocate it yourself or cajole the observer into using eBird.
>
> Note that there is often something of a time lag for eBird to update
> totals for the month, and I'll be trying to provide contest updates at
> intervals that hopefully facilitate local birding efforts (e.g., right
> before the weekends). Rarities that end up in the eBird review queue will
> NOT show up on the county totals in eBird until they are approved, so
> there'll be another time lag there. Just bear with us. The whole point is
> to get people out birding during the shoulder season between fall migration
> and CBCs.
>
> I'll now leave it to representatives from Belknap and Carroll counties to
> bluster as they see fit. Both have taken one of the top three spots in
> three of the four years of the CNC, with Sullivan close behind with two
> medals.
>
> More later, and in the meantime enjoy the last few days of October...
>
> Pam Hunt
> Penacook
>
>
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