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Murmuration challenge
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Saturday, 5 March 2011 17:21
OK. In the above photo is large flock of Starlings that were feeding on a farm during a survey today. To see what it's like to survey birds in the winter, try and estimate how many birds are in the picture. You have 10 seconds before they fly over the effective horizon (this is basically what happened today). You can click on the photo to emulate looking through binoculars but no actual counting or using any fancy dot-counting software! Please post your estimate in the comments box here on the blog and I will post the answer (to the nearest ten birds perhaps) from actually counting individuals from a blown up print in a few days. I really want to see if there is a trend in people's estimates.
I completed the winter surveys on my first farm today and there were a few surprises. The good news was flushing a pair of Grey Partridge (new to the site) from a beetle bank. The down side was I only saw three Yellowhammers and not a single Corn Bunting (there have been up to a hundred). Not sure why these changes have occurred or whether the birds will return, we shall have to wait and see...
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Jenny Dunn suggested 1200