Posted by Bob Lefebvre

We are down to the last week of the 2015 Calgary Birding Competition, so this will be the final update before we begin to collect the results. We still have some pretty close races, and there are some good birds around that competitors may still be able to add to their year lists. Gyrfalcons, Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers, and Short-eared Owls have been seen in the rural areas, and Northern Cardinal, Harris’s Sparrow, Purple Finch, and Brown Thrasher (which is easy to miss in the summer) were recorded (so far) during the Christmas Bird Count week in Calgary.

Harris’s Sparrow, photographed at the Inglewood Golf Course, Dec. 13, 2015, by Trevor Churchill.

Leaders, 80-km circle:

Here are the top competitors listed with their species totals and categories (the “Not Eligible” competitors are on the organizing committee). Also included is the number of complete checklists they have submitted to eBird within the 80-km circle. This total does not include “incidental” sightings.

Using the arrows you can sort the columns to see all the participants in one category listed together, or sort by number of species, or number of checklists. You can also increase or decrease the number of lines shown.

80-km Circle Leaders, December 23, 2015

Overall Rank	Name	Species	Checklists	Category
1	Brian Elder	275	128	Experienced
2	Ray Woods	257	79	Experienced
3	Blake Weis	256	628	Experienced
4	Dan Arndt	254	264	Not Eligible
5	Aidan Vidal	240	81	Youth
6 tie	George Best	235	223	Experienced
6 t	Dan Parliament	235	187	Experienced
6 t	Birdboy Canada	235	180	Youth
9	Andrew Hart	234	249	Not Eligible
10 t	John Thompson	232	282	Experienced
10 t	N Denton	232	176	Experienced
12	Cindy Parliament	230	141	Experienced
13	Trevor Churchill	225	108	Experienced
14	Graeme Mudd	224	202	Beginner
15 t	Aphtin Perratt	222	101	Beginner
15 t	Chris Macintosh	222	101	Beginner
17	Andrew Slater	219	156	Not Eligible
18	R Painter	219	309	Not Eligible
19 t	John Anderson	217	466	Experienced
19 t	Lorrie Anderson	217	463	Experienced
21	Bob Lefebvre	214	503	Not Eligible
22	Nicole Pellerin	205	164	Beginner
23 t	Linda Vaxvick	203	259	Experienced
23 t	Judy Swan	203	222	Experienced
25 t	Phil Cram	201	65	Experienced
25 t	Christopher Naugler	201	74	Experienced
27	Darlene Shimkiw	195	137	Beginner
28	John Bargman	187	130	Experienced
29	Janet Gill	181	104	Experienced
30	Peter Hoyer	175	73	Experienced
31	Simone Pellerin-Wood	173	93	Youth
32 t	Dave Russum	170	317	Experienced
32 t	Rob Worona	170	33	Experienced
34	Anne Belton	169	99	Experienced
35	Jan Roseneder	153	315	Experienced
36	Jeremy Quickfall	151	51	Beginner
37	Saravana Moorthy	133	75	Beginner
38	Joan Walker	131	14	Not Eligible
39	Sue Konopnicki	127	57	Experienced
40	Bernard Tremblay	95	26	Experienced
41	Bernie Diebolt	94	24	Experienced
42	Rachel Mackay	92	28	Beginner
43	Michael Rogers	78	41	Experienced
44 t	Tony LePrieur	75	23	Beginner
44 t	Byron Chu	75	13	Experienced
46	Hannah Lilles	61	5	Youth
47	Robin Naugler	48	4	Youth
48	Brett Lybbert	46	12	Beginner
49	David Sim	34	22	Experienced
50	Lucianna Lybbert	32	8	Youth
51	Jarom Lybbert	31	11	Youth
52	Katrina Lybbert	30	9	Experienced
53	Gord Newel	27	8	Beginner
54	Angela Bell	21	11	Experienced
55	Lynn Wilsack	20	11	Beginner
56	Reginald Lybbert	12	1	Youth
57	David Archer	11	2	Beginner
58	Sylvia Checkley	4	0	Beginner
59	Jim Donohue	1	0	Experienced

 

So far this year, 290 species have been reported on eBird in the Calgary county alone.

Yard Challenge Update

Here are the leaders, showing the number of species identified in or from the competitor’s yards.

Yard Challenge Leaders, December 23

Rank	Name	Species
1	Phil Ullman	88
2 tie	John Anderson	59
2t	Lorrie Anderson	59
4 - Not Eligible	Bob Lefebvre	59
5 t	Judy Swan	55
5 t	John Bargman	55
7	Dave Russum	42
8	Michael Rogers	33
9	Brian Elder	31
10	David Sim	29
11	Linda Vaxvick	27
12 - Not Eligible	R Painter	25
13	Rachel Mackay	24
14 t	Nicole Pellerin	23
14 t	Phil Cram	23
16	Graeme Mudd	20
17	Peter Hoyer	19
18 t	Simone Pellerin-Wood	18
18 t	Darlene Shymkiw	18
20	Jan Roseneder	15
21	Lynn Wilsack	13
22 - Not Eligible	Andrew Hart	12
23 t	Brett Lybbert	11
23 t	Janet Gill	11
23 t	Katrina Lybbert	11
26 t	Lucianna Lybbert	9
26 t	Saravana Moorthy	9
28	George Best	7
29 t	Zoe Keefe	6
29 t	David Archer	6
31	Anne Belton	4
32	Jarome Lybbert	3
33 t	Hannah Lilles	1
33 t	Claude Benoit	1

 

We will have the preliminary final results of the competition early in the new year, and will give an update at the Nature Calgary Bird Studies Group meeting on Wednesday, January 6. The prizes will be awarded at the January Birds & Beers get-together on Friday, January 29, 2016.

Donate to the competition

Thank you to all who have generously donated money to be put towards prizes for the competitors. If you would like to support the goals of our competition, please go to Nature Calgary’s Competition page.There are instructions about how to make a contribution using their “Donate” page, and how to specify that your gift is for the competition. Nature Calgary is a registered charity. 100% of all gifts will be used to purchase prizes for participants.