Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Rusty Blackbird, a hard-to-find autumn bird. Photo by Dan Arndt, October 25, 2015 at Lower Kananaskis Lake (outside the competition circle). [exif id=”14946″]
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, October 31| Name | Species | Checklists | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Elder | 272 | 126 | Experienced |
| Blake Weis | 251 | 534 | Experienced |
| Daniel Arndt | 250 | 228 | Not Eligible |
| Ray Woods | 249 | 71 | Experienced |
| Andrew Hart | 233 | 241 | Not Eligible |
| Dan Parliament | 231 | 165 | Experienced |
| George Best | 230 | 198 | Experienced |
| John Thompson | 230 | 248 | Experienced |
| Cindy Parliament | 229 | 137 | Experienced |
| BirdBoy Canada | 219 | 151 | Youth |
| N Denton | 217 | 147 | Experienced |
| Andrew Slater | 216 | 127 | Not Eligible |
| Aidan Vidal | 216 | 63 | Youth |
| R Painter | 215 | 282 | Not Eligible |
| Lorrie Anderson | 214 | 392 | Experienced |
| John Anderson | 214 | 397 | Experienced |
| Graeme Mudd | 214 | 172 | Beginner |
| Aphtin Perratt | 213 | 94 | Beginner |
| Bob Lefebvre | 211 | 441 | Not Eligible |
| Chris Macintosh | 211 | 92 | Beginner |
| Nicole Pellerin | 205 | 165 | Beginner |
| Christopher Naugler | 201 | 74 | Experienced |
| Phillip Cram | 201 | 67 | Experienced |
| Linda Vaxvick | 199 | 222 | Experienced |
| Judy Swan | 195 | 161 | Experienced |
| Darlene Shymkiw | 193 | 128 | Beginner |
| Trevor Churchill | 187 | 81 | Experienced |
| John Bargman | 187 | 124 | Experienced |
| Janet Gill | 174 | 90 | Experienced |
| Simone Pellerin-Wood | 173 | 93 | Youth |
| Peter Hoyer | 172 | 67 | Experienced |
| Rob Worona | 170 | 32 | Experienced |
| Anne Belton | 169 | 100 | Experienced |
| Dave Russum | 167 | 283 | Experienced |
| Jan Roseneder | 148 | 262 | Experienced |
| Jeremy Quickfall | 147 | 49 | Beginner |
| Joan Walker | 131 | 14 | Experienced |
| Saravana Moorthy | 130 | 71 | Beginner |
| Sue Konopnicki | 127 | 54 | Experienced |
If you are an eBird user you can view the current standings at any time. Go to eBird Canada and click the “Explore Data” tab. Click on “Patch Totals” and change the region to Alberta. Below your patches (if you have any) you will see a list of all patches in Alberta, which you can sort by day, month, or year. The competition competitors use the patch name “2015 Calgary Patch Challenge, CA-AB.”
Brian Elder’s Patch total of 272 species is the top patch in all of Canada. Eight of the to 20 patches in Canada belong to birders in the competition.
eBird Usage:
We continue to be among the leading regions in Canada in eBird submissions. Here are the top counties in Canada in number of checklists submitted for October 2015. (Calgary county is entirely within the competition circle, but the circle also includes parts of three other counties.)
eBird submissions by county, October 2015| Metro Vancouver | 6275 |
|---|---|
| Camrose-Lloydminister | 3550 |
| Ottawa | 1989 |
| Capital | 1723 |
| Cowichan Valley | 1517 |
| Calgary | 878 |
| Peterborough | 847 |
| Toronto | 750 |
| Nipissing | 684 |
| Yukon | 679 |
| Fraser-Fort George | 660 |
| Montreal | 654 |
| Essex | 619 |
| Wellington | 612 |
| Laval | 599 |
| Halifax | 579 |
| Avalon Peninsula - St. John's | 550 |
| Hamilton | 520 |
| Bruce | 493 |
With the winter birding season upon us, now is the time to get out and find the winter birds you missed in January and February. It’s a great chance to add new species for the those trying to win the Latecomer Challenge (most new species added after August 1). There are lots of winter finches around already so it promises to be a great end to the year.
White-winged Crossbill. Photo by Tony LePrieur, Fish Creek Park, October 31. [exif id=”14947″]
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.