The Birds of Northumberland County
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Species Accounts

Booklets

Booklets have been prepared that contain accounts on all of the species recorded in Northumberland and Presqu'ile Provincial Park. Each species account contains short summary data and then four charts:

  1. number of records by month
  2. number of individuals by month
  3. number of records by year for the 25 years from 1983 - 2007
  4. number of individuals by year for the 25 years from 1983 - 2007

unless ten or fewer records exist, in which case the records themselves are listed.

Notes
Material is verified as carefully as possible; however, for many earlier records no documentation exists, and documentation in general prior to 1970 (the date of the inauguration of Provincial records committees) does not meet contemporary standards. In these cases other criteria must be used in assessing the validity of an observation.

Numbers in particular must be approached with caution. The ‘Maximum number seen’ in the initial summary can be the total from a Christmas Bird Count or Summer Bird Count, and hence represent the composite numbers from many routes [as in Ruffed Grouse]; or the total of birds seen during an all-day count of migrants moving [as in Common Loon]; or even a season total, as in some hawks and jaegers. Similarly, on the charts, totals in December and June will include CBC and SBC data. Further, the ‘Individuals Seen by Month’ will count a single bird seen and recorded on every day of a month as up to 31 individuals. Any confusion on this latter score, however, can be partially clarified by reference to the number of records by month and comparing the two. It still remains that great care must be taken in interpreting the numbers given.

Though some patterns are clear from the charts or tables, others need to be treated with caution. For example, an increase in the number of individuals seen may imply more observer hours, not more individuals. Also, be aware that the records come from several sources and, though all the records have been verified, the records do not reflect uniform distributions of effort, location, seasons, or methodologies. In particular, note that species' totals for June and December for records outside of Presqu'ile include totals for Christmas and Summer Bird Counts.