Kev's Christmas Bird Count: Day four - COUNT DAY (and thoughts for the poor ol' compiler)

My mantra, chanted throughout Count Day, was 'Everything in proportion'. This was not really a bird race. Sure, look through many of the blogs by birding chums over the pond and it reads like one. Not just competitive, there's more of a fun element to this.

But what had become clear during the research was how hard the Circle compiler has to work to marshal troops to cover all the right areas. The Count is about reflecting the true picture. If a species inhabits your circle in big numbers, you want to show that in the end results. Make sure there are enough teams out covering that habitat they like. The compiler might put the twitchiest counters together for the route that gives the highest species score but they'll get the wader specialists out on a route that keeps them close by the flats. Have a huge gull roost? Make sure your specialist is out to count that, and tell every other team not to bother counting Black-heads. That roost count is going in the final tally.

So, my one man play at the game saw me choosing not to try to draw up a route that took in every species possible. I played myself in my best position, on the estuary. At the same time though, I knew I couldn't cover both basins properly in a day, so I stuck myself in the western- much better mixes in the shoreline habitats. That might get a respectable species tally, and a respectable, proportionate count.

Bit of owling pre-dawn, then fields adjacent flats at dawn (wildfowl feeding), tide out so a mini-passer bash through orchards and copses then a lot of time on the waders from the covering to high. With the tide not uncovering until dusk, aim to end where you can view the gulls and check passerine roosts. Then a bit of owling on the way home.

(So, for the locals, that's a daylight walk of Ham Green, Windmill Hill, Otterham, Berengrave, Bloors, Horrid, Rainham Docks East.)

If this was a real CBC, there'd be a team starting in the woods on the Downs. Another out at the estuary mouth. Another on the Hoo ridge.. (another game for the locals, imagine where would you place your troops?). And you'll have a few garden watchers ready to provide their peak counts.

I could spend a bit of time narrating the day now, but not really the purpose of the week. You've all read accounts of Bird Races. Blah blah, great start, blah blah, late to Site 'X', blah blah, not everyone got on it, blah blah, hit the wall after lunch, blah blah, how did we miss Jay all day? Just fill in the gaps for your own site. How would you work it to get the proportions right?

----------

The role of the CBC compiler.

- Organise/recruit enough participants, old and new, including feeder-watchers.
(So, just like getting enough WeBS counters, or BBS surveyors? We all know how easy that is!)

- Provide CBC volunteers with instructions.
(Because we all know us Brits bother to RTFM)

- Schedule the count.
(Find the best date. Not just for you.)

- Sort teams.
(Go for balance, then. Keen local patcher, upbeat player, someone who shouldn't be allowed out in public but knows the wing formulae for every migrant Sibe passerine, and the complete newbie along for the experience who'll bring way too much food for one person. Or just stick the two loudest Facebookers together for the day and see if they kill each other.)

- Sort routes.
(No crossing of rotes. Not everyone gets to go to the honeypot. In an ideal world some of the best birders will volunteer to hit the hardest spots- thrash ground for the specialists. In the real world they'll all want the sweetest of spots 'cos no-one can cover it as well as them. Compiling is best suited to those with diplomatic experience.)

- Sort routes (big wink).
(Ah, this is what you call 'poaching', right? Routes are short enough to be covered with time to spare, and you encourage teams to sneak onto a neighbour's route where there's known to be a hard to find species. If the team get it, and the poachers get, fine. If the race team dips, but the poachers sneak in and get it, they get the glory and the species is on the Count Day list. Wow. You might play like that, but Brit dippers have been known to commit murder for less..)

- Publicise.
(Media whore time. Before race for counters, post-race to promote. A short paragraph in the Crusty Gammon Birders newsletter is not acceptable publicity.)

- Get the results in.
(Number crunching time.)

- And repeat.
(Christmas Bird Count Compiling is for life, not just for Christmas.)

----------

So glad the sun goes down before four. Brilliant day, but tiring. By four-forty the world had grown quiet and it was just a twenty-minute walk home to chill out and make sense of all the numbers and deciphering scrawl pretending to be BTO 2 letter bird names. Another reason I was glad this circle had just me playing, misery that I am - no evening log call.

Many compliers have the thankless task of putting on the evening get-together. Finding a venue big enough for all the teams to meet, have a bite to eat and a drink or two and put the results together. Camaraderie and rivalry together. Which team got the most birds? Which team got the most species? The rarest? The grand total? As big a part of the day as the birding itself for many it seems.

I pushed save. My excel spreadsheet was done and dusted.  21,289 birds of 92 species logged. That sounded proportionate. I could bore you with those details, but that's not really why I've played this game this week. The real reason I played the game will become clear over the next three days/posts as I get on with filling in some 'CW' gaps.