We had over 3000 cranes fly over the house or nearby yesterday. They were coming in waves from abour 4h00 to 5h30 in the afternoon so I photographed them all & then counted them afterwards. It's a lot easier than guesstimates. So I thought, that would make a good quiz. NO CHEATING! You have to look at the photo for about 10 seconds & then write down how many you think there are. Answers later, unless you want to do what I did & count them on the screen, in which case don't pass on your results!!
16h31 Quite a long way off
16h32
16h38-1
16h38-2
16h39
16h40
16h45
16h50
16h52
17h23
17h53 it's getting dark now
& an easy one, flying smack overhead, a lot of them came overhead but I had to wait until they were going away to get them all in the viewfinder!
Have fun, it's good practice for the real thing!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Paul A said: Ooohh…a quiz.I’ve been trying to guestimate numbers of Geese flying over so this may help to see how accurate (or inaccurate) my attempts have been. My guesses are as follows: 16:31 = 80 (84) 16:32 = 100 (104) 16:38-1 = 90 (114) 16:38-2 = 70 (66) 16:39-1 = 50 (38) 16:39-2 = 70 (59) 16:40 = 60 (59) 16:45 = 140 (156) 16:50 = 60 (76) 16:52 = 60 (103) 17:23 = 70 (79) 17:53 = 80 (89) Easy one = 12 Grand Total = 942 (ish)..!! (1027 ish)
Ooohh…a quiz.I’ve been trying to guestimate numbers of Geese flying over so this may help to see how accurate (or inaccurate) my attempts have been. My guesses are as follows:
16:31 = 80 (84)
16:32 = 100 (104)
16:38-1 = 90 (114)
16:38-2 = 70 (66)
16:39-1 = 50 (38)
16:39-2 = 70 (59)
16:40 = 60 (59)
16:45 = 140 (156)
16:50 = 60 (76)
16:52 = 60 (103)
17:23 = 70 (79)
17:53 = 80 (89)
Easy one = 12
Grand Total = 942 (ish)..!! (1027 ish)
That's brilliant Paul, (my counts in brackets +/- 1 or 2) I hoped you might see it as I know you're a sucker for quizzes!! I must admit I'm often wildly out with my counting as I sometimes do a photo & then a quick count to compare. I tend to do groups of 10 but perhaps Edges system of 8's works better. It was interesting to see how all the big flights had broken up into small groups, they often come over 200 to 300 at a time or even more. I think that's probably it for this year as we've been having smaller numbers for the last week.
WendyBartter said: Nothing in my old world is metric ... Imperial to the end!! Anyway, I've got a cold, think that might be a French variety!!
Nothing in my old world is metric ... Imperial to the end!! Anyway, I've got a cold, think that might be a French variety!!
Sorry Wendy, I gave it to OH too, I'm fine but he's under the weather. We've got his flu jab in the fridge too, but he can't have it until he's better, then I ring the nurse & she comes & does it here.
We've still got our old bathroom scales & I have to do a quick calculation for kilos whever I get asked, usually for a blood test. Keeps the brain ticking over! Plus our kitchen is imperial (scales & recipes) but we buy in metric LOL
What a wonderful sight and sound, fantastic to be able to observe it all. My count is 1001 and a half!!! I'd be dizzy after the first few sightings, no wonder you take the pics to ease the count with that many flying over.
Lot to learn
Still haven't counted H, poor vision with the brain fog today! Had to cancel shingles vaccination & sight test appointments but if I do get shingles then at least I won't be able to see the spots!! Rofl, always a bright side!
I always cook Imperial cakes & biscuits, metric ones taste 'horrible!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Oh dear Wendy, these colds never come at a good time. I haven't heard of Shingles jabs before but sounds a good idea, I know quite a few people who have had it & it's very nasty. I'll have to enquire. Is it a one off jab?
Ron cooks all our cakes & biscuits, what a lucky girl I am! Usually while I'm doing DIY! LOL!
Hazel C said: I know you're a sucker for quizzes!!
I am a bit of a sucker for quizzes but have been pipped at the post this time by Gaynor's guesstimate; very well done Gaynor. I hope you don't mind me adding a shot taken at Loch Leven at the weekend. If you feel like it you could perhaps try using the same rules (with a 20 second look this time) and have a guess at how many Pink-footed Geese are in this shot. I couldn't get them all in the shot as there were almost as many at each side out of shot. Multiply the answer by 3 to get an idea of how many Geese took off from behind St Serf's Inch when this shot was taken.
Probably best to open the photo large for a clearer image.
My bird photos HERE
Fab foto PA ... Lots & Lots & Lots + the two-headed specimen & a couple of sets of conjoined twins, how unusual! Hahaha
Do you count the feet & divide by 2 Paul? Ok my guesstimate is 450! probably miles out.
I once estimated the number of starlings in a big cloud that we were following to their roost by counting how many birds wide it was & estimating the length of the stream (about 1km) & divided by the length of space each bird took & came up with 40000 which wasn't far off in the end!!
Hi guys, just come across your chat about Cranes which reminded me of our own Crane Project our colleagues on the Somerset Levels have been involved with over the last 6 years. History was made this summer when a pair of our own young adults were successful in rearing their first pair of "Cranelets" for x amount of 100 years in the UK.
My friend John Crispin a RSPB volunteer on the levels sent me a group photo's of the happy family which is worth sharing with you all. The location is top secret for obvious reasons. John was very emotional about seeing all the teams hard work come to fruition this summer. There are now 68+ cranes on the levels with two youngsters amongst the British flock. I am not sure whether an article was published to celebrates this event? This is yet another RSPB success story that needs sharing with our community.
That is good news DO, was following this project from last year but never knew of that event so many thanks for posting!