Counting starlings etc

Hi Sparrow.

I know exactly who you feel.  I done my first count last year and counting the starlings and sparrows was one of my biggest worries.  Something I tried which helped was to have a practice count just a few days before to get used to counting biggish numbers, which helped my to get into the mood for counting.  Another thing I found was the mind seems to work differently when watching garden birds for statistical reasons as opposed to just for pleasure.  Although it is great fun and a brilliant excuse for just looking out the window for an hour.

Paul

Hi Heron,

I posted the same question to the BGBW 2010 forum that appeared briefly 2 days ago, then disappeared again. I had a reply from someone who kindly gave me a link to a website that sells golf score clickers. They told me they use this clicker to count  large numbers of birds and that it works to a point. Unfortunately, the forum has been taken off, along with the reply I had, so I have lost the web link.

I am registered with the BTO garden bird watch, and count birds for a short period on a daily basis, submitting the counts weekly every Sunday. I am afraid I just estimate the numbers of sparrows, and submit the same number every week. My regular starlings are easy enough as they hang out most of the day and there are usually about 6 or 7, but if I get an unruly flock during my counting period I estimate those as best I can. I am just concerned my estimated numbers may be way out and wondered how everyone else counted large numbers.

Hi Sparrow, I assume you mean this kind of gadget 

I usually count up to 5 and then double the figures so 5, 10, 20, 40 etc.. with large flocks, this is the best way of estimating numbers!