County Big Years

2008

2007

2006

2005

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It is VERY EASY to add a county to the spreadsheet, so if you'd like to compile bird reports for your county, please jump right in at any time after notifying Lew. You can ask Lew, Stacy, or any of the compilers above for suggestions or guidance. County compilers may have different thresholds for determining which reports from birders get included in the table below for their respective counties. While this project is primarily "for fun," it may also serve to encourage birders to explore and discover new nooks and crannies within the political borders that comprise our counties. Identifying new places to find birds within each county may then help identify different habitats that are important for conserving them in the long term. It also helps us understand arrival dates in our regions, and over time could provide a valuable resource for those interested in learning the status and distribution of Idaho birds.

You'll notice a few items on the spreadsheet:

• Bold, italiced, red birds have yet to be formally accepted by the Idaho Bird Records Committee (IBRC) for inclusion on the Official Idaho Bird Checklist.
• Plain red species are on the Review List for the IBRC. Please submit full documentation on the sighting to IBRC as described here.
• A DATE in the county column indicates the "first report" or "arrival" dates for that county -- if you observed the bird in a county this year on an earlier date than is listed for that county, please notify the county compiler and we'll make the change here on the table to reflect that "first observed" status. The numeral "1" in leiu of a date is used whenever an accurate date is not provided. This is not intended to indicate the number of birds present, just presence!
• The top box in the "Total" column shows the total number of species seen in the state so far this year, including those counties not participating in the Big Year tally (counted as "Other").
• The PERCENTS (%) in the Total column adjacent to the species indicate how many of the participating counties have reported that species this year. For species only occurring in "Other," this will be one county out of total by default. Once a species is seen in a participating county, the tally will be removed from the "Other" column.
• The checklist of birds on the left and right-most columns is in the same sequence as the most recent update of the Official Idaho Bird Checklist.