Swifts Over Gibraltar Point

I have entered the total as C10800 in the latest news section of the forum. I wondered about listing the total as C11000 which is probably what i would have recorded it as if it had been my count

I suppose the correct count is what the observer counted (rightly or wrongly). There as been many other occasions like this. 75000 Red Knot for instance springs to mind. Plus or minus 5000 would equally have been correct or even incorrect. Unless of course the recorder had counted each bird individually as the passed by on the beach. Just think what count would have been if the recorder had actually turned round and observed what was going on over the rest of the reserve

I remember a couple of year ago having rather a lot of lesser redpoll in the front postage stamp garden. To get an accurate count, I took a photo out of the bedroom window. Printed the photo on an AF piece of paper and then colour dotted each bird and individually counted each bird to the best of my ability. I think the total turned out to be 183 ir I remember correctly and I am sure i missed a few

I do tend to agree with you, Alan.  Would any of the Moderators like to comment on how such accurate counts are made?

Am with you on this one, it takes some believing that someone can get such an exact count, whoever it was can they inform the forum how on earth they did it please so we can do the same given the chance. 

Today at one of my sites I had trouble counting sixty Swifts due to their ducking and diving back and forth over my head and then to all points of compass, maybe there was fifty-nine or maybe sixty-one but as far as am concerned it was sixty and well pleased at seeing them.

For best part of ten years I did the WeBS count at MSQ but the most single species I ever counted was Greylags and they were hard enough to count!

Well done to the person who did it!

 

I know I do a bird count at MSQ but how does anybody manage to count 10813 Swift past Gib Point ? I cannot even begin to believe this is an exact number.