The Republican journal., 1917-01-04
1915 Bird Count.
Average Farm in Northeast has 124 Pairs
125 Pairs on 100 Acres in Plains Region.

One hundred and twenty four pairs OF
/ birds nest and raise their families on the
average farm of 10S acres in the North.
eastern States, according to estimates
| based upon the second annual bird count
conducted by the Bureau of Biological
| Survey of the U. S. Agriculture depart
ment. In that part of the plains re-
| gions east of the one-hundreth meridian
the counts would indicate almost exact
! ly the same density of bird population,
/ 125 pairs of nesting birds to each 100
acres. In the Southern States, where
| the counts We're limited TO the part of
the farm surrounding the home, which
| naturally supports more birds than the
titled areas, there seem to be on the
farms where counts were taken 13l pairs
Of aesting birds To eacn 100 acres. The
counts so far received, however, from
these sections do not furnish a sufficient
basis for estimating the birds on the re-
mainder of the farm.
In the Northeastern States it was esti-
mated that the average bird population
of each 100 acres of isolated woodland
under observation was 1879 pairs, while
the average bird population for each 100
acres of the area covered was 125 pairs.
The reports from the Rocky Mountain
States would indicate that the bird pOpu-
lation is smaller In this section.
Three S0-acre tracts in New Mexico
indicated II pairs to 80 acres or q pairs
to each 100 acres. In the irrigated dis
trict of western Colorado two reports in
dictated that irrigated land In orchard
and in fields of grain and root crops sup
ported bird population of sc pairs per
100 acres, but on contiguous non-irrigat
ed land the bird life shrank to 5 pairs
for 100 acres. In Arizona 40-acre tract
containing only few houses, and for
the most part covered with desert
shrubs, showed a bird population of so
pairs of &c species, of which % were in
sectivorous. A semidesert tract of the
same size, covered with brush mostly
less than feet high, showed 81 pairs of
Ii species. In the mountains of Arizona,
near Flagstaff, tract of 70 acres cover
ed with yellow pine and Gambel oak sup
ported bird population of 81 pairs of Is
species.
In California 20 acres of the campus
of the University of California showed
81 pairs of % species. A tract near Gil
roy, Cal, containing 80 acres of fruits
and about s acres of pasture and creek
bottom, gave the unusual figure of 176
pairs of "a species on So acres. A sim
ilarly dense, though less varied, bird
population was found in a So acre peach
orchard near Port Clinton, Ohio. This
showed 108 pairs of common farm birds,
Sc pairs of purple martins, and pairs
of English sparrows, total of $50 pairs
of 20 species.
In the South the counts showed an
average of II pairs of 20 species and 5
pairs of English sparrows on SO acres In
Florida; in Louisiana an average of 95
pairs of 90 species on SO acres; and the
counts from Texas indicate an average
of 81 pairs of birds of q species on go
acres. The average Of all counts re-
ceived from the Southern States is rs
pairs of birds of % species on farm of
So acres.
On the 256 acres on the Cornell Uni
versity campus at Ithaca, N. Y, very
careful study indicated 573 pairs of
nesting birds, an average of loo pairs OF
native nesting birds per 100 acres, and
56 nesting pairs of English sparrows per
100 acres, or total of 225 nesting birds
near Rhinebeck, N. Y, in 210-acre sec
ton indicated 3D. different kinds repre-
sented by 1856 pairs, nearly the same per
acre dS SHOWN dl SOrIen OulfeiSlNy.
The results of the 1915 bird count just
published by the Biological Survey indi-
cate an average OF pairs of robins and 6
pairs of English sparrows on each farm
of 1913 acres, where the count was made
in the Northeastern States. The aver
age of all reports for two years shows 7
pairs of robins and 5 IL pairs of English
sparrows for each farm covered in this
Section