Modeling basic bird-birder interactions

The cast of characters: Birds and Birders

Here is a simple model showing basic interactions between birds and birders in some local patch.  First, birds come and birds go in the patch.  Their coming and going is affected by things like migration and daily movements in search of food and cover, among other things.

Figure 1.  Birds come and birds go in a local patch.

Now suppose some birder (maybe you?) are busy at home or are doing something other than birding.  In other words, you are an inactive birder.  At some point you are motivated to go birding.  When you are done birding and go home, the active birder becomes an inactive birder again.

Figure 2.  Inactive birders become active birders when acting on their motivations to go birding.

Basic Bird-Birder interactions: (1) encountering different kinds of birds

     There is a basic pattern to all bird-birder interactions.  First, the birder encounters birds (i.e.,  sees or hears birds).  This encounter might be with a single bird or a whole bunch of birds.  During the time the birder spends in the patch, she will probably encounter lots of different kinds of birds.  The important part that makes this model useful for all birders (from beginners to experts) is that "different kinds" does  not mean "different species" in this model.  Rather, it means birds that look different to the birder.




Figure 3.  When an active birder goes birding, she encounters a number of birds that look or sound different from each other.


A second basic Bird-Birder interaction: (2) deciding whether to try to identify an encountered bird

     Some birders try to identify every single bird they encounter.  However, especially when folks are just starting out learning about birding, they simply do not have the knowledge base to do this.  They ignore lots of birds that are too difficult for them to even try to identify (e.g., think streaky sparrows, gulls, shorebirds, etc.).  These folks will decide to try to identify only a small percentage of the different kinds of birds they encounter.  For the sake of this model I am creating, I will refer to the percentage of birds that the birder decides to try to identify as an index to the birder's willingness to identify an encountered bird.  This willingness can be affected by lots of things like how good the view of the bird is, various distractions, etc., but the greatest influencing factor (at least in this model) is the birder's skill level.

Figure 4.  A birder tries to identify only a percentage of encountered birds; "willingness to identify" is an index to this percentage.

A final basic Bird-Birder interaction: (3) trying to work out the identification of an encountered bird

     So, a birder will decide (i.e., be willing) to try to identify only a small percentage of encountered birds while birding.  Similarly, he will be able to put a name on only a percentage of birds he tries to identify.  Here, I refer to this percentage as an index to his "effectiveness at identifying" birds.  Think of it this way: I tried to identify 10 birds, but could only put a name on 7.  In this case, the effectiveness is 70%. 

     By taking the number of different kinds of birds encountered by the birder and multiplying by her willingness to identify birds, one can "calculate" the number of types the birder is willing to try to identify.  Then by multiplying this by her effectiveness at identifying birds, you can "calculate" the total number identified.  Essentially, the last box in the model is the number of types on n the list of  birds tallied by the birder while birding.

Figure 5.  The complete model of basic bird-birder interactions, including encounters with birds, willingness to try to identify encountered birds, and effectiveness at identifying them.

     This basic model will form the basis of many, many subsequent posts about the birding behavior of birders.

Go bird!