The Rare-o-calendar
22 December 2009 | Marek Walford
The rare-o-meter has been a huge success. By predicting the occurence of rare birds it has enabled birders to not even bother going out and earn brownie points with the missus. However, there has been some suggestion that it's just a pointless gimmick!
I therefore present the rare-o-calendar. Since September I have been recording the predictions and correlating them against rare bird sightings. This has proved the point. For example, the Long-tailed Duck and Ferruginous Duck both turned up on "rare" days.
It also shows where you've missed out! For example, the 19th to 23rd October was a period of "monster/rare" yet nobody found any rares! What were you all doing?!
Make it your New Year resolution to pay close attention and treat it as gospel. Happy Christmas!