Basic Results
The Tucson Bird Count began in spring 2001 and is ongoing. As of summer 2005, the TBC had recorded 192,000 individual birds belonging to 212 distinct species. About 115 of these species are known or suspected to breed in the Tucson area; the remainder are migrants (either to higher latitudes, or to higher elevations in nearby mountain ranges such as the Catalinas) or vagrants.
Because the data are entered directly by participants into the Tucson Bird Count web site, results are publicly available on-line with little delay after observations are made. Among the project's more basic, yet striking results are distribution maps for species in the Tucson area. Many species show strong patterns with respect to development intensity, presence of various habitats, or other factors. For example, the non-native Rock Pigeon, common in urban areas worldwide, is generally restricted to Tucson's urban core. In contrast, Gambel's Quail, a characteristic species of Sonoran Desert upland habitats, shows the inverse pattern, common near Tucson's periphery yet absent from most of the more heavily developed central portion of the city.
Read more about this topic: Tucson Bird Count
Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or results:
“What, then, is the basic difference between today’s computer and an intelligent being? It is that the computer can be made to see but not to perceive. What matters here is not that the computer is without consciousness but that thus far it is incapable of the spontaneous grasp of pattern—a capacity essential to perception and intelligence.”
—Rudolf Arnheim (b. 1904)
“In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)