Stilts-Loons

Revision of Bird Status Distribution Charts – North Central Texas Birds Website

Introduction

A review of the charts revealed that many seasonal status designations were not representative of the distribution variability within a specific season and/or the east/west distribution within the region. As a result many single status designations were broadened during the revision to provide a more general broad seasonal status and more specific east/west status of species. This effort was challenging because of the size of the region, the east-west variability in vegetation habitats across the region, and the lack of e-bird observers in the western counties of the region.

Changes for Incorporation into the Site Narrative and Legend

Chart Letters Code

Seasons (ABA Designations)

Spring: March-May

Summer: June-July

Fall: August-November

Winter: December- February

Location Designations

All location designations remain the same except those listed below:

W= West of Tarrant/Parker county line running north and south through the region

E= East of the Dallas/Kaufman county line running north and south through the region.

Rationale: Dallas and Fort Worth counties often have reports of both eastern and western species.

Status Designations

Checklist based on Pulich, 1988. Jim Peterson, Martin Reid, and Matt White. Revised by: Ross Rasmussen 2020

All of the following terms presume the species is being looked for in the appropriate habitat.

(Ab) Abundant - Applied to a species that can be found in quantity without any special search

(C) Common - Applied to a species noted at least daily with some search

(FC) Fairly Common - Applied to a species that may require some search to be detected regularly

(U) Uncommon - applied to a species that is not likely to be seen on most days during a season and/or only some days during the migration season of a species during a season. 

(Ca) Casual - applied to a species not normally found yearly in the region or within a specific season but can be expected to occur again.

(Ac) Accidental - Applied to a species that is far from its normal range it is not expected to appear again

(IRR) - Irruptive - May occur in large numbers periodically.  If this term is applied under the "nesting" category, it mean this species does not nest here year after year. If it is applied under a season, it means it is irregular during that season. If it falls under "likely seen," the location is irregular

(L) - Nesting or observed locally. Not widespread. Seen only at certain locations. In the case of certain species, i.e., Scaled Quail, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Canyon Towhee, Pyrrhuloxia, birds may be found only on the fringe of study area in drier habitat. Other birds such as Ruddy Turnstone regularly show up only at one or two lakes

(H) - Historical nest records only. None recently

N,S.E,W (Compass points) Also FW and FE for "far west" and "far east." These compass point indicators are used under the "Likely" seen" category to indicate that a species is predominantly found in a certain direction of the area's center, i.e., Pyrrhuloxia is likely seen with a "FW" indicator suggesting the bird is generally found in the far west part of the study area

Photo - Photo-documentation from the NC-Texas area is available on this website

Review Species in Bold - The bold font means the bird is a Texas review species and documentation is required for state acceptance. This documentation must be submitted to the Texas bird Records Committee.

A red "R" indicates that breeding information is requested from observer. Please fill out the Breeding Bird Form.

For any formation about the nature of the checklist - total numbers, birds photographed, birds added, etc., see "about the checklist."

This list follows the 58th supplement to the AOU Checklist.