Breakdown of Observers in KZN

This graph gives a breakdown of how many KZN-based atlas observers live where, also classing them by the number of cards that they have submitted [nationally]. This was as at 29/03/2010.

For instance, there were 23 observers who had submitted one card, 6 in from the Midlands, 5 from Northern KZN, 5 from Port Natal, 1 from Sisonke [Southern KZN], 4 from Trogons [South Coast] and 2 from Zululand.

Alternatively we can see that in the Midlands we have 6 who submitted 1 card, 4 have submitted 2-4 cards, six 5-9 cards, three 10-19, five 20-49, three 50-99, two 100-149, another two 150-199 and last but not least, one observer who has submitted between 400-499 cards.

If one assumes that observers who have submitted 5 or more cards can be said to be regular atlassers, then of the 240 people who reside in KZN that have registered, 84 [or 35%] of them have gone on to atlas regularly. It is also interesting to note that only 127 people [of the 240 who have registered], have actually gone on to submit a card, i.e. only 53%. In other words 53% of the people who have registered have actually gone on to try their hand at atlassing, while only 35% have gone on to submit more than 5 cards.

Last Set of Submissions for KZN

The list on the left are the card submissions for KZN pentads for the period 17/02/10 to 15/03/10.

During these 26 days we had 201 cards submitted, 26 of which were for new pentads. We averaged 7.7 cards / day, with 3.5 cards / observer, and 1.0 cards per new pentad per day.

The three observers who submitted the most cards, were Iain Guthrie with 24, Tim Wood with 16 and Mr J Claassen with 15.

Alan Manson and Trish Strachan submitted cards for 7 new pentads each, while Iain Guthrie, Barry Porter and Brian Byers submitted 2 cards each for new pentads.

These are the submissions for the fortnight from 15 - 29/03/10.

35 observers submitted 138 cards, 16 of which were for new pentads. This works out to an average of 9.9 cards / day, 1.1 new pentads / day and 3.9 cards / observer.

Trish Strachan and Ms L van Deventer submitted 15 cards each, Tim Wood 13 cards and Iain Guthrie 12 cards.

Trish submitted cards for 12 new pentads, Malcolm Rivett 2, and Ernst Retief and Alan Manson 1 each.

Thanks to all who contributed, and keep up the good work.

Last 37 Days Cards for KZN

316 cards were submitted between 11 January 2010 and 17 February 2010 by 68 observers. 33 cards were for new pentads.

This equates to 8.5 cards / day, 4.6 cards / observer and 0.89 new pentads / day.

Well done and many thanks to all who contributed.

Priority QDGC's in KZN

The QDGC colours have changed again slightly since the last post. This time Barry Porter has added a pentad in 3029DD, so we are now down to three boundary QDGC's, along with our two core QDGC's that are still empty.

Northern KZN have also moved 2730CB from 33% coverage to more than 33%.

Well done to all involved with these efforts.

Priority QDGC's in KZN

Since the last time that I posted these maps on the 20th of November 2009, we have progressed to only two core QDGC's with no cover in KZN.

Many thanks to Sharon Louw for filling in a pentad in 2830BD FORT LOUIS and Alan Manson for filling in a pentad 2731DC NONGOMA.

This means that we only have two core pentads left: 2731DD NGXONGWANE & 2830DA COLLESSIE.

The other QDGC's left are all boundary QDGC's:

2731AB: mostly in Swaziland [1 pentad partly in KZN]

2832BC: 8.4 ha of mostly beach just North of Mission Rocks, rest is Indian Ocean

3028BB: mostly Eastern Cape & some Lesotho [1 pentad partly in KZN]

3029DD: mostly Eastern Cape [2 pentads partly in KZN]

I must also mention the great work done by Northern Natal, Rina Pretorius and Klaus Heyer especially, and Alan Manson [from the Midlands], who have filled in an incredible number of gaps in the north-west of KZN. This work has changed a number of QDGC's to lighter [or no] colour on these maps.

There has also been some lightening of the QDGC colours in Zululand, despite the tragic passing of Pete Outhwaite. Well done to Richard Johnstone, Johan Gouws, Frank Rautenbach and Ben Baxter especially.

Southern KZN has also seen some movement, thanks to Barry Porter and Trish Strachan for their hard work.

I must also mention that a number of other birders have helped push KZN along smartly this summer, Tim Woods and Iain Guthrie deserve a mention here. Many thanks to all the others who have helped as well, even if I have not mentioned you specifically.

Last 15 days Submissions

The last fifteen days saw 40 observers submit 147 cards for KZN. 14 of these cards were for new pentads.
This equates to 9.8 cards per day and 3.7 cards per observer.
As matter of interest over the last few periods for which I have statistics [ending 5/12/09; 20/11/09; 5/11/09 & 19/10/09], we have been averaging 9.8; 9.9; 9.5 & 11.3 cards/day respectively, with 3.7; 3.9, 3.8 & 3.4 cards/observer. As can be seen we seem to have a fairly regular submission rate, even with a constant change in observers.
Looking at the new pentads covered per day, the values change quite considerably over the same period: 0.93; 1.33; 1.18 & 0.53. We seem to have hit a peak in cards for new areas from 5/11/09 to 20/11/09, where we had 1.33 cards/day for new pentads. As can be expected this is likely to tail off, as we now have 61.5% of KZN covered.

Priority QDGC's in KZN (again)

Here are two maps of showing the priority QDGC's in KZN. The first map shows only the QDGC's, while the second has the pentad coverage as at 07h00 this morning.
We now have only FOUR core QDGC's with no coverage:

2731DC NONGOMA
2731DD NGXONGWANE
2830BD FORT LOUIS
2830DA COLLESSIE

There are also four boundary QDGC's with no coverage:

2731AB - mostly in Swaziland
2832BC - which 400m of beach and some dune forest north of Mission Rocks at St Lucia
3028BB - mostly Eastern Cape with some Lesotho
3029DD - Eastern Cape, but has three pentads touching KZN.