Age codes – poll results
23rd February, 2021 | Ringing
Dear visitors of this website,
a little over a month ago, I asked you to participate in my poll which aimed to improve the gallery in a way to make the age codes used in the gallery clearer to you. I asked you what your preferred age code system would be. I received 29 answers which I analysed, and I would like to present you here the results of the poll.
Results of the poll.
As you can see, the 2CY+ and 3CY+ categories received the same number of votes and so the poll seem to have ended in a tie. But that would be too simple data analysis. As you can see, we can group the votes in different categories e.g., we can look how many of you prefer using number 2 or number 3, if you prefer to include the letter C as calendar or whether to have the plus sign at the beginning or at the end. The results then look much more interesting.
First, let us look if you actually prefer this calendar year system over other options. Answer is yes, 2/3 (19 votes) of you prefer this system over something else (i.e., euring only or something else). I was quite surprised that three people prefer the “adult” option as it is very confusing in my humble opinion and requires additional specifications such as first-summer, adult summer, adult winter etc.
We will focus on these 19 votes further. We can see that more than 80 % of you prefer to include the C as calendar into the age code and almost 80 % of you prefer number 2 over number 3.
I also received some nice comments and suggestions, but I will mention just one of them as one respondent wished to also include the term “autumn” or “spring” to make sure the age code is appropriate. That is harder than it seems and kind of obsolete, really. Each age code is followed by a note explaining where and when the bird was photographed (month and year). And why harder? Try to set the border between spring and autumn. It would of course be somewhere during the summer but when exactly? You will find that this is mostly dependent on the moult strategy of the birds and its timing and may vary from individual to individual.
Based on your votes I select the “winning option” as 2CY+ (euring: 6). Consequently, I will slowly change the age codes in the gallery accordingly, but it will take some time. I have also prepared a new webpage explaining the age codes in more detail including a table comparing different systems used by ringers world-wide. You can find it here: Age codes .
Thank you once again for your participation in this poll. I hope you find the gallery at least a bit more user friendly.