[Birdnet] Purple Finch

[Utah Birds]

Forward from Lu Giddings
To: Utah Birds <utah_birds at yahoo.com>, moabgirl at gmail.com

hi Angie,

in my humble opinion, the key to getting the Records Committee to
accept any record, and especially a first-of-state record, is
excellent documentation. It is not uncommon for the Committee to
reject records not because they do not believe the person submitting
the record (they often do believe a person has seen what they've taken
the time to write up and submit) but rather, because the documentation
provided is not sufficient to rule out the possibility of other
similar species. First-of-state records typically require a greater
degree of scrutiny - and therefore, even better documentation - than
other records. This is not unique to Utah.

Milt has posted Steve Summer's excellent note "Writing a Rare Bird
Report" at http://www.utahbirds.org/RecCom/HowToWrite.htm which your
mother might find helpful. One of my personal favorites is found at
the Louisiana Bird Record Committee's page "How to Document Rare
Birds"
http://losbird.org/lbrc/dittmann_lasley.html
which I think is essential reading for any would-be record submitter.

I can't speak for everyone on the Committee but personally, I do think
purple finches are present in Utah, although where, when, how often,
and to what extent remains to be seen. The Committee accepted a sight
record of purple finch last fall
http://utahbirds.org/RecCom/2007/2007_38Summary.htm
although it would be nice to have further documentation of this species.
I hope your mom is right and think it certainly possible.

Thanks for the note,

Lu Giddings

On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Utah Birds <utah_birds at yahoo.com> wrote:


    Birdnet Email -- from the website‏


    It was submitted by moabgirl at gmail.com on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 09:20:37

    Subject: purple finch

    Email_Address: moabgirl at gmail.com

    Message: Late last fall and early this spring my mother saw
finch's that resemble the purple finch (as described in NG/sibley) in
her yard in West Jordan. She describes them as behaving and looking
differently than the house and Cassin's finches also present (I can go
into further detail of these differences-if one would like but, I wont
today :). Currently she has been unable to photograph them or note
their call but she is adamant that they are NOT Cassin's. And after
grilling her like any obsessed birder would, I believe her. LOL! I
noticed that the records committee has accepted not one sighting of
the purple finch even though they believe it is here in Utah. So I am
hoping that 1) someone will contact me with further ID tips that I can
forward to my mom and 2) I want to make others aware of its possible
presence. I think this will be especially important as the range of
the purple finch changes (as described in Audubon) Since this finch
MAY be here in Utah, knowing how to ID it from other finches will
become more important as its range changes and of course, in
documenting this change.

    [ Please Reply to moabgirl at gmail.com ]




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