[Birdtalk] Comment on recent rarities

[Steve Carr]

Every now and then those of us who have been birding for several (many) years are asked if all the apparent uncommon or rare birds that are reported on the Birdlines by birders such as Tim Avery, Colby Neuman, Steve and Cindy Sommerfeld, Eric Huish, and others, are really all that rare or are they expanding their former ranges, etc.  Fortunately for the rest of us, those just named are often (constantly in some cases - do they have any other kind of life?) out in various nooks and crannies of the state either finding birds on their own or checking out rarities that are reported by still others.

It's plenty obvious to me, at least, that what most of us have been saying for years is that the birds are neither expanding their ranges (except for things like Eurasian Collared-Dove), nor are all that rare -- it's just that more experienced and knowledgeable birders with more time to explore are finding birds that are essentially here almost every year, especially during migration.  If birders 10 years ago had visited the International Center west of the SL airport several times during fall migration, they undoubtedly would have seen many, if not most, of the same species that have been seen recently and reported.  The same applies to the Provo airport dike, Antelope Island Causeway, and Garr Ranch.

We should be thankful for the above named people for finding uncommon birds and reporting them so that we can all enjoy "the chase" to see another unusual bird.  Assuming that this keeps up, we'll have to reclassify the official checklist and change some of the "Accidentals" and "Occasionals" to "Uncommon."

--Steve Carr
UOS
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