Fw: [reccom] New Review List Proposals

[Kristin Purdy]

Thanks, Milt, for continuing to move us toward progress with your questions and concerns. 

I'm sticking with the theme of trying to keep the checklist simple while using it as an avenue to request sight records. I'm not too concerned that the formal review list birders access on the internet might have detailed geographic request information. I believe that birders who go to the trouble of researching the review list are more prone to submit reports anyway. I'm more concerned with how we reflect that information on the checklist, a more widely used document that could become unwieldy with non-checklist info if we're not careful.  

The challenge is to keep the two documents consistent while keeping the checklist uncluttered. 

SPECIFIC PROPOSAL: I agree with Milt's idea to deal with the Painted Redstart, Gunnison Sage-grouse, White-tailed Ptarmigan and Sharp-tailed Grouse in the Out-of-Range/Conditional Review List category because we only have one species in each geographic area. We know we're going to have a special category no matter what geographic divisions develop. We could reduce the number of categories for those four highly localized species by placing them in the special category with our request for other unique sightings not otherwise defined. 

SPECIFIC PROPOSAL: Call the list the Conditional Review List. 

SPECIFIC PROPOSAL: I think we should make a general statement for out-of-season birds and then ask our secretary to sift through them (likely a low number, as David noted) and require committee action for significant reports. For instance, today a birder reported she has never seen a Killdeer in winter. What if she did and submitted an out-of-season report? Milt would thank her, but not request our review. What if that out-of-season record was a Winter Wren feeding a juvenile in Millcreek Canyon in June (which I believe is a likely scenario; we just haven't gotten a report yet). We'd be very interested in that record.  

SPECIFIC PROPOSAL: Remove the suspect American Black Duck sightings from our records in accordance with Milt's and Ron's comments. The committee has removed entire species (Laughing Gull) from the review list because the physical evidence was suspect; individual records should be treated the same way. (Does the Northern Cardinal fall into this same category, with only Behle's 1983 specimen being legit?)

I don't know enough about Lucy's Warbler's Southern Utah range to comment on Milt's question on that topic. 

Kris
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Milt Moody 
  To: Utah Bird Records Committee 
  Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 9:05 AM
  Subject: [reccom] New Review List Proposals


  If we could get some specific proposals on some of these species that are kind of "lost in the shuffle" that might be a good way to proceed.

  Here are several things I'm wondering about:

   - How to deal with the Painted Redstart and Gunnision Sage-Grouse

  - Do we want to review out-of-season records and if so do we want to make a specific list or just make a general statement (to send documentation for out-of-season birds). 

  - Do we want to review records for Lucy's Warbler seen in Kane and San Juan Counties?  (Are there any other "Washington County species" that may be seen regularly in Kane or Iron Counties that we need to deal with?)

  If you have a specific proposal, you may have to put "specific proposal" (or something like that) some where in there so I'll be able to recognize  that -- I was just about to jump in the car and go looking for a Gunnison Sage-Grouse lek in Weber County until I remembered that David has a lively sense of humor and maybe he was just joking around :-)

  It would be good to have this pretty well thought out before we pulish this new review list (suplement) to the public.

  Thanks,
  Milt







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