FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] documentation of cbc rarities, etc.

["Stephen J. Stedman" <sstedman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear CBC participants,
In about five weeks the next CBC season will begin,
bringing with it a lot of good birding and some need
to provide documentation of rare species encountered
on the CBCs.

In November of 2003, I provided a website page with a
list of CBC species that would benefit from documentation
in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.  Prior to the
last CBC season many CBC  compilers and participants
made suggestions to improve the list in one way or another,
and I tried to modify the list to accommodate as many
suggestions as possible.

Many CBC participants waited to voice suggestions
about the documentation list in the actual documentation
forms that were provided for rare birds seen on last year's
CBCs, and I have tried to accommodate many of these
suggestions, too.

Once again, I draw your attention to the relevant page
of my website--

http://iweb.tntech.edu/sstedman/CBCDocumentationSpeciesALMSTN.htm

--and ask for further suggestions to refine this list.

Despite some suggestions that I drop the recommendation
for documentation of Brewer's Blackbird, I have retained
this species on the list.  The main reason for retaining
it stems from the fact that about 20% of all documentation
forms submitted for this species last year revealed
that the observer(s) either did not observe a Brewer's
Blackbird or were unable to write a convincing description
of what they saw, if, in fact, it was a Brewer's.  It should
be noted that some compilers did not ask for or submit
documentation for this species, but there seems to me
to be a good chance that about 20% of the undocumented
BRBLs submitted were erroneous, at least if the evidence
from sightings that were documented is representative
for all sightings.  Roughly the same situation exists
for Greater Scaup; thus, that species, too, remains
on the list.

Please note that I do not use the word "require" for
any CBC documentation at my level of edit.  I do,
however, recommend documentation for some species
and strongly recommend it for others.  Of course,
the National Audubon sponsors of the national CBC
database do require documentation for a few species,
and I try to support their requirements where possible.

Let me urge CBC compilers to encourage all participants
on their CBCs to pay the $5 participants' fee. This fee
is small--and you can pay a flat fee of $20 to participate
in all the CBCs you want to take part in if you wish--and 
it goes to a cause that is more admirable than most
causes.

Let me also make a request, from anyone who took
part in last year's Fort Morgan, Alabama, CBC, to
submit a list of the species and numbers counted;
most of that information remains outside of my hands,
leaving an unfortunate lacuna in the CBC database
for last year.

Good CBCing, Steve Stedman
Regional Editor of CBCs for
   Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee

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