Bob O'Brien,
I'll start with the low-hanging fruit. My last name is Irons and not Iron,
therefore the proper way to apply a possessive apostrophe to my name is either
Irons's or Irons'. Adding the second "s" tends to be the preferred way when
adding possessive apostrophes to last names ending with an "s" (i.e. Harris's
Sparrow or Harris's Hawk). At least once a year in this forum someone slides
the possessive apostrophe over between the "n" and the "s" in my last name.
Sorry, but it's a pet peeve.
As for intentionally assigning birds to subspecies incorrectly as a means to
draw attention to them, I seriously doubt that this is a preferred protocol if
one were to query the eBird project managers. As it is, the eBird database is
awash with checklists where observers have incorrectly assigned birds to
subspecies, usually on the basis of geography and nothing else. These
designations are often being made by birders who don't know the field marks of
the subspecies that they are reporting. There are of course some subspecies
that are readily identifiable in the field, but most are not. Frankly, I wish
that the eBird taxonomy offered fewer subspecific options, especially for
species like Orange-crowned Warbler and even Song Sparrow. That would certainly
make the reviewer's job a lot easier.
Offering up "melodia/atlantica" as a reporting option for Song Sparrow on the
West Coast is non-sensical in my opinion, especially when there are a number of
subspecies that occur west of the Rockies that resemble the truly "eastern"
forms. As we have seen over the past few days, even those of us with a keen
interest in trying to figure out which population the Sauvie Island Song
Sparrow originates from are struggling to sort that out. Imagine an eBird
reviewer who is not invested in knowing every detail about Song Sparrow
subspecies being asked to review reports for subspecies that aren't readily
sortable. A frustrating fool's errand to be sure.
With regard to Song Sparrow, I think a much better way to go would be to offer
options like "dark reddish PNW/Pacific Coastal form" and "pale interior/eastern
form." This would allow observers to designate that a bird is not of the
expected dark PNW type without incorrectly appending a subspecies designation.
For Orange-crowned Warbler all subspecies options should hidden unless the
observer clicks on "show rarities." I don't know more than ten Oregon birders
who pay much attention to Orange-crowned Warbler subspecies beyond noticing
that some are gray-headed. I've spent the last dozen years or so intently
studying and photographing Orange-crowned Warblers all over the West and in
south Texas and I still see lots of individuals that I cannot assign to
subspecies.
Contributing photos to the MacCauley online library (via attaching them to
eBird checklists) is a great way to archive photos. As Bob Archer notes, we do
a rather poor job of taking and archiving photos of our common birds. If
someone was researching the distribution of Song Sparrows with a focus on
appearance, they would hopefully start in the photo galleries rather than
trying to find checklists with out-of-range subspecies reported. In many cases
the latter reports lack photos entirely or don't have useful ones. If it was
me, I wouldn't bother with what observers say they saw. I would start by
surfing the photo galleries where I would be more likely to find evidence that
I could examine objectively.
Another option would be to write up articles or short notes/photo essays about
interesting birds like this and publish them in Oregon Birds or Western Birds.
If North American Birds continues to be a viable journal, that would be another
option for archiving interesting records like this.
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
________________________________
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Robert
O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 10:36 PM
To: Bob Archer
Cc: obol
Subject: [obol] Re: Some thoughts and research on the "out-of-towner" Song
Sparrow wintering along Rentenaar Road (Sauvie Island)
Dave Iron's comments are well taken as to uncertain naming of subspecies. And,
they are more or less in line with an advisory
for Orange-crowned Warbler
See
https://ebird.org/pnw/news/orange-crowned-warblers-oreothlypis-celata-in-the-pacific-northwest/
However, if the sighting/photos are just named 'Song Sparrow' then they likely
would never be found by any future searcher/researcher
looking specifically for the distribution and vagrancy of specific races,
unless such a person searched through the likely huge number of song sparrow
photographs on eBird, McCauley Library and came across an usual photograph.
On the other hand, it the photo was named incorrectly as to subspecies then in
future it would be be much easier to find, especially if a searcher
just looked at the distribution/sightings maps where it would be 'out of place'
(as a vagrant) on the map. That researcher could then decide whether it
was named correctly as to subspecies, and perhaps change the subspecies name to
the correct one if necessary.
Now, if there were no photos to submit I would agree with the 'no-name'
nomenclature because, even from a description alone it would
be difficult to know if the subspecific ID was correct.
Bob OBrien
Bob OBrien
On Tue, Mar 5, 2019 at 2:35 PM Bob Archer
<rabican1@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:rabican1@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi: I would be curious if any birders from western Montana, Utah, Idaho or
Alberta would consider this bird a strange looking Song Sparrow. If it is
strange to them, then I would think a CA bird is better solution. Based on
zero reliable evidence, just me using Search Photo feature in ebird, the
rufous coloring in montana is fairly reliable, but I can find more brown/ black
the farther east I search. Alberta has a different ssp but looked similar. I
have not given up on it being montana yet. Though the lack of any rufous in
stripes and malar is a huge issue for it being montana, from my view.
Anyone know anybody in the interior west?
Bob Archer
On Mar 5, 2019, at 11:31 AM, David Irons
<LLSDIRONS@xxxxxxx<mailto:LLSDIRONS@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
In private and back channel
discussions about this bird multiple people have raised the possibility
that it might of the subspecies M. m. heermanni, which is a relatively
sedentary population in central to southern California. I had considered this
as a possibility, as heermanni seems to be a good match in terms of appearance.
Interestingly, there is a virtually identical bird wintering along Bond Lane
near the Eugene Airport. It seems unlikely that non-migratory birds would
wander north in Fall from California, but perhaps there was a weather or
fire-related dispersal. I like the fact that this bird has created so much
interest.
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
