Thanks to Mike Todd for following up on these birds and getting those excellent photos! I was running late when I found them, so I just looked at them, called Mike, and headed on. Quite a nice pair of birds! When I first saw them there something about the scene said "Trumpeters;" probably a flashback from my summers in Yellowstone where a pair of Trumpeter Swans gracing a pond was a classic sight. Almost certainly these birds are from one of the reintroduced populations in the midwest. I've reported the collared bird, soon I should get some info on where she was collared and whether she was released or wild-hatched. Though hardly the most important aspect of this very successful reintroduction program, it does bring up the issue of whether these birds are "countable." Generally under ABA rules, an individual of a native species that has been reintroduced to a spot within its historic range is "countable" if it was wild- hatched. Of course you can't always tell this; in the case of the uncollared member of this pair there's no way to know if he was wild- hatched, or a captive release who lost his collar. Even in the case of the collared female, the wild-hatched birds from these populations are often captured and collared as well. At least one state (Illinois) has determined that rather than having to debate and determine the origins of each individual bird, the Trumpeter Swan will in general be once again considered a wild, countable species there. I suppose the records committee here will get a chance to address this matter as well when I get my act together and submit a report on these two birds... Bill Pulliam Hohenwald TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________