I just have one last thing to say about this species issue, then I'll
shut up for a while. I made a personal decision when they split Western
Flycatcher that there were certain birds that I was never going to be able to
identify. Bird listing is a game of limited scientific value. I can define
species for my list any way I want.

But I'm writing this as a bird bander today. Identifying a species
based on its song gives that species an identity only when it is breeding. If
one takes the concept of reproductive isolation to its extreme this is an
appropriate definition of species. This also makes great sense from an
ecological view connecting species to the world they live in. Given the trend
in biology toward studying organisms in their ecological context, it should
not surprise anyone that we are seeing species defined as they are.

There are (at least) two logistical problems that I see arising out of
this new concept, however. As a bird bander, I cannot identify a Western
Flycatcher in hand, because they rarely sing under those conditions. The
current definition does not take into account ecological frameworks beyond the
breeding range. Technically speaking, Pacific-slope Flycatcher is only that
while breeding. It becomes Western Flycatcher in the off-season which
constitutes 3/4 of its life. We need to give field researchers and ecologists
a tool for making that distinction. It is conceivable, after all, that there
may not be ecological distinctions between some species when thay are not
breeding.

The second logistical problem is political. It will become increasingly
difficult to convince the public at large to protect species that appear to us
to be identical and can only be identified at certain time of the year. There
are certain factions with late night TV talk shows who don't take us very
seriously now. When does splitting hares (I spelled it that way one purpose)
become a liability?


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Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR
mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov
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