Dennis,

First, I can hardly be labeled as anti-science. But in my opinion,
science asks questions which benefit people, animals and habitat. Whom is
this benefitting? I am assuming that we are recreational birders, not
at present conducting a study. I missed the prior debate on the
difference between birding and ornithology.

And I don't have anything against banding. From my limited experience,
the purpose is to monitor changes in population, migration, species
density, habitat, etc. I understand how this benefits the species as a
whole. I don't understand how knowing the sex of_this_ bird benfits the
species.

And Don, do you really think this one Longspur can be compared to
monitoring Spotted Owl populations and preservation of old growth? If
chestnut-collared longspurs are endangered, I apologize.

I was agreeing with Stuart (I thought) that it would be irresponsible to
capture this bird. There is little risk involved with capture, but some
risk does exist. Does it outweigh the benefit in this case?

A sex on this bird might help on future identifications, or it might not.
Next winter, when this happens again, someone will see chestnut and
someone else won't, it'll still be raining and the light will be poor....
What will we benefit in the long run? Michael said there is not enough
data on this subject. He's right. But data is meaningful when it is
applied to a meaningful question. If this bird were involved in a banding
study, then we could catch it, record all its measurements and have gained
knowledge from that. But this isn't a study. It's supposed to be for
fun, right?

Sorry if my opinions spoil other people's "game." Thanks for letting me
express them. I deleted your message, Dennis, before I had time
to respond. I'm sure you'll let me know if I've left anything out.

Sherrie Hockett
hocketts at vetmed.wsu.edu