Hi:

Speaking as the official regional editor for cbc's in Oregon and Washington,
I would ask you to please count them. If you believe they might be a
non-viable population or of questionable origin, fill out one of the
handy unusual species detail forms included in the cbc packet (or get one
from your compiler if one was not provided to your group) and note that
the origin may be questionable.

As editor, I can put a coded notation next to the sighting. This way it
get recorded for posterity, but we've taken into account its dubious nature.

thank you for your cooperation


>
>
> I know that escaped Bobwhites crop up pretty often in Western
>Washington. I've heard them myself in Discovery Park. My question is:
>are there any areas where the escapees are breeding and have sustained a
>population for a while? Although I am hoping for a general answer, the
>specific incident that brought the question to mind was a sighting on the
>Everett Christmas Bird Count, from the Sylvana area, up near the
>Stillaguamish river flats. I am wondering whether it is "countable."
>
> I should say for any ABA type birders out there that the standards
>for "countability" on a CBC may be less strict than for other purposes.
>Since the purpose of the count is to track population trends, records of
>such birds as Mute Swans, which are probably not "officially" established
>in Washington, but which are here and probably increasing, are of enough
>interest to justify including in count totals (at least in my opinion).
>Likewise, if there are small pockets of Bobwhite breeding fairly
>consistently for a period of years, it's probably worth noting that. If
>all the bobwhites are recent releases/escapees, then they're not worth
>mentioning.
>
> I'd be grateful for any light anyone can shed on this.
>
>Chris Hill
>Everett, WA
>cehill at u.washington.edu
>
>
>
>

--
*********************************** I was of three minds
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * like a tree
* mpatters at orednet.org * in which there are three blackbirds.
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* -Wallace Stevens