Without being offensive, I could have suggested in my posting yesterday
that for all of the old records from Am. Birds now under review,
the WA rare bird committee give observers an opportunity to withdraw their
observations from the review process.

This would prevent the embarrassment of previous lack of judgement many
years ago from being waved in front of the birding community in the
official committee report. The report instead of saying "very poor and
unlikely description of a bird in the wrong plumage for the season," would
say instead "record withdrawn by observer."

--Jerry <tangren at wsu.edu>


At 08:46 PM 3/17/97 -0800, Scott Richardson wrote:
>>From Keith Arnold's ORNITH-L post (3/17 1:48):
>> As the originator and long-time member of the Texas Bird
>> Records Committee, I can assure you that we all face the same
>> problems in obtaining sufficient documentation. Most birders simply
>> won't take the time to write up their findings.
>
>>From Jerry Tangren's Tweeters post (3/17 1:20):
>> I know I certainly won't
>> report any more rare birds. With the recent reviews of the WA rare Bird
>> Committee, I've seen my reportings over the years to Am. Birds essentially
>> slandered without even contacting me. Think I'm going to voluntarily go
>> through the process?
>
> The Washington Bird Records Committee is an all-volunteer group with eight
>members who recently have managed to meet twice per year to review bird
records
>going back more than a century. They admit taking a conservative approach to
>accepting records.
> I wish I had lots of experience reporting rare birds to committees, but I'm
>afraid I just don't run into rarities the way some people do. I know that on
>the occasions I have written up a report, I have generally done a poor job.
>It's HARD to write detailed descriptions of plumage and behavior. And
sketches?
>Photographs? Besides, I wouldn't report the bird if I didn't KNOW what I saw!
> I'm not assuming Jerry's attitude echoes mine, but I believe records
>committees are all too familiar with the pattern. Yes, perhaps they should be
>more responsive. But if they fail on that front, I am willing to swallow my
>pride and strive toward making a rock-solid case for my next rare sighting,
>rather than reject the system altogether.
>--
>Scott Richardson
>northeast Seattle
>salix at halcyon.com
>http://www.halcyon.com/salix/
>