>From Andy:

>I was breaking some of Dennis Paulson's memorable axioms regarding
>rarities: 1- "true rarities are truly rare and seldom encountered"; and 2-
>"consider the common species first."

>From Jerry:

>The number of rarities a birder discovers is directly
>proportional to the time they spend in the field.

I would like to add several 'memorable axioms that relate to the above:

>From D. Paulson: (a more general form of Jerry's):

"In order to find birds, you need to look for them."

and from Steve Milodinov (a corollary of sorts):

" In order to find rare birds, you need to be thinking about possibilities
while looking at common birds."

Also from D. Paulson:

"You'll never learn how much variation there is in a large flock of a common
species
(e.g., Western Sandpiper) until you try to pick out one uncommon bird from
the flock
(e.g., Semipalmated Sandpiper). "


Rick Romea Sometimes a concept is baffling not because
Seattle, WA it is profound but because it is wrong
rromea at stioptronics.com -- E.O. Wilson
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