Tweets,
Regarding the Xhummer acceptance or not: Did I somehow miss something that
Bird Records committees, rarities committes or whatever else you want to
call them are just to validate or invalidate lists? I am a lister,
counties, state, year etc.. however I do it for fun and for the motivation
that it takes me to get out and say find a hard to find bird for that
county. Shouldn't lists be a secondary tool in a way of keeping tract of
the fruits of your hobby. To use another hobby: Sports memorabilia. Would
a collector start raving if an appraiser suddenly imformed him that the
ball that he searched for five years to finally add to his collection is
now not worth very much money. A true collector would know how hard it has
to find that ball, how much enjoyment he/she got from the pursuit and have
its own *personal* value. I have the same *personal* value for every
lifer. I know that I have not seen that bird during all of the years I
have been birding, so take a *tick* away from me, you can't take the
memory I have of seeing the Xhummer. Competive listers need to ask
themselves is a bird of questionable origin more important so they can be
one ahead of their birding chum or is the personal traits listed above
more important?

Yes, I made the trip to Gibsons and saw the bird, emphasis on saw
the bird which was great enjoyment to myself. I really have a hard time
convincing myself that the trip a hundred plus miles to the north is now
somehow worth less because that bird cannot go on a list.

Did it give me a chance to see a bird I had never seen before? Yes.
Did I get to visit a new area for birding to me? Yes.

A list should be a fun hobby that motivates people to see new species, new
places and the challenge of trying to find the target bird. Well, of the
three goals for lists I'm 3/3, though waiting for a bird to come to a
feeder is not much of a challenge.

I have felt that BRC's job was to document the vagrancy of species that
were not usual migrants to an area. If this is correct then should we not
error on the side of caution, if the record was accepted and the reality
was the bird was not here by natural causes, well then the vacrancy of an
endemic species would have its case far strengthened by a record a
thousand plus miles to the north, which would not be the case in reality.

In regards to Don's feelings about submitting to the records committee,
well thats a personal choice but I hope that it isn't out of protest for
the dislike of BRC's. If it is, what does the protest serve? You get your
photo and record of vagrancy does not get the attention of the BRC that it
should to be evaluated. If evaluation of sightings is supposed to have
some scientific background in the species natural history and I see that
Don uses science as a tool for supporting of arguements, then I'm sorry if
I'm dense here but how can you be pro-science and not submit a record that
might help to better understand the vagrancy of a species, unless your ego
is so fragile that a rejected record somehow personally affects you. I
would hope you are a better person that to let the latter happen.


Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood