For some birders the sport of going places to add to one's life
list is an important compentent of their hobby. As such we
need rules that provide some measure of countability. Since it
could be argued that it's not fair to let one person count a
California Condor and not another, just because of age (in birder
years), there is a code 6 category on the checklist.

But I also have to say that the rules are vague on this issue
(see: http://www.americanbirding.org/bigday/rules.pdf ). One cannot
count California Condor now, because one cannot count species not on
the ABA checklist, until it has been determined to the ABA checklist
committee that they are a self-sustaining population and this expressly
includes re-introduced species. The rules do not expressly say that
one has to excise California Condors seen before they were all removed
to captive breeding programs. Because the rules are unclear, the fair-
minded birder should probably choose to exclude to condor from any
published, competetive lists.

All this has everything to do with fair competition and nothing to
do with your life list which is YOUR LIFE LIST. No rule can take
away the fact that you've seen California Condors. No rejected
report by the Records Committee can take away a species you believe
you've seen.

I have seen EURASIAN TREE SPARROW in Oregon, for example. We have
pictures of the bird. Nobody disputes the ID. Astoria is a port
city the bird undoubtedly stowed away. It probably got on the
boat under its own power and got off under its own power, but
because it didn't actually steer the boat and failed to establish
a viable population after disembarking, I can't (and don't) count it
on my ABA competetive list.

But it's on my life list

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

I'm not jealous or
Why I've never Seen Black-throated Blue Warbler in Oregon
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/004174.html