Gene,

I would like to wish you the best in California, and thank you for your service to the Washington birding community.

I do feel compelled (who, me?) to comment on several points re: the WBRC. I certainly do not want to start a debate (Gene and I debating in a public forum might lead to mass suicides :o), so this will be my sole commentary on these issues.

1) The WBRC - and for that matter, all BRCs I know of - make no pretension of deciding anything for anyone's personal list. So, Gene should not feel the need to apologize for counting a handful of birds not accepted by the WBRC, nor does he need to explain his reasons at length. These are a personal matter. The BRC, again, is not an arbiter of such things as personal lists.

2) We voted to take Am Black Duck off the WA state list, for as with Scaled Quail, the introduced population has disappeared. Scaled Quail lasted longer in the state, but its population was also supported by multiple releases of birds into the wild. As for Am Black Duck, one could argue that the recent returning bird at Juanita Bay, or the bird at Stanwood, are of wild origin... the population has been booming and expanding westward over the last decade. If a continuing pattern of vagrancy occurs, I am sure this bird's status on the state list will be revisited. However, for the time being, it is off, I do believe

3) The BRC was conflicted on PF Goose. There is much to argue that the birds are of wild origin, but it remains that there is no extant pattern of vagrancy of European birds (which PF Goose is, though it does breed in Greenland) vagrating to central or western North America (excepting, perhaps, a European GP in AK and a Ruddy Shelduck in the Canadian Arctic). The Barnacle Goose record pattern has been repeatedly and thoroughly studied, and away from the east coast (w. to eastern PA and Quebec), the signal is one of background noise, with multiple records from such highly unlikely places as TX and OK. I have had reports passed onto me of Greenland GWF Goose from the continent's interior, but when I investigated those records, neither the state BRCs nor NAB compilers knew anything of those records. No banded Greenland Canada Goose has turned up in the USA/Canadian interior or west.

The Bean Goose in CA, like the two seen in WA, are very different. There is a very strong pattern of multiple Asian species, from waterfowl to thrushes, appearing in western NA and even central NA. So, the Bean Goose and the PF Geese represent very different circumstances.

As with Crested Caracara, if a pattern of occurrence does arise, we will revisit the PF Goose record. I could fault no one for counting PF Goose on their personal list.

4) Cordilleran Fly. Gene misreads the reason why this species is on our state list. Though Ned Johnson mapped Cordilleran Fly as occurring in WA, he had no specimens or other specific data from the state. The bird remains off the state list, not due to disagreement with the AOU, but for lack of firm evidence presented to the BRC re: that species occurrence in WA. Such would require audio or sonograms. We are going to revisit this issue based on videotaped audio-recordings from the Blue Mountains at our next visit.

Best Wishes on your next stage in life, Gene, and count those PF Geese with a broad smile, please.

Cheers
Steve Mlodinow