[mou] Whooper Swan and records committee

[Jeff Price]

While I have not heard from any current member of the
records committee I have heard from a past member who
assures me that there is no policy of blanket
rejection of Whooper Swan records.

I'm glad to hear that.  

Those who read my message carefully (as this
individual did) even recognized that I said _IF_ this
was the case then I felt it to be misguided.  It was
not meant as a blanket attack (or an attack of any
kind) on the MN records committee (or any other record
committee).

The message itself would be equally valid in any other
state that applies a blanket set of rules to cover any
sightings of a given species. 

Record committees (and sightings compilers) play an
important scientific role, whether they realize it or
not.  While birders may sometimes think that record
committees have 'agendas' or 'don't like certain
birders' I have found it to rarely be true.  They do
their job carefully, with little appreciation from
their peers.  

A committee's job is very important however.  Changes
in bird ranges don't occur solely in any one state. 
Biogeographers need to look at what happens throughout
a species range to determine whether changes or
patterns of vagrancy may have an underlying cause,
whether these patterns are something to be concerned
about.  Therefore, it is important that they do their
job well.  Inevitably, that means most committees are
conservative in their decisions - as perhaps they
should be.

I do think that the entire process needs to be
transparent (some states are more transparent than
others).  Those that might make use of records need to
understand what sightings have been submitted, which
were accepted and rejected and why.  Sometimes it is
only by going back and looking at a series of
'rejected' records that scientists (and, hopefully,
committee members) can determine that maybe something
really is going on and maybe those previously rejected
records are valid after all. 

Some time ago I was asked whether I thought the bird
sightings published in The Loon were of any value. 
The answer is a resounding YES.  In the absence of
year-round standardized surveys then data published in
The Loon (and North American Birds) is the only
readily accessible data for changes in things like
migration arrival and departure dates, breeding
records and range expansions/contractions.  True, this
data may have errors in it and the users have to trust
to the compilers to make it as good as possible. 
Beyond that, the user has to make the determination
whether the data are any good or not.  As a single
datum, this can be tough.  But if there are records
from multiple sources that all point in the same
direction then it isn't that difficult to pull a
pattern out of the mass of data.

So, to the extent that The Loon continues to publish
bird sightings - congratulations.  Whether you know it
or not you are publishing an important historical
record.  To the extent that bird records committees
carefully analyzes all submissions - kudos.  You too
are playing a role in the better understanding of bird
ranges.



=====
Jeff Price
Boulder, CO
jtpbirder@yahoo.com

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