[mou] Comments on MOURC, long

[Laura Erickson]

Mike is absolutely right that birding is just a hobby.  Ornithology is a 
science.  And if MOURC is to live up to its name, it needs to reflect 
science, not the hobby of birding.  Right now, as has been stated before, a 
rare bird's status is more reflective of how easy it is for a birder to 
find it than whether the bird is reliably present in the state.

This is a complex problem, though.  Because when it comes right down to it, 
birders are the only ones reliably looking for each species.  I think there 
should be a status other than "accidental" for a species like King Rail 
that very well may be hiding out waiting for someone to find it--a species 
that is recorded nesting in neighboring states.  Giving King Rail and 
Ross's Gull the same "accidental" designation makes that designation less 
meaningful except as it indicates how lucky a birder is to see it.


Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN

Producer, "For the Birds" radio program
<http://www.lauraerickson.com/>

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of 
birds.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of 
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

                                 --Rachel Carson