Mike Stiles
Photo Courtesy Wikipedia: Little Curlew
Photo Courtesy Wikipedia: Nutting's Flycatcher
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The List
by Mike Stiles
I think I can safely venture that all but a very small minority of birders keep some kind of a bird list. Whether it's as simple as check marks and dates in the margins of their field guide or elaborate listing software on their computer, most birders keep a record of birds they have seen. My birding "career" started because of a list. In my first year of college, in 1973, our instructor, Bill Deneen, required we keep a list of birds seen that semester. Needless to say I was hooked, and I continue to add to that list today.
There are life lists, year lists, yard lists, county and state lists, North America and world lists, even lists of birds heard on television shows and movies. Our local birders work hard on the San Luis Obispo County list, striving to become a member of the coveted "400 Club"- 400 birds seen in this county. There are 453 birds that have been found in San Luis Obispo county . . . some only single records . . . so 400 birds is quite the accomplishment. Of course, it gets harder to add a bird to your list when your list total is high. So when a rarity shows up the phones ring and the emails go out - everyone trying to help their compatriots add to their list. Our local top birders, at least those that report their birds, can be seen at Cal Poly.edu - 400 Club.
The American Birding Association (ABA) publishes an annual book of lists and has very strict rules on whether a bird is "countable" or not. For instance, an introduced (non-native) bird must have a viable, stable population and have been reproducing for 8 years before it can become countable. Some purists will not count introduced birds at all. The ABA also sets boundaries for lists that can be somewhat controversial, or at least discussed fervently among birders. For instance, the North American region does not include Mexico (even though it is in North America) or Hawaii.
I suppose it is human nature to want to compare your list against others in a kind of competitive spirit, and it can get a little out of hand. Local birder Brad Schram, who leads birding tours all over the globe, tells of birders who ask him if HE saw the bird well enough for them to count it. In essence, they are buying a bird list, and checking off distant specks of bird sightings for their life list. On the other end of the spectrum are very careful birders who won't place a bird on their list without being absolutely sure they can identify that bird if seen again.
When birders exhaust the possibilities in their neighborhood, some will add to their list by becoming "chasers," a phenomenon that never ceases to amaze me. In 1984 a Little Curlew was found in a farm field west of Santa Maria. It was the first recorded sighting of that bird in North America, and when I showed up the field was swarming with birders from all over the continent who had dropped whatever they were doing to fly to the west coast to add the bird to their list. A few years ago a Nutting's Flycatcher (only the 4th recorded in the US) was reported in a back yard in Santa Cruz. When I arrived, there were hundreds of birders in front of the house and along the street. Someone would yell "I have the bird" and we would all hurry over to see it. I can't even begin to imagine what the neighbors thought of us crazies coming all that way to see a single bird. About three days into the spectacle, after thousands of photographs, drawings, and notes were taken on the bird's field marks, someone suggested it was a common Ash-throated Flycatcher. That assessment turned out to be true, and I can imagine the disappointment as Nutting's Flycatcher was deleted from hundreds of bird lists.
Sometimes you can even add to your list without leaving your couch. With the advent of DNA research, taxonomists will "split" a species into two or more species, and if you have been fortunate enough to see both forms of the previous species, the "new" bird becomes a check mark on the list. It can also turn the other way if the taxonomists decide to lump several species of birds into one. You can probably guess which way we listers prefer the taxonomists to consider.
An extremely rare bird, in order to be officially "countable," must be approved (in this state) by the California Bird Records Committee, a group of the state's birding elite, who will review the evidence and decide if the bird is countable. Extensive field notes and photos are usually required for a very rare bird to be accepted. Needless to say, it can become quite heated, and frustrating, when a committee decides if you actually saw the bird you claimed. In the end, of course, it's your list and you can keep it any way you choose.
It's January and a perfect time to start your 2010 year list. The Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival takes place on Martin Luther King's birthday weekend, January 15-18. For more information visit their site.
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