Re: It is a common gull
Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Fri, 20 Feb 1998 23:13:18 -0500
Soneone, or perhaps more than one someone, over the past week or so
has stressed that we, as birders, shouldn't wait for the local expert
to certify a bird so we can count it on our life list. Rather, we
should all pay as careful attention to the bird in question as
possible and then form our own opinion, based on our own observations
and our own reasoned analysis, as to what species we are looking at.
Most of us can do this with most species, but when a difficult bird
like "The Gull" pops up, it becomes, for many of us, a true learning
experience, or at least it should.
I feel I've learned a tremendous amount during this discussion about
looking critically at a bird, about defining the parameters of the
research that must be carried out, and about presenting one's opinion
to the powers that be--the records committee.
Is Bruce Peterjohn's personal attack on Mark Hoffman typical of the
way that such submissions are handled by the MD/DC Records Committee?
If so, I can see why you may have trouble getting people to submit
their thoughts to you.
The only mean-spiritedness I've heard in this entire discussion were
right at the beginning, when we were told we shouldn't be discussing
this on the Internet...and right at the end, when that same person
posted a note for some one else, then promptly unsubscribed from
MDOsprey.
I've never submitted any notes to the records committee...after
hearing how they're received, how responses to opinions become
personal vendettas, I probably never will.
Best,
Norm Saunders
===============
Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net