Re: Kelp Gull - Countable?
Thomas Stock (TSTOCK@FMSHRC.GOV)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 14:05:57 -0500
Brian Monk wrote: >>> [snip] Namely, where did
this gull come from? [snip] If it is a true vagrant, then "Yee Haw!!!"
and I'll be the first to tick it on my life-list. >>>
Brian raises some interesting questions. As for the bird's true identity,
aren't DNA analysis or collecting or both the only ways to answer the
question with any certainty? (I note that no one has mentioned
collecting yet - I hope this never happens...)
As for origin, no certainty is possible in the absence of an
eyewitness!
As for countability, allow me to throw in my two cents as a non-lister.
The bird's already on my "life list" - which is NOT an ABA list. I prefer
to find birds in the wild and record some of my observations, the sum
of which form for me a "sort of" life list. To me, a "lifer" is a bird I've
studied and could identify again. I've seen Band-rumped Storm Petrel
off North Carolina on four trips, but never really got to know the
species until the fourth trip. So, although I'd seen plenty in the past,
I didn't consider it a "lifer" until then. (And call me a heretic, but I
consider Monk Parakeet a lifer after seeing the wild, breeding
population at Rehobeth!) The Kelp Gull I've studied well,
and studied the literature available to me, and have concluded it's
probably what Michael O'Brien says it is. Even if DNA analysis, if
ever done, shows it to be a hybrid or strange LBBG variant, it will
stay on my "books" as the closest to a Kelp Gull I've ever seen,
or will probably ever see until I get to Chile or other parts south.
Thanks, Brian, for the provocative questions. You got me to
reflect a bit on why I look at birds!
Tom Stock
Silver Spring