Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!sunybcs!dmark
From: dmark@sunybcs.uucp (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Life List rules
Message-ID: <8981@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: 3 Mar 88 17:06:26 GMT
References: <499@picuxa.UUCP>
Sender: nobody@sunybcs.UUCP
Reply-To: dmark@joey.UUCP (David Mark)
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 41

In article <499@picuxa.UUCP> gp@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) writes:
>While on a recent field trip with a group of birders that I don't usually
>bird with, the subject of life lists came up.  It turns out that their
>group will add a bird to their life lists if they simply hear it, or get
>a glimpse of it, whereas I (and my birding buddies) will not take a bird
>unless I get an exceptionally good look at it.  I am not criticizing either
>method, but I am wondering how the rest of the country does it.  Please let
>me know what criteria a sighting must meet in order for you to add the bird
>to your life list.
>
[several lines deleted]

The only real rule of life listing is, in the immortal words of Ben
Feltner:  "It's your list!"  As long as the list is for your own enjoyment,
then count whatever you feel like counting.  If you are in a friendly
competition with birding buddies, then you just need to agree on a common
set of criteria.

The ownly 'formal' rules for listing that I know about are those designed by
the American Birding Association.  To add a bird to your North American
or World Life List, it must be (1) SEEN and identified by the lister;
(2) wild and unrestrained when observed.  There are some subsidiary
rules that cover birds netted (for banding) and released (not countable
at the release site for 24 hours; this prevents someone from netting
a bird, phoning Bert Lystor, who drives across the state, and sees it just
as they release it).  ABA rules are usually interpreted such that if
you see an outline WITH NO FIELDMARKS, from which a clearly-identifiable
sound comes, then you CAN count the bird.  But, no matter how well you
hear it, and how unambiguous the sound is, if you don't catch a
glimpse, you cannot count it.

Before I joined the ABA, I counted heard birds (as long as there was no
chance that I was hearing a mockingbird or a starling).  For a while
after I joined the ABA, I kept two life lists:  my own, and the version
adapted to ABA rules.  But now, ABA rules come naturally to me, and I
didn't count Black Rail, even though I was in the immediate presence
of one doing its "kicky-doo" in a salt-marsh in Maryland.

So, if you compare lists, use standarized rules.  ABA rules are as good as
any.  If you don't compare, publish, or tell your list totals, then

          "It's your list!!"