I certainly never imagined my off hand comment about the CCSP would
engender a 13 paragraph response. Jim Green's contributions to Maryland
birding certainly far exceed mine, and I'm sure most members here don't
even know who I am. I meant nothing personal against Jim G., and
apologize if I may have given that impression. I was just expressing
mild frustration with what I perceive to be a widespread practice of
letting buddies know about birds first and only posting to the list
serve later. As for the Philly Vireo Jim, I only decided it was one
after examining photos at home. (Don't believe it was accepted by eBird
reviewer Stasz, by the way.)
Regards,
Jim Moore
Rockville, MD
On 10/16/2012 11:13 PM, jim green wrote:
> Hi Everybody:
> For anybody thinking that this is a new bird sighting it is not. I am
> responding to a post regarding a sighting I had in Charles Co. on
> Sunday. If you are reading in hopes of a new sighting there is no need
> to read on any further.
> As previously posted I was lucky enough to find a Clay-colored
> Sparrow (CCSP) this past Sunday AM in Charles County. At the time I
> thought it was a decent sighting (only because it was new to my county
> list). Shortly after finding the bird I called John Hubbell to alert
> him of my sighting since I knew he was an hour or so away. He and I
> had spent the previous day birding together in Carroll and Baltimore
> Counties with our target birds being Lincoln's Sparrows, Purple
> Finches, Pine Siskins (more for me but some of these also for John).
> Our wish list also included crossbills and other possible northern
> irruptive species but we had no luck with those. We knew that we
> would both be birding on Sunday as well but decided to take different
> routes and stay in touch since we would not be that far apart...I was
> headed first to Charles and then St. Mary's County and he was going to
> concentrate on Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties.
> After the CCSPsighting at Charles County at Indian Creek and calling
> John, I then first texted and then called George Jett, who in my
> estimation is Mr. Charles County as far as birding goes...he just
> needs to remember that there are still good birds in Charles County
> these past several years and look up once in a while from monitoring
> all those herps. He let me know that it would be a county bird for
> both him and Gwen (Brewer). At that point I made a decision to stick
> in the area, despite numerous hunters that were running there dogs
> nonstop through the entire field edge and adjacent hedgerow where the
> Clay-colored Sparrow was hanging out until the three of them arrived.
> Later that morning after they arrived we were able to refind the bird
> as well as a Lincoln's Sparrow (which John found and I previously
> reported).
> Shortly after this I left the three of them and continued on my way. I
> will admit that I should have asked George to post when he returned
> home fully knowing that I was gone for the day OR tried to call
> someone to post on this listserve for me. To be truthful I did not
> think of it until much later that day in the late evening when I was
> headed back to Gaithersburg. For this I apologize for any birders that
> may have been in the area that day and might have had a chance to
> chase the bird. I have a number of birder contacts in my phone from
> throughout the state and there are not many that I have that reside in
> Charles County...hence my call to George and Gwen.
> Again my apologies to anybody that may have been in the vicinity that
> may have been able to try for the sparrow if they would have known
> about it. I will also let you know that I am using an outdated
> phone...cannot upgrade until DEC/JAN because of damaging a smart phone
> earlier this year and made the decision not to pay the big $$$s until
> I can freely upgrade. Because of this I cannot instantly message from
> the field to this listserve, or ebird, or have any other instant
> avenue to reach all in the MD birding world like many others do on a
> regular basis.
> Now I would like to address Jim Moore regarding his comments...
> Personally, I feel that I have been very loyal and prompt in posting
> my sightings for many years on Norm's MDOsprey listserve and more
> recently on this current one, let alone trying to get the word out
> while in the field as best as I could. I feel that if you were to
> describe my communications they would be punctual and current. I truly
> appreciate reading everybody's posts and at the same time have stayed
> up many a late night to post my day's observations before going to bed
> after long days in the field. I am once again sorry for not attempting
> to get the word out however I could have this past Sunday.
> I have been prodded by many people over the last several years to
> report my sightings to ebird and although I know the importance of
> this I also admit to being lazy because for me it is very time
> consuming. With that said, I have recently made a renewed interest to
> put my sightings into ebird as soon as I can.
> Jim, thank you for correcting both myself and the ebird gods for my
> incorrect location through this listserve... The last thing I want to
> do is mislead anybody...I have birded Washington County alot
> throughout the years and with one eye open or should I say closed
> Sunday night while reporting I entered the location as Indian
> Springs WMA (Wash. Co.) instead of correctly listing Indian Creek NRMA
> (Charles Co.). I had several people contact me off line and also Bill
> Hubick (via email at work) on Monday AM regarding my incorrect county
> location). I promptly entered ebird and corrected the location of my
> sighting. Hopefully nobody headed west to chase the Clay-colored
> Sparrow on Monday morning. Sunday night I did post to this listserve
> my sightngs for Sunday as well and gave ample phone numbers if anybody
> wanting more info to chase the next day. I realize that the majority
> of people work on Monday but not everybody does. I did not have one
> person call me for directions, etc. Also, John Hubbell was nice enough
> to post a google location for the NRMA CCSP as well.
> Now, regarding ALACRITY...Earlier this summer our paths crossed in
> Garrett County. I was with 4 other birders and we were just getting
> ready to leave the Yough Reservoir at the end of Morgantown Rd. You
> pulled into the parking lot. We all traded our successes in seeing the
> Allegany Co. White Ibis earlier in the morning. You mentioned that you
> had just come from RUSSELL RD. in Garrett County and "did not really
> see much at all...it was pretty dead." You also mentioned that this
> was your first time at the Yough.
> You immediately asked us for a MD YELLOW BOOK and silently perused it
> for a while and then after several minutes handed it back to us with
> no further comment as to what you were looking for. You then mentioned
> that this was your first time here at the Yough...we wholeheartedly
> told you where to go for the shorebirds we had just seen as well as
> the FORSTER'S TERNS we had (a countybird in Garrett County for all of
> us!). Then we departed telling you that our next stop was RUSSELL
> ROAD. You were right..".it was dead"...it was midday and we had next
> to nothing on Russell Road.
> The next morning one of our group noticed that you had reported a
> Philadelphia Vireo in ebird for your Russell Rd. list. This would have
> been a great sighting for all of us..but you had told us earlier "it
> was pretty dead" on Russell Rd? Then we started wondering why you
> asked for the YELLOW BOOK...were you looking at early/late dates for
> Phila. Vireo//Warbling Vireo or what. The most astonishing thing is
> you told us.."it was pretty dead!"... Any of these vireos would have
> been of the utmost interest to us...talk about ALACRITY!
> What does this say about sharing of sightings when you are face to
> face with people AND THEY HAVE SHARED WITH YOU...and the ALACRITY of
> sightings...
> I could go on about this with other a few other examples and maybe I
> am out of line...but I feel I made one slight mistake in reporting a
> sighting a little belatedly and got called out for it unfairly...
> Jim Green
> Gaithersburg MD
> work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!
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