Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 04:31:34 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Phil Davis Subject: Re: Western Grebe questions In-Reply-To: <70E1C0DB4F9B5E4F9CEDB8433F4A68B94850E0@PSBMAIL2> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed All - I think Mark mistook Norm's reference to "a new state bird" (meaning for Norm and Fran's life lists) to mean a new bird on the Official List of the Birds of Maryland. Norm cleared that up confusion in his reply. I'd like to remind everyone that we have posted some valuable information resources on the MD/DC Records Committee (MD/DCRC) pages located on the MOS web site ... http://www.mdbirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html First, the "Official List of the Birds of Maryland" is posted there ... http://www.mdbirds.org/mddcrc/pdf/mdlist.pdf This list shows that Western Grebe is already on the MD official list. It was first accepted with MD record 1983-002. The official list also shows that the species is in MD/DCRC Review Category 3. The legend at the end of the list indicates that Category 3 sightings are reviewable any place in the MD (or in DC). Second, an abridged copy of the MD/DC Records Committee database is also posted ... http://www.mdbirds.org/mddcrc/pdf/rcdata.pdf Data records are list in taxonomic order and then by "start" date for each sighting. If you skip down to the Western Grebe entries, you will see that there are seven reports in the database. The first two, from 11/1959 (Triadelphia Reservoir) and 11/1961 (Calvert County) are "unreviewable", which generally means that they are old published sight reports that can not now be verified or reviewed by the committee. The next four reports were accepted by the MD/DCRC. Finally, the seventh report is shown as "ready", meaning that it ready for review by the committee, and is just waiting to be put into circulation. The recent Queen Anne's County sighting will be added to the database after any written reports are submitted. I don't believe that anyone photographed/videographed these two birds ... if anyone did, please let me know. I just wanted to remind everyone that these resources are on the web for access, anytime. To answer the question of the latest Western Grebe sightings, the database shows that the latest report was from Assateague Island on 11/06/1999. This is the report that is awaiting review. As for the latest additions of any species to the MD list, they are (in reverse order) ... Pacific Loon (11/1999; Susquehanna River; Cecil/Harford Counties) -- added to the MD list in 2001 White-faced Ibis (05/1999; Truitts Landing Road, Worcester County) -- added to the MD list in 2000 For DC, the latest additions are ... American White Pelican (08/1999, Potomac River @ the Wilson Bridge) -- added to the DC list in 2001 Pacific Loon (05/1998; Washington Channel) -- added to the DC list in 2000. Hope this helps ... Phil At 02:38 PM 01/15/2002 -0500, Norm Saunders wrote: >Mark James asks: > > > A small question(s). Is the Western Grebe > > officially a new state bird for Maryland? > > I guess that would be the first one of 2002? > > How long ago was the last 'new bird'? > >No, it would not be a new state bird. Sightings have been reported from >Garrett, Montgomery, Howard, Baltimore, Kent, and Worcester Counties. If >these newest sightings are accepted they would be a new county record for >Queen Annes, apparently, unless there are prior sightings that aren't in the >latest Yellow Book. > >Dates of occurence are late November through early January, late April >through early May, and one sighting in mid-June. > >These are clearly the first sighting for 2002 in Maryland but I have no idea >when they were last seen in the state. Marshall? Mark? Bob? Any >responses on the dates? > >Regarding new species in general, I refer you to Marshall Iliff's wonderful >article on "The Next Ten Birds" which appeared in the latest issue of MD >Yellowthroat, the newsletter of the Maryland Ornithological Society. If >you're not a member look for the article on the MOS website at >www.mdbirds.org. Then become a member! > >Sightings of new state species do not become 'official' additions to the >list until they have been considered and accepted by the MD/DC Records >Committee, one of the more active committees of the MOS. There are likely 4 >or five species new to Maryland seen over the past few years that are still >being considered by the MDDCRC--Phil Davis, Secretary of the MDDCRC, can >give you a staggering amount of detail in response to that question. =================================================== Phil Davis, Secretary MD/DC Records Committee 2549 Vale Court Davidsonville, Maryland 21035 USA 301-261-0184 mailto:PDavis@ix.netcom.com MD/DCRC Web site: http://www.MDBirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html =================================================== ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================