> Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 11:52:36 -0500 > From: Jed Kusterer > Subject: Re: Greater White-fronted Goose > > Bob, > Thanks for your comments. > It is true, as you said, that a field guide is only a guide and can't > cover all plumages and variations. Observers need to accumulate field > experience and be willing to seek the help of more experienced observers > without feeling intimidated or afraid of being found in error. > Ultimately responsibility for sightings is with the birder and not the > book. > However, it is also true that tremendous improvements in field guides > (and optics) over the last decades, have led to more and more accurate > amateur IDs. Also, studies have suggested that the addition or removal > of rare species or unusual plumage illustrations from the most widely > used field guides result in more or fewer "sightings" of those species. > Most people in the field on any given day making sightings are not total > experts. So, for better or worse, the quality of field guides used > plays a very important role in the accuracy of overall reportings for > the state of Maryland. The better they communicate likely pitfalls in > IDing at the intermediate level, the more accurate our state reportings > will be. > > Especially vulnerable to mistaken sightings are those species that are > rare enough so they are not very familiar to most observers in a state, > but common enough that they are not reviewed by the state records > committee. I am guessing that Sibley's choice to illustrate the > variable domestic goose in a plumage similair to the GWFG was > deliberate. To the extent that his guide becomes widely used, it is > likely that observers seeing their 1st or 2nd GWFG (probably a large > number in the East) will be less likely to mistake it or to rely on the > insufficient field marks such as: orange legs and bill, white face, etc. > implied by superficial perusals of other field guides. Before Sibley, > there was only a small textual note in Nat. Geo. about variability and > an illustration of the domestic goose in the more common, but > unmistakable white plumage. Sibley's raising the "profile" of this less > common plumage in domestic geese may actually reduce the number of GWFG > reported in error in many eastern states, including MD. > That's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading. > Regards, > Jed Marc ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================