Re: Conowingo "Common" Gull

Rick Blom (rblom@blazie.com)
Wed, 11 Feb 1998 19:56:09 -0500 

        Okay, I am off the reservation on this one, but I do not see any
reason why birders in any venue should not discuss the identification of
any bird. As a practical matter, birders always will discuss tough ID
problems and specific birds. In the past they did it when they ran into
each other, or over the phone. Now they use the Internet. It's just another
way of talking to each other.
        None of the talk precludes or interferes with the records committee
deliberations, although in theory it might add to it by dredging up sources
or information that might otherwise have been missed. Even if all it does
is provide a spur for people to think and read about the problem, that is a
plus. All this talk is educational. As for the "magnitude" of the
identification, the tougher it is the more important it is that people talk
about it. Nothing that appears on the Internet or is part of discussions at
birder gatherings is a vote. It is opinion, some of it quite informed. I
have confidence that the subscribers to MDOsprey and the attendees of bird
club meetings are smart enough to sort out opinion and to put what they
hear into context.
        In a year or two, when the committee has voted on this record, and
published the results, there will be another opinion to add to the debate.
It may even be a better opinion, although that it not always the case.

Rick


>While I appreciate the fact that others have different opinions, this
>record will be reviewed in the appropriate venue, which is the
>Maryland DC Records Committee.  Identifications of this magnitude
>should not be decided on the internet or at a bird club meeting.
>
>There are several characters on this gull that do not fit Ring-billed
>Gull.  A perusal of the identification literature, including Grant's
>Gulls and the Lauro and Spencer, American Birds 34:111-117, should be
>made by interested readers of Maryland Osprey.  I would encourage all
>of Maryland's birders to closely read these references and form their
>own opinion.  As a committee member I cannot offer my opinion.
>
>Mary Gustafson

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if the university stifles writers. My opinion is
that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could
have been prevented by a good teacher."  Flannery O'Connor

Rick Blom
rblom@blazie.com
Bel Air, Maryland