...was to walk up to Phil Davis's door this morning and knock on it. Especially when I glimpsed Barbara standing just inside the door with her rolling pin and an evil gleem in her eyes! JUST KIDDING, Barbara! All teasing aside, I was privileged today to attend the annual meeting of the MD/DC Records Committee as an (almost) silent observer. I learned a lot about the structure of the RC, I learned about how much hard work is involved on the part of every member of the RC, and I learned that the RC members themselves are growing increasingly concerned about the disaffection between themselves and the birding community in Maryland. A lot of the time today was spent talking about reaching out and I certainly left the meeting excited about some of the things that had been discussed. Hopefully in the coming year, everyone will be finding out a lot more about how the RC operates. I truly hope this works out, because birders around the nation often judge the reliability, integrity, and quality of the birders in a given state by the most publically apparent evidence of that--the deliberations of the local Records Committee. Among RC's around the country, the MD/DC RC has a very high reputation. I've been as guilty as some and more than others of snapping at the RC when I should have directed a lot of my concern elsewhere. Now, perhaps, is the time for us to listen to what the RC has to tell us about themselves, and for us to lighten up a bit and let them do that telling. Now that we've got the kissy-face out of the way, I want to say that I invited Harvey Mudd To contribute a regular column to the Yellowthroat so that all of us birding here in Maryland will get a more regular look into the deliberations and into the intriguing findings of the RC as they follow up their research and evaluation work. I thought we might want to hold a little contest to help Harvey come up with a name for the column. My vote is for "The Bird Police".........wait, no, Barbara, put that rolling pin down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best, Norm P.S. Harvey, I'm kidding, honest, really, I am! But I still like my suggestion for a title..... grin. =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net