on 2/16/06 7:00 PM, Richard Wood at  wrote:

> I seem to recall being told that one cannot count a bird until it has been
> split.  One cannot then go back and add it once it HAS been split, you have to
> see it again after the split.  Thus, all the non-Dark-eyed-Juncos that I have
> seen can't be counted if and when they are split until I observe them AFTER
> they have been split.  Same for a Western Palm Warbler, it's still a Palm
> Warbler until one sees it the next day after it is split.

So when Northern Oriole was split, you removed it from your list and went
looking for Baltimore Oriole and Bullock's Oriole so you could add them to
your diminished list? Likewise with the split of Rufous-sided Towhee?

If I followed your rule, as I understand it, would I have to remove from my
list, a bird that I saw in Africa before it was split, until I could once
again afford an African birding trip.

It is your list and you can follow any rules you wish, but aren't the
implications somewhat awkward.

Also, in your Western Palm Warbler example, are you saying that if you do
not see another Western Palm Warbler after a split into Palm Warbler and
Western Palm Warbler, you would continue to lump all the Western Palm
Warblers that you did see in the past with Palm Warbler, just because the
powers that be did not realize that they were separate species at the time
you saw them.

-- 
Elliot Kirschbaum
Shepherdstown, WV
kingfisher500 at adelphia dot net