In my previous post pointing  to the Checklist with Difficulty Codes, I asked
for comments, and a number of you have responded. All of us involved in
creating the codes appreciate the kind words and helpful criticisms. The latter
will be particularly useful as we revise the list in the future.

So far, most of the comments fall into a few broad categories, and I offer a
few clarifications below. I don't expect these will convince everyone that the
codes are correct, but they should help you understand how we came to the
conclusions -- or compromises -- that we did.

Geocentricism: The difficulty of finding a species is always dependent on where
the birder is located. This can't be helped, and it will always make some codes
look odd to some people. When devising our codes, we imagined a birder in the
central part of the state who was willing to put himself within the range and
proper habitat of the bird. Needless to say, there are other ways to create
Ohio difficulty codes. Difficulty codes generated for particular regions within
the state would certainly ascribe different numbers to some birds. Creation of
such localized lists is also a worthwhile project that we heartily encourage,
particularly if combined with information about birding those locales. These
would be great resources.

Seeing vs. Finding: We tried to create codes that reflect the relative
difficulties that a competent, but non-expert, birder would face in getting a
look sufficient to ID the species. As a result, our codes inflate the
difficulty of birds that are easily heard but hard to see (e.g. Chuck-Will's
Widow), that pose particular ID challenges (e.g. Laughing and Franklin's
Gulls), or that are skulkers that often deny good looks (e.g. Mourning
Warbler).

Confusing Pairs: When dealing with a species that has a confusingly similar
species (e.g. Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, Eastern Wood-Pewee and
Eastern Phoebe), we tweaked the codes to reflect this challenge.

Fine-tuning the Warblers: The definitions for Codes 1 to 3 make distinctions
based on seasonality and extent of range within the state. We attempted to use
these objective criteria to differentiate among the migrant passerines. For
many warblers, this led us to try, as Bill Heck pointed out, to discriminate
between the "easily seen" and the "really easily seen". For the typical birder,
the distinction between code 1 and code 2 for this group may not be conveying a
lot of practical information.

The Empids: This is perhaps the most troublesome group. If one is an
experienced birder familiar with their habitat preferences and vocalizations,
then they all approach being "slam dunks". If one lacks those skills, then they
seem nigh on impossible. The difficulty of identifying the species perhaps has
more to do with where the birder falls along that spectrum of skill than it
does on the differences among the birds themselves. We tried to imagine a
"middle of the road" birder, and used the definitions of codes 1 to 3 to guide
us in assigning numbers.

The Review List: We recognize that some species currently on the review list
(e.g. Rufous Hummingbird, Ross's Goose) are typically much easier to find than
some nonreview birds (e.g. Sabine's Gull, White-winged Crossbill).  However,
the division of Ohio's avifauna into "review-list" and "nonreview-list" species
is a long-established practice, and we felt it was useful to maintain it here.
We've envisioned our checklist mostly as a fun tool to help Ohio birders
organize their lists and to perhaps set new challenges for themselves. An
obvious challenge -- and a surprisingly difficult one -- is seeing all the
nonreview species. For this reason alone, it was convenient to maintain the
division.

The Future: It is our intent to review and revise the checklist and the codes
periodically, and we confess that some codes are already looking a bit dubious.
We would encourage you to continue to share your comments about them. The codes
will never be perfect, but we hope you find them fun.

Happy Birding and Listing,




Paul Gardner
Columbus, OH

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