Hello Everyone,

Paul Gardner wrote:

"I'd be very interested in a thread that discussed your opinions about the birds whose codes you thing are out of whack."

First of all, great job on putting this together.  It really is a neat checklist, in a pretty desirable format.  I just looked through it for the first time, and don't know if anything is completely "out of whack" - which is no surprise.  Considering the individuals involved, I would not have expected to find anything that was unreasonable.  So, let's split hairs.

Easier to See Birds:  The only bird I thought listed that maybe doesn't belong is Dickcissel.  Personally, I find the Dickcissel at least as difficult as some of those listed as Code 3.

Harder to See Birds:  There are several that I thought belonged more in the Easier to See category.  Those are:  American Bittern, Least Bittern, Cattle Egret, Black Tern, Black-billed Cuckoo, Whip-poor-will, Yellow-bellied flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Mourning Warbler and Blue Grosbeak.

Specifically, Code 4 for Cattle Egret, Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatcher, Mourning Warbler and Gray-cheeked Thrush don't fit the bill in my humble opinion.  I'm not sure how any of these 5 are "easily missed" even with special effort.  I can drive to Sandusky and find Cattle Egrets any time (in season) I want to.  In contrast, try finding a Little Blue Heron (also Code 4) any time you would like.  Mourning Warbler is a common migrant in late May, easily detected by song.  The two flycatchers are a bit tougher than Mourning Warbler, but certainly not easily missed in season.  Gray-cheeked Thrush is another common migrant.  In my opinion, these 5 species are more like Code 2.

I could also argue that the Code 3 species above would be more accurately labeled as Code 2, but they are more debatable for sure.

As to the Review Species, well, there's not much that could have been done on these - they are defined by the OBRC, so they are all pretty much labeled correctly.  I wonder why the Glossy Ibis, Ross's Goose and Cackling Goose for example, are on the review list still (and probably deserve Code 4 status instead of 5), but that is for the committee to figure out.

Overall, I'd say it is quite accurate and will be a welcome addition to my tool belt.  Thanks.

Greg Links
Somewhere near Toledo

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