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December 2013

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From:
Andrew Sewell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Andrew Sewell <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 09:48:31 -0500
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Hi all:

It's been an interesting conversation about Trumpeter Swans in Ohio and the
practice of keeping lists. A couple of my thoughts on the issue as it seems
to wind down:

First, birding is primarily a hobby for the majority of us. Part of the fun
is keeping track of what you see. For some folks with a competitive bent,
the issue of "countability" is paramount, whereas for others, it's simply
fun to check off a mark on a bird list. Both are equally valid ways to keep
track of what birds you see. I would hate to think that anyone is feeling
bad about counting an Ohio Trumpeter Swan on their personal list because of
the modern population's introduced status and that there are people who
don't count it because of that. The folks who aren't counting the bird are
likely  members of the American Birding Association (ABA), and submit their
yearly and life lists for publication or at the Listing Central website the
ABA maintains. To make it fair, it is expected that all ABA members
participating in list submitting will adhere to the guidelines of what's
countable -thus, the reason we don't include Trumpeter Swans on our Ohio
life lists. If you don't participate in such things, then I would expect
that you can (and should!) count birds anyway that brings you joy.

(On a related note, there was a nice article last year in Birding, I think,
that addressed the whole counting issue in a similar vein (The example bird
was California Condor). The author made the point that seeing the released
condors in the wild, even though not technically countable for an ABA
list,was one of the best birds he's seen in his life. I expect I would have
the same experience upon seeing a condor! )

As for Trumpeter Swans: Kimba brought up how one distinguishes between a
wild migrant and a bird from the introduced population. Part of the problem
is that the chances of a truly wild Trumpeter Swan occurring in Ohio these
days is pretty low; and of course the other part is that it would be
nigh-impossible to determine its origin (unless the bird was banded and you
were able to record the band number, and track the bird back to a wild
population. Then you could say you have Trumpeter Swan on your list and all
the listers will be green  with envy).  However, I would encourage people
who use eBird and report birds to listserves and other places of record to
keep track of the trumpeters you see, since part of determining whether or
not the population is expanding is recording where the species is seen and
in what numbers. As I told another person, for me, I just have to subtract
"1" from my eBird totals for the state and certain counties before
submitting any lists to the ABA!

Good birding, and keep scrutinizing swans!

Andy Sewell
Columbus, Ohio

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