I Love the Maryland Biodiversity Project

It's a common sentiment among birders that this hobby isn't really about the birds.  We want to connect with nature, and birds provide the best experience.  Unlike mammals, there are a lot of birds and they're relatively easy to see - and less dangerous.  Unlike insects, bird species can be readily distinguished in the field.  Unlike fungi and slimes, birds aren't disgusting. 

But while birds are Goldilocks' "Just Right" porridge of the animal world, it doesn't mean birders aren't interested in everything else out there.  That's why I think the Maryland Biodiversity Project is such a cool idea.  The idea is simply to catalog all the living things in Maryland.  So far they've got more than 10,000 species in their checklists - more than 3,300 with photographs.  The volume of life is incredible - from fish to ferns to fleas and fungus.

A real sense of wonder and excitement pervades the site - headlines in the news section breathlessly report a new bee record or that 217 species of scarab beetle have been added.  It's a lot of fun, and enough to make a jaded mid-summer birder want to get back out there and turn over logs.  If you've got a bunch of hours to kill, lose yourself in the species photos of some random classification, and remember what it feels like to have your eyes opened to a world of creatures you didn't even know existed.

Records Committees and Exotic Birds: Interview with Phil Davis

I've been interested recently in the subject of "exotic" birds and the difficulty birders have in determining their status as wild or escapees.  I've spoken to several breeders of exotic birds about their practices and how frequently birds escape, but now I wanted to talk to someone on a records committee.

Records committees are the ones who have to make the "official" decision on whether or not an exotic bird seen in the field got there on its own or with some kind of human assistance.  I have never sat on a records committee, and I wanted to know how such a body reviews birds like Smew or Greenfinches or Bar-headed Geese - birds that could theoretically be migrants. 

It interests me because all it takes it one.  Nine hundred and ninety-nine Bar-headed Geese seen in North America could be escapees, but that last one just could have been blown astray during a high-altitude migration over Asia.  Would we know?  Does anyone care to check?

After this brief chat with Phil Davis, a long-time members of the Maryland/DC Birds Records Committee, I feel confident that the answer is Yes.  I have known a few members of records committees over the years, and I haven't met a single one who doesn't take their job very seriously.  Phil continues that tradition, and his answers reveal the inherent difficulties in dealing with these types of records, as well as the common-sense approaches the MD/DCRC uses in an attempt to find an answer.  Although it still may be impossible to completely determine the origin on a bird seen in the field, there are birders out there doing their best to figure it out.

Birdist: What is your position on the MD/DC Records Committee?  How long have you been a part of that group? 

Phil Davis: I am the Secretary of the committee. I took over this position in Sept. 1993.

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How To Find A New State Record

Step 1: Drive to a birding spot you haven't been before.

Step 2: Miss the turn for the parking lot you were supposed to get to.

Step 3: Turn down some random road to make a U-turn.

Step 4: Pause on the random road to scan a flock of geese.

Step 5: Make sure a pink-footed goose is the first bird you look at. 

VOILA!

There will be some more posts about this bird later, including one on whether or not I screwed it up!  I'm so glad it decided to stick around so others in MD could find it.