Greetings All
Kudos to Ted for taking this topic into a broader realm. Our guess on any single bird's origin, no matter how well-educated, is not nearly as important as documenting the bird's occurrence. It is my strong belief that BRCs should review these birds, and judge the ID (in this case obvious). Then, the sighting can be relegated to the "origin unknown" category if so be it. Why? Because every now and again, a bird like this RC Sparrow is the beginning of a trend. But you don't know if its the first.... or if the other sightings were automatically thrown into the "escapee" bin, not published, and nearly impossible to find by those wishing to review it in the future. I think every Barnacle Goose should be published for instance, even if known to be an escapee. Why? Because such establishes a background noise level for which to compare sightings in the East. Additionally, the PF Geese (two birds together), were not accepted based on origin by the Washington BRC. However, they were put in NAB and reviewed by the BRC. This species is quite rare in captivity, but there are also no valid (correctly ID'd) records (that we were able to find) w. of eastern PA. If one takes the migration route of PF Goose, reverses it 180 degrees, go the same distance... and you find the birds in central Alberta. Now, if all habitat freezes and is snow-covered, then the birds will be forced to push on... and if they did in the same direction.. they would have arrived at the central WA coast, just where they were found. Do I think these birds were "more likely than not" of wild origins (or provenance, if you wish)... no. But I feel the possibility of natural occurrence is significant. The fact that many/most serious status-and-distribution type birders know of it means that further records will be viewed in the context of the WA record. Additionally, even birds like Red Bishops deserve to be noted. You never know when they will form the next introduced population. Best Wishes Steven Mlodinow Longmont CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
