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Posted by Bill Pranty on 20:12:17 03/08/07
In Reply to: Re: Thoughts on "Apparent " posted by Brian Rapoza
I'm not going to enter another pointless fray about what people count on their personal lists.
Especially since the attitude of these individuals is always "I'm (or we're) right and the records committee members are wrong. What losers they are."
(And admittedly, people like Mark Berney, Mickey Wheeler, Glen Woolfenden, and Andy Kratter get elected to records committees when they find the magic gold ticket in a box of Cracker Jacks; experience, competence, and having an open mind are never factors).
RC 06-608 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD, Phaethon aethereus, a subadult individual of unknown sex, observed and photographed 3 July 2006 about 8 mi southeast of Key Biscayne, and about 2 mi southeast of Fowey Rocks Light, Miami-Dade County. The documentation record contained four photographs, a written description and analysis, a provocative evaluation of discriminating field-marks that separate young Red-billed and White-tailed (P. lepturus) tropicbirds, and remarks from online commentators. As the Committee felt it needed to examine specimens to better understand the field characters that may be used to discriminate the two tropicbirds in question, we tabled the vote in August. At the January meeting, we used the reference collection at the FLMNH to examine the characters purported to diagnose this individual as a Red-billed Tropicbird from the photographs provided, particularly the degree to which the black primary upperwing coverts can be seen from ventral views, the size of the bill, and the pattern of black and white on the outer primaries. We felt that the overcast skies when the photographs were taken did not provide ample back-lighting to distinguish whether the primary coverts were dark or white. With the ventral angle of the photographs, we could not adequately gauge the depth of the bill. With a series of Red-billed (n=4) and White-tailed (n=15), including spread wings from each, we found that that both species have white tips to pp 8-9 when fresh (juvenile White-tailed more), but that on many individuals of both species, the white tends to wear off, leaving black tips to pp 8-9. Therefore, none of these characters unambiguously identifies this individual as Red-billed Tropicbird. There were seven previously accepted records (three specimens, three photos, one sight report) for this species in Florida
VOTE: NOT ACCEPT (0-7)
By the way, is anybody going up to Largo this weekend to chase the two (shameful of me to say "apparent") Ivory-billed Woodpeckers? I need that bird for my Pinellas County list, and would like to tag along.
Best regards,
Bill Pranty
Bayonet Point, Florida
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