A birders responsibility to report birds
As chairman of Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC) I have found this
subject to be particularly interesting. My personal opinion is that
birders should be encouraged to submit records of importance but certainly
not pressured into it. There are many who simply spend all their time
birding, indeed some are brilliant birders but when it comes to
documentation they do not have the necessary skills and or the time to
submit records. This means that the only avenue (except perhaps
birding-aus) for putting their reports into print is via the news sections
within some of our birding journals. However, one should always remember
that such reports are just that merely 'reports'. They remain unverified
and often quite incorrect, but they do provide a great way to communicate
what may be happening locally and to loose this information would be a
significant loss. Take for example the recent rush on rare seabirds along
the NSW coast. Having said that I have on several occasions seen my name
in print against species I did not even see or even worse in print next to
an incorrect identification, but am fairly unconcerned as again these are
only unverified reports.
I could rave on for pages about the difficulties faced by committees such
as BARC and the differences between a report and a record. However rather
than do that may I point you to the BARC web page. It contains a lot of
information on this subject and more is to follow. If you get the time
have a look and tell me what you think. You will even find some photos of a
few well known rarities.
http://www.zip.com.au/~palliser/barc/barc-home.html
Regards
Tony Palliser
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