On dead birds,
I am willing to accept that line that if finding a dead bird enables
it to get on a national list, then it should be able to go on yours.
Anyone who beach patrols for seabirds is likely to take this view
also, as for many of us it's the only way we will end up seeing many
of them (brilliant pelagics notwithstanding). The ethical problems
then become: do you have to be the one to actually find the bird on a
beach patrol?; is being there when the corpses are identified enough?
As ever, it comes down to personal satisfaction. I would willing tick
a bird that I found dead, and fairly willingly tick one found by
someone in the team I was patrolling with. I would tick (in brackets)
one that someone else found that I only saw later, and to take things
to the extreme, would not tick museum specimens!
By the same token, I only provisionally tick birds that have been
identified by call in my presence, unless they are so distinctive that
even I, with my great inability to remember calls, have a chance of
making the ID independently another time.
There are those who would never tick a corpse, and I guess they are
more often than not from places where you seldom need to.
Phil Battley,
Australian School of Environmental Studies,
Griffith University,
Nathan,
Queensland 4111,
Australia.
Ph: 0061-7-3875-7474
Fax:0061-7-3875-7459
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