I guess I'm flabbergasted where this response comes from. Laura sent a very detailed response that should have answered your question, and was in no way critical of you nor did it in any way yell at you, and to be honest, looking at the reported maps this season at moumn.org means very little. Anyone can post anything on moumn.org and the sightings are not vetted to my knowledge. There hasn't been a proven Gray Jay sighting in the twin cities for as long as I can remember. You need to chill out Richard, as your constant tirades against people on this list server who politely answer your questions is uncalled for and ridiculous. I don't believe Laura ever said anything about a DNA sample. Cripes. Even in invasion years, such as last year, for Gray Jays, they are pretty much never seen anywhere near as far south as the Twin Cities area.
I await getting ripped by you for defending someone this list server. Maybe you'd be better off not posting on the MOU/MnBird list servers, since you obviously can't handle anyone answering your questions without going on a tirade because of your hypersensitive overly thin skin who can't handle it. If you don't want to learn, don't ask the question. Cheers, Chris Fagyal Senior Software Engineer BAE Systems - Armament Systems Fridley, MN (763)572-5320 ________________________________ From: mou-net-bounces at moumn.org [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Wood Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:13 AM To: mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Subject: Re: [mou] which is more likely... Is there ANYTHING that one can do when they report something that will guarantee that they won't get yelled at or criticized? I know about Solitaires, I saw many of them in Utah. I also know that a few Gray Jays have been seen in the Twin Cities. If one looks on the reported maps of this season on moumn.org, Gray Jays have been reported further south than have Solitaires. Also, when one gets not much more than a glancing look, it's not possible to ask a bird for a DNA sample. Thus, a report that would be acceptable to the local BRC is not possible (not that I would EVER submit a report to ANY BRC ever again, it's a waste of time). Now, if I had totally disregarded ranges, like years ago, when I tried to turn a life House Sparrow into a Harris's Sparrow, I would have gotten ripped apart. Good grief. Richard Richard L. Wood, Ph. D. Hastings, MN rwoodphd at yahoo.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Laura Erickson <[email protected]> To: mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:54:36 AM Subject: Re: [mou] which is more likely... Townsend's Solitaires often eat fruit in winter, so if the tree was a mountain ash or crab apple tree, the solitaire would be the more likely. Solitaires are thrushes, shaped like robins though they often sit more vertically than robins usually do. As far as I know, this is not an invasion year for Gray Jays, making it highly unlikely that one would appear as far south as Hastings. Gray Jays are plump, their fluffiness and proportions giving the sense of a chickadee on steroids. I'm not on the MOU Records Committee, but if I were, I would NEVER accept a report of any rarity based on one species being "more likely" than another based on expected range. An acceptable documentation of a rare bird requires noticing head and wing markings, overall shape, posture, behavior, and what kind of habitat it's in. Even for my personal list, I've never felt comfortable counting anything based on probabilities rather than carefully seeing the important field marks. I'd want to actually see those cool wing markings on a solitaire before counting it--otherwise it's just a name and number rather than a lovely and memorable close encounter. Of course, that may be part of why my personal list isn't nearly as long as experts who take in field marks much more quickly than I do. ;-) Laura Erickson Duluth On Dec 19, 2007 8:15 AM, Richard Wood <rwoodphd at yahoo.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > On Sunday, December 9th, I saw a grayish bird with a short black bill in a > tree in our back yard. This bird was robin sized, and when I went to get my > binocs on him, he flew. > > I have been leaning toward calling it either a Gray Jay or a Townsend's > Solitaire, though I'm not sure which would be more likely to be seen here in > Hastings. I see from this year's sightings maps, that Townsend's Solitaire > has been seen farther north, so I am leaning town the Jay. I know it wasn't > the Shrike I saw yesterday, as it lacked a mask (unless it was the Lone > Ranger off duty...). > > I'd like to know what everyone thinks. > > Good birding, > Richard > Richard L. Wood, Ph. D. > Hastings, MN > rwoodphd at yahoo.com > > > ________________________________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. -- Laura Erickson For the love, understanding, and protection of birds www.lauraerickson.com There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson ________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http:/tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearc h/category.php?category=shopping> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071219/b417dd96/attachment-0001.html
