[SBB] SBB Annual Message

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Folks:

The following information describes the background and operation of the 
South-Bay-Birds Mailing List and is provided to users of the mailing list 
once a year.  This mailing list is supported by Chuq Von Rospach who runs 
mailing lists for a living at Apple Computer as well as his own 
business.  Chuq, a long-time member of SBB, supports our list gratis and 
his generosity is appreciated by all list members.

The purpose of the South-Bay-Birds Mailing List is to communicate 
information on bird observations in Santa Clara County and adjacent areas 
in the South San Francisco Bay.  Suitable communications include reports of 
recent discoveries, information on plumages for rare or 
difficult-to-identify birds, description of local birding spots that are 
not available in the local guides, and summary information on birds in the 
local area.  Most of us have other interests beyond just birding and these 
interests, sometimes passions, lead us to believe that we should share some 
of these other interests with the people on this mailing list.  Please 
don't.  Please restrict your input to this mailing list to South Bay birds.

Some background and information on how the data submitted to this mailing 
list are used and retained may be of interest.  Prior to the formation of 
the South-Bay-Birds Mailing List there was an informal network of birders 
who communicated bird observations in the local area via the Internet using 
individually-maintained address lists.  In late 1996, Jeff Finger at 
Stanford University transformed the informal network into a mail list based 
at Stanford.  Jeff's initial shepherding work saw the list grow rapidly and 
we are indebted to him for his initial service.  When Jeff left Stanford, 
Les Chibana took over the list maintenance and his years of service are 
greatly appreciated.  When he no longer could support the mailing list, 
Chuq agreed to take it over which brings us to the present day.

Although the list has evolved over the years, the original purpose has 
remained unchanged.  Besides providing us all with
rapid information on local birds, these records are also used as basis of 
the Santa Clara County notebooks that I maintain.  Information from these 
notebooks are the source material for the "Field Notes" column in _The 
Avocet_ that I write six times a year, and also as a basis for the 
quarterly submission of Santa Clara County records to the Regional Editors 
of _North American Birds_.

I will continue to use the records provided to this mailing list for the 
purposes mentioned above.  I offer the following comments to describe how 
this information is used and my own perceived needs as compiler of the 
Santa Clara County records.

1. A record is considered complete if it includes the bird(s) seen, the 
numbers observed, the location of the observation, the date, and the 
observer(s).  I will use records that are second hand if I am familiar with 
both the observer and the person passing on the record.  In this case I 
annotate the record with _fide_ which is the accepted way of noting that a 
record has not been directly obtained, but has been provided by the _fide_ 
source.  I rarely use third-hand records out of concern with the mischief 
that occurs during information transmittal as the number of pathways increase.

2. I am selective in which records I enter in the county notebooks.  For 
the more common birds I may record a report of a particularly large number 
of birds, an unusal behavior, or an unusual plumage.  For uncommon birds, 
or those that I feel are marginally rare, I may record all observations, 
although I rarely provide these in _The Avocet_.  These records are 
particularly useful for clarifying the temporal distribution of birds that 
are not permanently resident in the county.  I attempt to record all 
species that are listed as rare on the current Santa Clara County Checklist 
<http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=publications>.  For common 
wintering species or summer residents, I attempt to record the first 
arrival and last departure dates.

3. The "Field Notes" column that I write is nominally due on the first 
Friday in February, April, and subsequent alternate months.  I usually try 
to draft the column at the end of the month and then fit the last few 
records in before I transmit the column to the _The Avocet_ editor, 
currently Grant Hoyt.

4. Four times a year I provide a "quarterly" summary of records for _North 
American Birds_.  There are currently multiple Regional Editors and they 
each get a copy of my summary although they split the species up between them.

5. I entered county records in the notebooks by hand from when I started 
keeping the notebooks in late 1979, to the summer of 1993 when I started 
writing the records to Word files on a quarterly basis.  I intend, 
eventually, to create a data base based on literal string recognition and 
I've designed my data entry structure accordingly.  But at this time the 
computerized aspect is a simple computerized echo of hand-entry.

6. It is not always obvious to people providing records to this mailing 
list when they should provide additional details on a record or even if 
they should provide the record at all.  There is no simple answer to this 
other than experience.  A useful example to consider is stimulated by the 
detailed plumage description that Mike Rogers provided for a December 1996 
Ash-throated Flycatcher.  This species is a fairly common summer resident 
in the county, arriving in early April and leaving by the end of 
August.  First and last records within that range are of interest as are 
very early or late birds.
Wintering birds are so rare in the county that a detailed description is 
necessary.  In part this is not just because of the rarity, but also to 
exclude other _Myiarchus_ that may just as likely be here at that season.

7. When a rarity turns up and this information is passed on, many people 
obtain the opportunity to see the bird.  The very quantity of people seeing 
the rarity tends to encourage sloppiness in people's records after the 
initial observation.  If the bird is missed for a week and then found a 
mile away is it the same bird?  We may be able to answer these questions if 
people are careful to age and sex each rarity they see (if possible) and 
note any unusual characteristics.  Rarities frequently come in clumps and 
these descriptions are useful.  Please include these in your posts for the 
real rarities--it will help all of us.

8. In the past few years it seems to me that there has been an increase in 
vague reports that do not contribute to the keeping of local bird 
records.  These reports may be useful to others, so please accept my 
criticism as applying strictly to the keeping of the Santa Clara County 
records and nothing more.  First, I see no utility in simple lists of 
birds.  Second, when people say they saw a "few birds" or "many birds" this 
has little value.  If you are going to take the time to report birds that 
you have seen, please provide an estimate of their numbers.  An estimate 
can be of the form of "at least 20 birds" or "about "three dozen birds" or 
"100-150 birds," but please do not include such vague descriptors as "a 
few" or "many."

       The South-Bay-Birds Mailing List provides many of us immediate 
information on the occurrence of rare birds as well as the vicarious 
pleasure of birding and discovery.  That this mailing list has worked so 
well is a tribute to its many faithful contributors and, perhaps, to the 
mailing list rules that we've implemented.  There is some arbitrariness, 
however, in these rules and I invite anyone to communicate directly with 
me, at [[email protected]], if they would like to discuss any of these 
issues.

Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler 


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