[cobirds] Speaking of lists....rules for yardbirds?

The discussion regarding listing rules got me wondering about which rules we choose to follow for yardbirds. How many of us use the ABA model as opposed to the Big Sit model, or some other perhaps?

What do you count? If you happen to be returning from a walk around the neighborhood, see a Northern Goshawk fly directly over your house, but you're not actually standing in your yard, does it count? What do you do when you hear a flock of 150 migrating Sandhill Cranes off in the distance, or maybe see the 23 Am White Pelicans through your scope five miles distant over the Valmont complex, or find the motion triggered night vision camera in your backyard captured an image of a Boreal Owl? Not that all of these have happened to me...yet. But one can still hope. I actually had two new yardbird owl species (N Pygmy Owl and E Screech Owl) in one day back in August, one at dawn, the other at dusk.

I tend to like and use something similar to the Big Sit model (whatever you can see and accurately identify from within a boundary) mainly because it greatly expands the potential list (e.g. Lewis's Woodpecker, Clark's Nutcracker, Pinyon Jay up along the Dakota Ridge behind my house), which I guess is a bit greedy, but also more fun. I do also try to get photo records for all yardbirds, and have been successful in all but 5 species out of about 120. After IDing the bird from the yard sometimes I will hike beyond the property to get better shots.

Anyway, I'm curious to hear other approaches, thoughts, etc.

—Thomas



Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO
Nyctea@aol.com

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