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If I am not mistaken, according to the Saturday Keynote Speaker at the recent FOS Meeting in Marathon, Fl, two Bicknell's Thrushes were captured and banded by his group in the Keys either last Fall or this past Spring. This should be enough, with prior records, to have the species officially listed for Florida - don't you think? Doug Wassmer (& Lilian Saul) Tampa, FL [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Florida Birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Noel Wamer Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 1:03 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [FLBIRDS] The Thrush ID Dilemma In addition to jogging my memory about the existence of the call note audio file, the recent discussion of Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's thrushes has prompted me to consider whether we are too frequently and quickly assigning observed birds to Gray-cheeked as a default identification. I think we should consider this situation to be analogous to the Rufous/Allen's identification dilemma. It was only a few year's ago, before Allen's were confirmed to occur in the Southeast, the default identification of Rufous was widely assumed. Now, even though we understand that probably 90 percent or more of fall/winter Selasphorus are Rufous, we have wisely begun to refer to most non-adult males as Rufous/Allen's, unless they are clearly photographed or examined in the hand. Even though the FOS Records Committee has not accepted Bicknell's on the official state list, I think it can be assumed that the species probably occurs on an annual basis in the state, but probably mostly (exclusively?) on the Atlantic coast. This is based on the assumption of a mostly over-water flight from the Canadian Maritimes/New England to the Greater Antilles. Returning to the Rufous/Allen's analogy, it may even be reasonable to assume that more than 10 percent of the "Gray-cheeked" observed along the Atlantic coast are Bicknell's. So if we are satisfied with assigning ambiguous birds to the Rufous/Allen's slot, why are we not using the Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's slot for these thrushes if they are not positively identified? It is certainly no less a problematic identification issue. As always, comments are welcome and criticisms will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Later... Noel Wamer Jacksonville, FL, US Mosaics by Noel & Terry - http://home.attbi.com/~terrywest/ ______________________________________________________________________ FLORIDABIRDS-L Listserv mailing list information: Policy,sub.info: http://bkpass.tripod.com/FLORIDABIRDS-L.htm Member photos: http://bkpass.tripod.com/floridabirds.htm For archives: http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/floridabirds-l.html Set nomail: Click: [log in to unmask] Set floridabirds-l nomail Listowner: Click: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ FLORIDABIRDS-L Listserv mailing list information: Policy,sub.info: http://bkpass.tripod.com/FLORIDABIRDS-L.htm Member photos: http://bkpass.tripod.com/floridabirds.htm For archives: http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/floridabirds-l.html Set nomail: Click: [log in to unmask] Set floridabirds-l nomail Listowner: Click: [log in to unmask]