Report of the Alabama Bird Records Committee

 

2001

 

The Alabama Bird Records Committee (ABRC) was created to validate documentation of unusual birds in Alabama using a method that allows the records to be more universally accepted and scientifically valuable.  A committee of seven experienced Alabama Ornithological Society (AOS) members reviews reports of species that generally have fewer than 20 accepted records for the state.  Records for species on the ABRC review list, which currently includes approximately 90 species, are voted on by all committee members.  If the first vote is indecisive, the committee members vote a second time.  Vote totals with no more than one “not accepted” vote result in the record being accepted.  Totals with four or more “not accepted” votes result in the record not being accepted.  Records without decisions following two votes are reviewed and voted upon a final time at the annual meeting of the ABRC.

 

Fifty records from 25 observers were evaluated between 2001 and 2004 (Table 1).  During this evaluation period, three species were added to the Alabama state list:  Limpkin, Crested Caracara, and Brown-crested Flycatcher.  An additional species, Great-tailed Grackle, was listed as hypothetical since the submitted photograph was not diagnostic.   As of this writing the AOS recognized state bird list stands at 422 species.  Of these, three are considered extinct (Passenger Pigeon, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and Carolina Parakeet) and two extirpated from Alabama (Common Raven and Bachman’s Warbler).  Fourteen additional species are included in the hypothetical category due to the absence of a conclusive photograph or specimen, or written documentation of visual observations by at least three experienced observers.

  

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Table 1.  Evaluations by the Alabama Bird Records Committee of 50 records from 25 observers.

 

Record No.	Species	Date	County	How Noted1	Decision2	AL Status3
01-1	Sooty Shearwater	3/29/00	Baldwin	V	A	11
01-2	Sooty Shearwater	4/24/00	Baldwin	V	A	12
01-3	Red Phalarope	11/21/91	Limestone	V	A	13
01-4	Red Phalarope	12/18/99	Lauderdale	P	A	18
01-5	Red Phalarope	3/17/00	Shelby	P	A	19
01-6	Vaux's Swift	4/22/00	Mobile	V	NI	---
01-7	Willow Flycatcher	5/9/98	St. Clair	V	NI	---
01-8	Cave Swallow	4/4/00	Baldwin	V	A	6
01-9	Cave Swallow	4/4/00	Mobile	V	A	7
01-10	Cave Swallow	4/16/00	Mobile	V	A	8
01-11	Kirtland's Warbler	5/13/00	Montgomery	V	NI	---
01-12 01-13	Shiny Cowbird Ash-throated Flycatcher	4/21/00 10/20/00	Mobile Baldwin	P P	A A	19 24
01-14 01-15   01-16 01-17 01-18 01-19 01-20   01-21 01-22 01-23 01-24 01-25   01-26 01-27 01-28 01-29 01-30   01-31 01-32 01-33 01-34 01-35   01-36 01-37 01-38 01-39 01-40   01-41 01-42 01-43 01-44 01-45   01-46 01-47 01-48 01-49 01-50	Brown Booby Brown Booby   Great Cormorant Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Spoonbill Say's Phoebe Willow Flycatcher   Alder Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Burrowing Owl Black-legged Kittiwake Sabine's Gull   Red Phalarope Ruff Limpkin Prairie Falcon Crested Caracara   Short-tailed Hawk Great-tailed Grackle American Tree Sparrow Harris's Sparrow Audubon's Shearwater   Audubon's Shearwater Calliope Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird   Buff-bellied Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Allen's Hummingbird Cory's Shearwater Cory's Shearwater   Cory's Shearwater Cory's Shearwater Cory's Shearwater Brown-crested Flycatcher Shiny Cowbird	1/2/99 12/30/00   4/22/00 10/26/00 8/9/00 10/15/00 9/12/00   9/24/00 8/24/00 8/5/00 2/17/01 10/28/00   10/29/00 8/6/00 9/30/00 1/6/01 2/19/01   2/4/01 9/24/00 12/25/00 11/26/00 9/14/00   10/16/00 11/21/00 12/27/00 1/12/01 11/19/00   12/27/00 11/29/00 11/16/00 9/13/00 10/14/00   10/16/00 10/20/00 10/24/00 10/13/00 6/15/01	Baldwin Baldwin   Mobile Mobile Montgomery Baldwin Montgomery   Mobile Shelby Baldwin Baldwin Mobile   Marshall Lowndes Cullman Marshall Baldwin   Elmore Pelagic Lauderdale Lauderdale Pelagic   Pelagic Montgomery Mobile Baldwin Jefferson   Mobile Mobile Dale Pelagic Pelagic   Pelagic Pelagic Pelagic Mobile Mobile	V V   V V P V V   V V V V V   V V P V VT   V P P P V   V B/P B/P B/P B/P   B/P B/P B/P V V   V P V P V	NI NI   NI A A A A   A A Pending A NI   A A A A A   NI A A A A   A A A A A   A A A A A   A A A A A	--- ---   --- 18 17 3 13   10 9 --- 15 ---   20 4 1 3 1   --- 1-H 16 12 8   9 10 11 12 9   11 5 15 11 12   13 14 15 1 21

 

¹V = visual,  P = photograph, B = banded,  VT = videotape

²A = accepted; NI = not accepted due to identification questions; NO = not accepted due to origin questions;  Pending = under review by committee

³Number of accepted Alabama records (H = hypothetical)

Pelagic = Gulf of Mexico waters out to 200 nautical miles from Mobile and/or Baldwin Counties

 

Larry Gardella, 3549 Audubon Road, Montgomery, AL  36111.