Report of the
Alabama
Bird Records Committee
2006 - 2007
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 ten accepted records or fewer than two
accepted records during the previous ten years.
Records for species on the ABRC review list, which currently includes
approximately 80 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 after two votes are reviewed and voted upon a final time at the annual
ABRC meeting.
During this period, forty-four records from 33 observers
were evaluated (Table 1) with three species being added to the
Alabama
state list: Cackling Goose, Costa’s
Hummingbird, and Trumpeter Swan. In
addition, Arctic Tern and Townsend’s Warbler were added to the hypothetical list
based on compelling visual reports where no photos or other objective evidence
was available.
In addition, White-tailed Tropicbird was removed from the
state list following committee review of the two historical reports previously
used to establish its occurrence.
The unanimous committee opinion was that neither report established the
species-level identity of the “tropicbird” observed.
As of this writing the AOS recognized state bird list
stands at 437 species. Of these,
three are considered extinct (Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, and Bachman’s
Warbler) and one extirpated from Alabama (Ivory-billed
Woodpecker). Eighteen species are
included in the hypothetical category.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Table 1.
Evaluations by the Alabama Bird Records Committee of 44 records from 33
observers.
|
Record No.
|
Species
|
Date
|
County
|
How Noted1
|
Decision2
|
AL Status3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
05-17
05-18
05-19
05-20
05-22
05-25
05-26
05-38
06-01
06-02
06-03
06-04
06-05
06-06
06-07
06-08
06-09
06-10
06-11
06-12
06-13
06-14
06-15
06-16
06-17
06-18
06-19
06-20
06-21
07-1H
07-01
07-02
07-03
07-04
07-05
07-06
07-07
07-08
07-09
07-10
07-11
07-12
07-13
07-14
|
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Red-necked Grebe
Band-rumped
Storm-Petrel
Bullock’s Oriole
Cackling Goose
Ferruginous Hawk
Long-tailed
Jaeger
Northern Goshawk
Prairie Falcon
Sabine’s Gull
Sooty Shearwater
White-winged
Crossbill
Arctic Tern
Cinnamon Teal
Costa’s
Hummingbird
Harris’s Hawk
Little Gull
Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed Sp.
Thayer’s Gull
Trumpeter Swan
Wattled Jacana
Western
Meadowlark
Yellow-billed
Loon
White-tailed
Tropicbird
Black-bellied
Whist.-Duck
Black-bellied
Whist.-Duck
Brown-crested
Flycatcher
Black Swift
Brewer’s Sparrow
Cackling Goose
Cackling Goose
Iceland
Gull
Iceland
Gull
Magnfcnt.
Hummingbird
Northern
Wheatear
Ruff
Townsend’s
Warbler
Western Grebe
|
1/7/05
1/9/59
1/12/70
1/15/05
1/26/03
12/2/74
3/4/89
12/12/04
8/30/05
4/15/05
12/30/04
3/23/86
9/26/05
1/3/82
4/24/05
9/29/05
4/1/05
4/7/05
7/5/06
1/20/97
1/1/06
1/8/06
12/16/05
12/30/05
1/06
2/17/06
8/18/64
2/22/06
1/19/06
10/20/58 &
8/20/69
5/1/07
5/28/08
4/12/98
4/11/07
11/3/06
12/16/06
12/23/06
1/12/07
2/18/07
10/6/06
2/3/07
4/11/07
4/8/06
12/6/06
|
Limestone
Morgan
Jackson
Baldwin
Baldwin
Shelby
Perry
Marshall
Lauderdale
Jefferson
Baldwin
Perry
Lawrence
Baldwin
Baldwin
Morgan
Baldwin
Lauderdale
Baldwin
Baldwin
Montgomery
Mobile
Elmore
Baldwin
Colbert
Lee
Montgomery
Mobile
Marshall
Mobile
Mobile
Etowah
Baldwin
Baldwin
Mobile
Limestone
Jefferson
Baldwin
Morgan
St. Clair
Baldwin
Colbert
Mobile
Henry
|
P
S
B/S
V
V
V
V
V
V
P
P
V
V
V
V
S/P
V
P
V
S/P
B/P
P
V
P
P
P
S/P
P
V
V
P
P
B/P
V
V
V
V
P
P
V
P/VD
V
V
P
|
A
A
NI
NI
NI
A
A
A
A
A
NI
A
A
NI
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
NO
A
NI
NI
A
NO
A
NI
Note 1
A
A
A
Pending
NI
NI
NI
A
A
NI
A
A
A
A
|
1
2
---
---
---
3
4
>10
8
>10
---
3-H
4-H
---
5
5
>10
2
1-H
5
1
---
9
---
---
1
---
>10
---
---
4
5
2
---
---
---
---
6
7
---
4
7
1-H
5
|
1V = visual, P
= photograph, B = banded, VD = video, A =
audio recording, S = specimen, H = heard
2A = accepted; NI = not accepted due to
identification questions; NO – not accepted due to origin questions;
Pending = review incomplete
3Number of accepted Alabama records (H = hypothetical)
Pelagic = Gulf of Mexico waters out to 200 nautical miles
from Mobile or Baldwin County
Note 1:
Species removed from state list.
Steve W. McConnell,
29 Village Drive NE, Hartselle, AL
35640.
