Prepared by Kimball Garrett and Dick Erickson
Members attending: Jon Dunn, Kimball Garrett, Robb Hamilton, Alvaro Jaramillo, Tristan McKee, Michael Patten, Peter Pyle, Mike Rogers, Scott Terrill
Members absent: Matt Heindel
Guests: Dick Erickson, Guy McCaskie, and briefly Paul Lehman, Peg Stevens
Call to order by Chairman Jon Dunn at 9:15 a.m.
Minutes of the 2000 meeting were approved as submitted (Garrett moved, Patten seconded).
Election of members. Potential future members were discussed; some names that surfaced (with a view toward geographical balance) were David Compton, David Fix, Karen Gilbert, Ed Harper, Gjon Hazard, Jo Heindel, Jon King, Jeri Langham, Ron LeValley, Michael J. San Miguel, John Sterling, and David Yee. The terms of Hamilton, Patten and Pyle will expire next year.
A manual to orient new committee members was also discussed; it would cover Committee procedures, voting philosophies, tips for easing the Secretary s job, etc. McKee will prepare a draft and submit to Erickson by 1 August 2001; a draft will circulate to CBRC members for approval. Rogers will provide instructions for making voting forms. To ease the transition into the Committee, new members should be sent 2nd or 3rd round records before they receive 1st round records.
Election: The terms of Heindel, Jaramillo, and Rogers expire. Nominations for the three openings were: Luke Cole (McKee); Richard A. Erickson (Dunn, Hamilton, Heindel); Joseph Morlan (Dunn, Rogers); Mike San Miguel (Dunn, Garrett);John C. Wilson (Heindel)
The nominees were discussed; newly elected members were:
Erickson
Morlan
Wilson
Election of Secretary: Dunn moved and Hamilton seconded the nomination of Guy McCaskie as CBRC Secretary; McCaskie was elected unanimously. McCaskie will secure a post office box in Imperial Beach for Committee business [P. O. Box 275, Imperial Beach, CA 91933-0275]. A discussion of help for the secretary in the area of the database, web site interactivity, and other computer functions followed. Suggestions for help included Adam Winer, David Blue, and Eng-Li Green. Jaramillo will report back to the Committee within three months.
Election of Chairman: Dunn moved and (somebody) seconded the nomination of Richard A. Erickson as CBRC Chairman; following a brief discussion of how duties ought to be divided between the Secretary and the Chair, Erickson was elected unanimously.
Election of Vice-Chairman: (somebody) moved and (somebody) seconded the nominations of Kimball Garrett; Garrett was elected unanimously.
State of the Committee.
Annual reports: 1998 records (in press); 1999 records (Jaramillo and Rogers working on draft); 2000 records (tentative agreement for McKee and Dunn to write)
Circulation: There have been problems with timely circulation of record batches in 2000. Ten batches are currently in circulation; members are expected to improve in this area. Note new mailing address for Michael Patten as of February 2001: Birds and Mammals, San Diego Natural History Museum, P. O. Box 121390, San Diego, CA 92112.
Problems with record submission: a discussion of problems getting Middle Pacific Coast region records from D. Roberson was held; the other Middle Pacific Coast Region editors will make certain that NAB submissions get to the CBRC. Problem observers were also discussed.
Budget: Allotment has been sufficient. Rogers will extend P O Box another six months.
Assignments/volunteers:
1. Technical Support Specialist: Rogers and McCaskie will discuss who can provide appropriate support.
2. Public relations on the Internet: Vice-Chairman Garrett will continue in this capacity
3. Presentation at the WFO Annual Meeting: Garrett, San Miguel, and Ted Floyd will discuss development of joint (California/Nevada) records committee discussion for the September 2001 WFO meeting in Reno.
4. Effort to track down undocumented records; no volunteer.
5. Record files: Peg Stevens, the WFVZ volunteer who has curated the CBRC files, was introduced to the Committee; she handed out a draft of a loan policy for CBRC files.
Change by-laws to allow members to serve two consecutive 3-yr terms others; suggested for agenda by Garrett; Dunn expressed support, but no action was taken.
Introduced Bird Subcommittee. Report given by sub-committee chairman Garrett. Circulation of Red-crowned Parrot imminent. Discussion of species to consider centered largely around Eurasian Collared-Dove, which will reach the 15-year breeding criterion within a few of years. Several other psittacids will receive attention from the sub-committee, pending acceptance of Red-crowned Parrot. Appointment of 2001 Subcommittee: tentatively Garrett, San Miguel, Morlan.
Proposed Review List changes. Dunn moved and McKee seconded that Philadelphia Vireo be reinstated to the review list; motion failed 1-8. Dunn will come up with statistics for Cape May and Bay-breasted Warblers for next year s meeting. Manx Shearwater, Mourning Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager were mentioned as possible deletions, but no action was taken.
Records for which Chairman/Secretary need direction. Brief discussion of previously unaccepted Scissor-tailed Flycatcher by D. M. Heindel; to be rereviewed with new evidence provided by the observer.
Gray Silky-flycatcher (1999-051); no action; record stands as not accepted following two circulations.
Anhinga (1999-210); following a 6-4 first round circulation, subsume into record of Darter now circulating.
Patten moved and Hamilton seconded a motion to re-review all records previously accepted as juvenile Masked Booby (sensu lato); motion passed 8-1. It is not clear that members voting to accept the records were able to exclude what is now recognized as a separate species, the Nazca Booby. All post-juvenile records are felt by the Committee to be Masked, and not Nazca, boobies, so no re-review of those is necessary.
Harris' s Hawk, 1996-080I (Sweetwater SD; currently stands as accepted, 8-2); motion by Dunn (McKee seconded) to rereview; motion passed 5-4
Harris 's Hawk 1996 080H (west of Lancaster LA; currently stands as accepted, 8-2); motion by Patten (Pyle seconded); motion passed 5-4
Records without a decision after completion of the third round.
Trumpeter Swan 1999-019
Northern Bobwhite 1998-113
Band-tailed Gull 1988-076A 8-2, 7-3, 6-4
Slaty-backed Gull 1998-050 8-2, 6-4, 8-2
Three-toed Woodpecker 1985-146A 5-5 after 3 rounds of rereview
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1999-009 8-2 after 3 rounds
Painted Bunting 1998-182 6-4, 6-4, 5-5
Painted Bunting 1997-090
Painted Bunting 1994-151
Harris s Hawk 1996-080C (Santee SD; 7-3 after 3rd round; to 4th and final circ.)
Harris s Hawk 1996-080F (Riverside RIV; 7-3 after 3rd round; to 4th and final circ.)
As at least one of the fourth and final records was a controversial only-state-record by a single observer, Dunn suggested a motion that new state records must be supported by documentation from two or more observers; there was discussion about this, and about a requirement for tangible evidence (specimen/photo/video/audio) to support any new state records. Considerable support was expressed, but no action was taken.
There followed a long discussion about restoring a category whereby two (or more) closely similar species could be reviewed as a unit; this has colloquially been known within the Committee as the slash category. Some members cited the loss of information when a bird is definitely acceptable as, say, a White/Black-backed Wagtail, but stands as a rejected record of one or the other; the only way to indicate that the committee supports the identification to a certain level (e.g. as White/Black-backed Wagtail) is through comments in the published CBRC report. Dunn moved and McKee seconded that the committee review records submitted as White/Black-backed Wagtail; motion failed 4-5. The Committee agreed to consider this issue through the course of the year via an internet discussion and attempt to come to the 2002 meeting with some kind of consensus. Members should attempt to develop a list of potential slash taxa.
Supplemental List. No motions for changes to the list.
Miscellaneous items. California Vagrants and Scarce Migrants book by CBRC still in preparation. The desire was expressed for Heindel to work with Steve Rottenborn to produce the Blue-headed Vireo summary that will be included in the book.
Closing. The next CBRC meeting will be held at H. T. Harvey and Associates in San Jose 19 or 26 January 2002 [will be 19 January 2002]. Garrett moved and McKee seconded a motion of appreciation to Walter Wehtje for hosting the CBRC Friday evening; Garrett moved and Patten seconded a motion of appreciation to outgoing CBRC members Heindel, Jaramillo and Rogers. Garrett moved and Terrill seconded a motion of sincerest appreciation by the Committee for the hard work of outgoing Secretary Mike Rogers. The ongoing assistance of Peg Stevens, Jon Fisher, and the WFVZ staff was acknowledged. All motions passed unanimously.
Hamilton moved and Patten seconded a motion for adjournment; motion passed unanimously at 1745.
E-mail addresses for current and recently deposed CBRC members:
Dunn cerwa@earthlink.net
Erickson richard.erickson@lsa-assoc.com
Garrett kgarrett@nhm.org
Hamilton robb.hamilton@gte.net
Heindel mtheindel@aol.com
Jaramillo alvaro@sirius.com
McCaskie guymcc@pacbell.net
McKee bertmckee@hotmail.com
Morlan jmorlan@slip.net
Patten patten@citrus.ucr.edu (but will change soon)
Pyle ppyle@prbo.org
Rogers mrogers@nas.nasa.gov or m.m.rogers@worldnet.att.net
Terrill sterrill@harveyecology.com or sbterrill@aol.com
Wilson jcwilson@lightspeed.net