11. Submitting a Description of a Rare Bird

Mike Kilburn posed some excellent questions in this blog post, which I promised to respond to. So, here goes.

1. Is it worth submitting records if the information is incomplete – i.e. not all parts of the bird are seen? (tail on a Black-throated Thrush in HK)

It is relatively rare that an observer manages to observe absolutely everything. The bird may not be seen in flight, or it may not vocalise, for example. The important thing is to be honest about this in the description. Incomplete details do not necessarily mean that the record cannot be deemed acceptable.

In the case you mention, however, the detail not seen is critical, because the presence or absence of rufous in the tail determines identification. So, should you submit the record?

The advantage of submitting the record is that it adds to a body of information from which patterns of occurrence may be inferred in the future, even if the record is not deemed acceptable on its own. Here’s another example: Red-billed Starlings, like most sturnids, are commonly traded and so, here in Malaysia, there is a fair chance that individuals encountered in the wild may be escaped cage birds. But, if all records are submitted, it should eventually be possible to determine whether there are any seasonal patterns which might suggest genuine vagrancy or otherwise. So I would favour submission.

I would add that there are two types of record submission. The commonest is a submission which makes a claim that a certain species has been seen, and the Records Committee then assesses the validity of that claim. So, in this case, the observer could decide whether to submit a claim of Black-throated Thrush, or of Black-throated/Black-throated Thrush hybrid. The other type of submission is more speculative – here’s a description of a bird I saw – what do you think of it? In such a case, there is no claim to be assessed, though the committee might subsequently recommend that you submit one.

The Malaysian Records Committee tries to avoid the accept/reject dichotomy (although those terms are still commonly used). We instead think in terms of “proven/unproven”. So, an “accepted” record is one which we feel the evidence provided proves the identification beyond reasonable doubt. A “rejected” record is one where the evidence provided does not reach that level of confidence. It does not mean that we think the observer has behaved dishonestly, or that they were mistaken. It just signifies that the evidence supplied left room for doubt.

Here are some pictures of a skua I saw with Simon Buckell in March 2008 off Penang. We saw two of them. Both of us identified both of the birds as Pomarine Skuas. We’d both seen plenty before. I wrote a pretty good description of what we saw. I was Chairman of the Records Committee at the time. The record was rejected. I felt quite proud of the Committee! I was 100% certain of my identification. But I also agreed that I did not provide enough evidence for this record to be 100% proven.

Fortunately I’ve seen plenty more since then, a little closer!