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Date Posted: 16:20:43 11/04/02 Mon
Author: Bill Whan
Author Host/IP: cblmdm204-118-190-149.buckeye-express.com / 204.118.190.149
Subject: Re: Ohio's first Calliope Hummingbird
In reply to: Greg 's message, "Ohio's first Calliope Hummingbird" on 05:37:00 11/02/02 Sat

Brian wrote:

"As soon as I read this report last night, I immediately
felt something just wasn't right about what happened here. I mean, this
is the emotional, unscientific response of a semi-novice birder...but
does the means justify the end?"
Obviously everything didn't go right. Odd fall hummers in the east can
be hard to identify without capturing them, and have to be written off
as to genus only. Remember, up until twenty-five years ago, it would
have been completely routine and expected to shoot this bird in order to
establish its identity. There is always a risk in capturing a bird, but
no one expected this one to die. By far most captured hummers happily
return to feeding soon after release. Is taking a tiny risk to one bird
worth knowing more about the species? Scientists have always thought so,
and--apparently like nature itself--tend to regard the whole population,
not any single individual, as the important thing.
Birders have a different point of view. Here is a fabulous rarity, a
mountain-dwelling bird of the West thousands of miles from its wintering
grounds in southern Mexico. Worthy of admiration as well as study, it is
a worthwhile challenge (difficult, but hardly impossible) to identify
without capturing it. It's also of course a gem for one's state list, in
the acquisitive sense.
In practice, field birders develop skills in ID that banders never have
to use. And vice versa. I am often flummoxed looking at a bird in my
hand, alive or dead, wondering what the heck it is. But birders can also
identify--using behavioral clues, plumage characteristics, jizz,
etc.--birds at a distance that a bander might shrug her shoulders at.
Brian also writes: "About 1 and more more than 2 days passed in this
entire story. No other "experts" were given a chance to view the
bird...the immediate reaction seemed to be lets catch, band and ID it.
They say it was in poor health and would not have made it anyway...but
that seems to be a moderately self-serving diagnosis."
There are lots of excellent photographs of this bird, which in my
estimation alone suffice to identify it. A number of us were fairly
certain of the identity of this bird after studying them. One could, I
suppose, reasonably differ from this view. If I had to guess, I'd say
the records committee will be able to accept it without having to pass
the corpse around the table. All the same, having a hummingbird
specialist available to trap the bird and evaluate the fine ID
points--measurements, details of molt and rectrices, etc.--was
understandably welcome, and reasonable in view of the low risk of
misfortune. As for its health, it was far from good, and let's face the
fact that its chances of returning to its normal range would have been
close to zero. Some individual western hummers of the hardier species
have, in fact, been found in the eastern US in consecutive winters;
this fascinating fact would never have known without having captured and
banded them, however.
As for Chuck's comment, I think the homeowner was saddened. The whole
thing was a bummer for everyone, not an occasion for anger.
One important question is why weren't birders invited to come to see
this rarity before the risk--however negligible--was taken of capturing
it to confirm its identity? I suspect the local observers didn't feel
100% confident of the ID, and felt it better to confirm it quickly
before telling the world the trip was worth it. One feels cautious about
such an unusual occurrence, and the very small risk to the bird seemed
worth it. Doing so would have taken only one day: the bird would have
been confirmed as a calliope on Friday, and the whole weekend lay
ahead--pending the permission of the homeowner, which had yet to be
obtained--for hundreds of birders to converge on the site. I think this
decision was not unreasonable or misguided. The outcomes--death for this
doughty bird, disappointment for so many birders, confirmed data for
science--were decidedly mixed, and no one can be completely satisfied
with them. It's an object lesson for us all, from which--having acquired
all the facts--we can draw lessons for the future.

Bill Whan
Columbus

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