Virginia Avian Records Committee

Submission Form

The form is designed as a guide for reporting rare or unusual birds for Virginia.  Please provide as much of the information requested below as possible.  Feel free to attach additional sheets as necessary.  Please send electronic forms via e-mail to Amy Gilmer (akgilmer@comcast.net). Hard copies of this form should be mailed to Amy Gilmer, VARCOM Secretary, 2341 Highland Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22903. If you have photos, digital images, sound recordings, sketches, and/or original field notes or vocal recordings pertinent to the documentation, please provide a copy with your submission.

Submission Form - PDF Version

Submission Form - Word Version

Submitting Records

Bird identification can be tricky, and it's easy to forget to note key details that should be included in documentation of an usual bird. In the case of most bird reports that are not accepted by bird records committees (all over the world, not just in Virginia), it's the absence of key descriptive details that prevent acceptance of the report. The most important thing about documenting a bird is to record details such as the ones below while you are watching the bird, in a field notebook or sketchbook. Not all of the points below will be seen or noted, nor are they all necessary to correctly identify a species. The checklist below can be used as a reminder of items to include in your report. A common mistake that observers make when preparing a written account of seeing a bird is to describe everything about the event in wonderful detail - except for what the bird itself looked like. Records committee reviewers often comment that they read that "the bird looked just like the picture in the field guide." Individual birds possess their own distinguishing characteristics when carefully studied; field guides represent a common ground or a blend of how a species of a given age/sex will likely appear, so it's vitally important to study the bird in great detail, so that what gets archived and reviewed is a description of what the bird actually looked like, rather than what it might have or should have looked like. The description should be able to stand the test of time: future researchers will not know about the skill levels of individual birders - they'll only have the words, sketches, and photographic images to evaluate.

POINTS TO INCLUDE IN BIRD REPORTS

OBSERVERS

• Full names
• All observers' mailing addresses
• Telephone numbers and email addresses for all observers

LOCATION

• State, county, city
• Place name, town, park, address, road intersection, etc. (GPS coordinates fine)
• Habitat description (field, woods, water, plants, etc.)

VIEWING CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT

• Time of observation (clock times, overall length)
• Observation continuous over that/those time/s?
• Weather conditions; sky/cloud cover
• Wind/speed and direction (estimates are fine)
• Temperature (estimate is fine)
• Precipitation (snow, rain)
• Water depth and temperature, waves, etc. (pelagic)
• Optics used by each observer: binoculars, spotting scopes; model(s), power(s) of each
• Camera, lens, film used; camcorder; audiotaping device
• Tape playback or other audio attractor used?
• Distance to bird
• Sun location in relation to you and bird
• Field guide(s) used in the field
• What parts of the bird couldn't be seen?

NUMBER, SEX, AND AGE OF BIRD(S)

• Number of birds
• Sex by plumage or behavior (if possible)
• Age by plumage or behavior (if possible)

DESCRIPTION (of the entire bird, not just key field marks)

• To which bird family does this individual belong? Why? How were similar birds from other families rule out?
• Posture, size shape, structure
• Head: shape, colors, precise patterns (supercilium, eye-ring, eye-line, crown stripe, loral spot, malar stripe)
• Bill: length, shape, color(s)
• Eye: color
• Upper parts: nape, back, rump (color, patterns); upperwing feathers at rest (tertials, scapulars, coverts)
• Tail: color(s), pattern(s), shape, length
• Legs: color(s), shape, length
• Underparts: throat, breast, belly, flanks, vent (colors, patterns)
• Wing structure: shape, length, relative projection at rest (tip of primaries falls where in relation to tail? how many primary tips past the tertials?)
• Wing appearance: colors, precise patterns (wing linings, wingbars, axillaries, coverts, etc.)

BEHAVIOR

• Feeding method
• Vocalizations
• Flight pattern or behavior
• Preening or sleeping?
• Interactions with other birds

COMPARISONS WITH OTHER BIRDS PRESENT

• How close to other birds of identifiable species?
• How were similar species ruled out in the field?

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH THE SPECIES AND BIRDING EXPERIENCE

• How often have the primary observers seen this species in the past & where?
• How long has each observer been birding overall?