Dear Andrew, Thank you for asking about this. You are absolutely right, the 2009 NYSARC Annual Report <http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/Reports/NYSARC2009.html> included two sight records of Northern Fulmar seen from beaches on eastern Long Island by yours truly during September and October storms. As many readers will know, Northern Fulmar is only rarely sighted from land in our region, generally favoring deeper water, although even there, they seem less frequent than in the past. Fulmars are notoriously fond of discarded by-catch and other fish products and the collapse of the commercial fishing industry locally parallels the decline in fulmar numbers. Recognizing this potential change in status, the Committee was willing to review these land-based sightings.
This brings up an important point about the NYSARC Review List < http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/NYSARClist.htm>, namely that it is offered as a set of guidelines rather than as hard and fast rules. The large and diverse nature of New York State makes it very difficult to design impervious criteria for what is deemed very rare (i.e. review worthy) and what is considered slightly less rare. The cut of point more about the practical limits to the review process than anything else. Moreover, the status of many uncommon species is in continuous flux, hence we find ourselves needing to tweak the list every now and again, much to the annoyance of the web master, checklist authors and many diligent birders who regularly submit descriptions or photographs. For these reasons, the Committee is somewhat flexible in what to review or not. Reports that are not reviewed are archived nonetheless. When submitting a sighting that does not quite fit the Review List criteria, please include a note explaining why you think review is warranted just to make sure that we consider it appropriately. If you have any questions as to whether documentation of a sighting should be submitted please don't hesitate to ask. I believe there were at least two Fulmar sightings from fall of 2007, one from Robert Moses State Park (18 Oct) and the other from Jamaica Bay (9 Nov, Andrew Block), both involving birds in distress. Reports documenting these unusual events would be most welcome. Angus Wilson Chair, New York State Avian Records Committee (NYSARC) ***NYSARC is a standing committee of the New York State Ornithological Association*** On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 9:02 AM, Andrew Block <ablock22...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi Angus, > Do you want written reports of fulmar sightings from shore from '07? I saw > in the latest Kingbird that some reports from shore were accepted. I didn't > know you wanted them so I never sent one in when I had one in '07. Let me > know. > > Andrew Block > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
