My wife is majoring in Educational Psychology and we have discussed at length how the clinical applications of her field apply to listing and MOURC and bird identification. There are items such as confidence intervals and other obtuse metrics and analyses that could find applications here if we were so inclined. MOURC would find that many of the subjective evaluations they are compelled to make about the validity or the completeness of an observation could be affected by a thorough application of the Psychology of learning research that is done here in the state. Should MOURC study this science? No, unless they want to. It would be as exhaustive as the capture of phenology is for MN birds. It would probably establish criteria by species for identification and apply it to a normal curve. Degree of certainty is still a level to set, as well as level of proficiency for the observer. I can see us studying now to reach the next level of ID experience. Would 5 level 2 birders equal a level 10? What is the conversion factor for out of state birders who don't know our habitat but are good birders? All birders are created equal, but some are more equal than others. Science leads us in interesting circles. By the way, I am not really advocating these changes, consider it my version of "polemics".
Mark Alt Brooklyn Center, MN [email protected] "Birds and their songs are important to me, they add to my enjoyment of life"=20 -
