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Have You Seen a Rare Bird? – Be sure to document it!

September 2, 2009
Have You Seen a Rare Bird? – Be sure to document it!

Third-winter Slaty-backed Gull at Rochester W.T.P., NH, 18 Jan 2007. This photo (by Marshall J. Iliff) supported New Hampshire's third accepted state record.

Rare birds are fun and exciting to see, but they can also be valuable to our knowledge of species occurrence and distribution if they are well documented. The best documentation provides enough details that someone looking at the sighting 50 years from now will be confident of the identification. New Hampshire Bird Records (NHBR) collects and archives bird sighting documentation and the New Hampshire Rare Birds Committee (NHRBC) reviews the sightings. All eBird data is reviewed and there may be times when someone, such as the NHBR Season Editor, asks you for documentation or more details on a specific sighting. Don’t be alarmed or offended – they are looking after the quality of data that will be used for many, many years to come.

If you see a rare bird, please take the time to document it. The best approach if you think you might have a rarity is to take detailed notes on the spot, or at least as soon as you have access to pen and paper. Photographs, of course, are excellent documentation, but if you can’t take photos, the best documentation is that which is written at the time of the sighting because it lacks any biases which may creep in after the observer has perhaps looked in a field guide or had a good night’s sleep. Use your notes to fill out a complete documentation form as soon as possible. This information must meet high standards if it is to stand the test of time, and thus remain useful to future researchers long after the original observers and committee members are no longer known entities. 

What constitutes a bird rare enough to require special documentation?

The NHRBC has established a list of species requiring documentation and review. In addition, any species not previously seen in New Hampshire would automatically be added to this list. View the list.

Other birds need to be documented only under unusual circumstances. These include:

  • birds seen at times of the year they are not supposed to be here (e.g., a Snowy Owl in the middle of the summer or a Yellow Warbler in the middle of the winter),
  • migratory birds seen unusually early or late in the migration season (e.g., a Barn Swallow in December or a Red-eyed Vireo in early April),
    birds seen in locations where they are not supposed to be (e.g., a
  • Red-throated Loon in the snow in the White Mountains or a Boreal Chickadee in Salem),
  • and birds seen in very large numbers compared to their normal abundance.

For species that are unusual but not on the NHRBC list (e.g., a Dickcissel) or somewhat out-of-season but not extraordinarily so (e.g., a Yellow Warbler in late October), a description and/or a link to photos in your eBird comments field may be all that’s needed.

Two very useful guides about the commonality of birds at various times of the year that will help determine a bird’s rarity are The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New Hampshire (C. Foss ed.) and A Checklist of the Birds of New Hampshire (Hunt et al. ed.), both available from New Hampshire Audubon, in the Concord Nature Store or on the web site.

Read more about reporting rarities in New Hampshire.