[birdergirl]

Geoffrey Newell's Oriental Greenfinch found on Nov 9, 2015 was accepted as the First Canadian Record by the BC Bird Records Committee.

To read more about the December 2016 decisions click the link below:

https://bcfo.ca/brc-round-14-additional ... d-records/

Cheers,
Mel

[ogopogo]

congrats to Geoffrey! this UBC pdf file by Rick Toochin indicates one found in 2009 at Burns Lake, BC
http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/ef ... h-RT-h.pdf
" The only other record of Oriental Greenfinch south of Alaska is of a bird
found and photographed on May 27, 2009 at Francois Lake, outside Burns Lake in Northern British Columbia (J. Bowling Pers. Comm.). Given the scarcity of records away from the outer Aleutian Islands and south of Alaska, it might take many decades before another greenfinch will be found in British Columbia or anywhere along the West Coast of North America."

[birdergirl]

Yes Cheryl, that record in 2009 wasn't confirmed/accepted by the Bird Records Committee perhaps due to provenance (though I am not sure) as that is frequently a concern with this species. This record from 2015 is the only confirmed one so far in all of Canada. So yes big congrats to Geoffey.

Cheers,
Mel

[ogopogo]

what is the basic minimum process to becoming the person accredited with the find of a RARE rare bird? do you have to be the first person to record it on eBird? or the first person to fill out a check list like on VHNS?
who submits it to the committee?
is a photo mandatory? does a second party have to observe it?

[nhentze]

Just a reminder that all committee decisions on reviewed records can be found annually in the journal British Columbia Birds. Recent volumes of that journal are accessible to BCFO members in the "Members" area at the BCFO website https://bcfo.ca. Older volumes are freely accessible to the public, and can be found at https://bcbirds.bcfo.ca/journal-volumes/

The Francois Lake bird was previously considered by the Bird Records Committee and not accepted. Notes on that decision can be found in Vol. 25 of the aforementioned journal (available to all at the above link).

Congrats to Geoffrey for a fantastic find.

Nathan Hentze,
Victoria, BC

[JodyWells]

Congrats Geoffrey!
Jody Wells
Brentwood Bay

[birdergirl]

what is the basic minimum process to becoming the person accredited with the find of a RARE rare bird? do you have to be the first person to record it on eBird? or the first person to fill out a check list like on VHNS?
who submits it to the committee?
is a photo mandatory? does a second party have to observe it?

Hi Cheryl, not at all actually, anyone can submit the record who saw the bird not just the finder. Photos are not mandatory either but encouraged and helpful. However, if it's a first for the province it will require some physical proof. Here are the answers to all of your questions:

https://bcfo.ca/brc-general-information/

Cheers,
Mel

[ogopogo]

thanks Nathan & Mel. I've bookmarked both in the event I run into a rare RARE bird; rare being anything I don't recognize at the moment.