[obol] Buttonquail vagrancy

[Joel Geier]

Hi Jeff & OBOL,

As I commented privately, my point in mentioning the buttonquail escape
was just to suggest that exotic birds do get out despite the best of
enclosures (and our small aviary is certainly more sturdily constructed
than any exotic waterfowl enclosure that I've ever seen). After
observing their behavior "in the wild," I would more expect Wrentits to
show up in Spain than I would expect buttonquail to show up as vagrants
in Oregon.

The circumstantial occurrence of the McMinnville Red-breasted Goose near
a breeder who, according to the report at the time, had mentioned losing
one such bird, and subsequent peregrination of said bird southward,
makes this one more than a bit hard to swallow as a "true vagrant." But
I expect the Oregon Bird Records Committee to exercise due diligence on
this. 

When all is said and done, it was a beautiful bird and most who saw it
during its free-flying stage probably do not care much whether it was a
"true vagrant" or a "mere escape." But for the sticklers on bird
records ... well, they ought to be consistent, or else give up on
sticklerhood.

The classic bird-record committee tendency is to err on the side of
conservatism, rejecting many "probable" reports if the description is
not absolutely definitive (i.e. "Type II" vs. "Type I" errors). Strange
if that tendency should be reversed when the question is wild vs.
captive origins. 

I'd think that any bird-record committee member in any state who has
ever voted against a report on grounds that "description does not rule
out species X with certainty" would be honor-bound to vote against
reports that do not rule out captive origins with similar degree of
certainty. Chalk me up as a stickler about sticklers, even if I may not
be a stickler for much else.

Good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area, vagrant Buttonquail capitol of Oregon