Faunal records

[Michael Gochfeld]

I snoympathize with Ken's frustration over interpreting the Lady record. 
Of course bird people have had to worry about this for years since many 
exotic species are kept in aviaries and zoos, and there is always a 
question (particularly regarding waterfowl, parrots and finches) about 
whether an observed exotic is "real" or "escaped".  Dick Ryan wrote 
several articles about the problem. Ironically, one way of detecting an 
escaped cage bird was that they showed abnormal feather wear (unlike 
Ken's suspiciously fresh Lady). Ryan pointed out that exotic birds are 
expensive and zoos and aviaries go to great lengths to avoid losing 
them.  Even when we poll zoos and aviaries about the loss of a bird and 
get lots of negative responses, there's always a question that someone 
might be lying or that the bird escaped far away and then travelled. 
	Another irony.  When the Bronx Zoo flight cage collapsed in the 
blizzard of 1996, lots of exotic gulls, cormorants, etc. escaped. The 
news was carried in the press and birders were alert to these possible 
"finds", yet very few were recorded, so even when we know that birds 
escape the probability of detection was low.  But who would trust an 
Inca Tern record on Long Island. 
	The life of a faunistics specialist is filled with more serious 
challenges---such as verifying old published records when the collection 
and collector are no longer extant.  

Mike Gochfeld