Hello birders,

Just about everyone who enters their bird data on Vermont eBird is no doubt
aware that some species can be identified in the field to recognizable
races, Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted flickers or Eastern and Western Palm
warblers are well-known examples. Although some species can be easily
separated into races (but by no means all of them! Some are quite tricky.),
many observers do not record their birds down to race when possible. So,
most observations of, for example, Palm Warbler are simply recorded as
generic ‘palms’.

A small number of Vermont birders have been assiduously assigning birds to
races over the last few years. Now, the Vermont Bird Records Committee and
Vermont eBird would like to encourage the spread of this among a wider
group of birders. Vermont eBird gives us the opportunity for this by
providing race in the eBird checklist for many species (check out Palm
Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warbler on the Vermont eBird checklist for an
example).

Read more about the on Vermont eBird in our article - Off to the Races at
http://ebird.org/content/vt/news/off-to-the-races/. And you can also see a
list of races that the VT Bird Records Committee would like to have
documented.

Thanks,
Kent
____________________________

Kent McFarland
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
PO Box 420 | Norwich, Vermont 05055
802.649.1431 x2

<http://vtecostudies.org/>
  <http://vtecostudies.wordpress.com/>
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermont-Center-for-Ecostudies/56930912454>
<https://twitter.com/VTEcostudies>

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