[DVOC] Significant Pelagic Boundary Changes Announced

[Frank Windfelder]

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Frank

--- Bert Filemyr <afilemyr at comcast.net> wrote:

>     This past weekend, the state listing committees
> from various
> Mid-Atlantic states held an unusual joint meeting to
> discuss pelagic
> boundaries and specifically how these boundaries
> affect the listing of state
> birds. In an unprecedented and breakthrough
> decision, previous rules related
> to birds seen on or over water have been
> significantly liberalized. 
>  
>     The committees jointly released the following
> statement:  
> 
> "Rule change - Beginning today, any bird seen on or
> over "any body of water"
> within 50 miles of the political boundary of a state
> can be counted for that
> state. The term "any body of water" includes
> offshore waters, inshore
> waters, lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.
>  
> Comments by the committees
> - The committees are aware that the ramifications of
> this change will be
> monumental. While this will certainly change
> offshore pelagic listing, it
> will have a greater effect on general birding. For
> instance, a bird seen on
> or over Lilly Lake (Cape May County, NJ) could
> previously only be counted on
> a birder's New Jersey list. But now, since Lilly
> Lake is "body of water" and
> is less than 50 miles from Delaware, a bird seen on
> or over Lilly Lake can
> now be counted on a birder's Delaware list.  In the
> same way a bird sighted
> on or over Lake Nockamixon (Buck County, PA) can now
> be counted on a
> birder's New Jersey list.  An extreme example of
> this rule change is that
> the impoundments at John Heinz NWR at Tinicum
> (Delaware County and
> Philadelphia County, PA) are in Pennsylvania and are
> within 50 miles of New
> Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Thus a bird seen on
> or over those
> impoundments is now countable in four states.
> - The committees urge birders restrain themselves
> and only count a single
> sighting on one state's list, but there is nothing
> in the new rules
> preventing a single sighting from being counted on
> multiple states lists if
> a birder wishes. It is up to the individual birder
> to determine what state
> or states he or she wants to use to list any
> particular bird when it is seen
> in a location where multiple states overlap.
> - Obviously this change will be confusing at first
> but after the appropriate
> maps are made available, the new boundaries will be
> clear. 
> - This change takes affect today - 4/1/2008"
> 
>  
>  
>  
>  
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Frank Windfelder
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