montana bird records committee
- Overview
- Membership
- Official State Bird List
- Supplemental Bird List
- Review Species (Rare Birds)
- Rare Bird Report Form
- Links
Overview
The Montana Bird Records Committee was formed in 1991. It exists to serve Montana professionals and amateurs interested in bird distribution by promoting and maintaining a high degree of quality, integrity, and professionalism in evaluating reports of rare birds in the state.
The Committee has three main functions of equal importance: (1) to solicit, review, and verify reports, documentation, photographs, sightings, tape recordings, specimens, or other material relevant to the distribution of the birds of Montana; (2) to review at least once per calendar year the documentation submitted to the Committee for species new to the state or of sufficient rarity (locally, regionally, or statewide) to merit such review, and in so doing to offer an objective, scientifically based opinion of the validity of these reports, and to maintain an official list of the birds recorded for Montana and an official tally of the number of accepted records for each “rare” species (i.e., documented fewer than 20 times in the state); and (3) to act as ambassadors for the role that scientifically rigorous review of bird records plays in maintaining a meaningful list of Montana birds, and of the important role that birders can play in furthering our understanding of bird distribution.
