Hello Ontario Birders!
The Ontario Bird Record Committee (“OBRC”) held a policy meeting in
Peterborough on Jan 26, 2013; with the goal of improving how the OBRC
(a committee of OFO) operates to better serve the Ontario birding
community. Comments were solicited in various venues, with the
majority coming from the 2012 OFO Convention and through responses
from a request posted to Ontbirds. Many thanks to those who helped in
this regard; your emails will receive a new direct response over the
next two weeks with specific updates.
Provided below are some highlights on changes to OBRC policy that came
in response to some common concerns we received. Many changes are not
yet official, as we did not have time to officially draft new policy
at the meeting (it went for several hours). However they will likely
be updated in a few days at the OBRC annual meeting scheduled to take
place on Apr 7, 2013. The highlights:
- Work on a third "review area" for the province is being undertaken,
the "Hudson Bay Lowlands" review area. This will split the existing
"North" review area in two. The boundary for the "South" review area
will stay the same for now.
- The OBRC will solicit nominations from any member of the OFO to fill
vacant positions, hopefully in the future via the Ontbirds listserv
and potentially OFO News. Self-nominations are welcome.
- While long discussed, work on updating the "online report form" is underway.
- The terminology of "Not Accepted, Identification Uncertain" is
changed to "Not Accepted, Insufficient Evidence" to better reflect the
reason the vast majority of these records do not pass.
- Letters to individuals whose records are deemed "insufficient
evidence" will no longer be mailed the comments of voting members.
However the Chair (who writes the letters) will be required to
summarize every concern raised by each voting member in their
response.
- Greater communication from the secretary and the chair of the OBRC,
to the birding community, is needed.
- The OBRC will draft a document doing our best to explain the issues
around some species that are often deemed "Questionable Origin" such
as Barnacle Goose and Black-billed Magpie. This will include a wide
array of species.
- A policy for the position of "Assistant to the Secretary" was
drafted. It boils down to the position being appointed by the current
secretary on an annual and assists in many duties outlined by the
guidelines for the secretary position.
- A complete review of the OBRC database at the Royal Ontario Museum
will be undertaken to determine its status. The next goal will be to
create a digital database and backup of these files. The final goal
will be to make the database available online for all to view.
- Greater communication from the OBRC as a whole will be strived for.
Various means are being investigated including a greater online
presence. Some ideas include potentially having an OBRC specific
website as well as an OBRC specific ebird account. Birding community
outreach is now in the official duties of voting OBRC members.
Once again, many thanks to those who took the time to send comments
that greatly aided in our decision making process at the meeting. For
those interested, a complete copy of the meeting minutes can be
emailed to anyone interested, upon request, after they are formally
reviewed and adopted at the meeting on Apr 7, 2013. Please feel free
to send any additonal questions to myself at peregrine13 at gmail.com
Brandon Holden
OBRC Chair
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